Sunday’s race at the New Hampshire Motor Speedway may have ended before it began.
NASCAR drivers went through their prerace routine on the track with a steady mist ahead of the Foxwoods Resort Casino 301. The race only lasted three laps before the track was too slick to continue: Leader Kyle Busch and Martin Truex Jr., in second place, both spun out into the wall heading into Turn 1. Ross Chastain, Denny Hamlin and Alex Bowman were also involved in the crash, but escaped significant damage.
The damage to Busch’s car was significant enough to end his day. The winner of last week’s race at Atlanta put it bluntly on the NBC Sports telecast:
“We’re done. There’s no fixing that thing.”
Busch was clearly frustrated on the track as he drove away from the crash, tailgating the pace car; several drivers, himself included, expressed frustration that they were allowed to enter the track at all, and more so that NASCAR didn’t adequately respond to communications from drivers and crews that racing conditions weren’t optimal.
Stock Market Pioneer is tracking weather updates for the Foxwoods Resort Casino 301:
MORE: NASCAR at New Hampshire live race updates, results
NASCAR race weather updates at New Hampshire
All times Eastern
4:23 p.m.:
4:05 p.m.: They’ve put the air dryers out on the track. Meanwhile, a look at the forecast for Loudon, per Weather.com:
- Conditions: Cloudy
- Chance of precipitation: 15 percent
- Wind speeds: Northeast 6 mph
3:52 p.m.:
As of 3:50 PM, the rain looks to be done in within 10 minutes. Then @NHMS track drying…(Will take estimates here)
The radar is *mostly* clear upstream. These showers had been noted for a bit, so shouldn’t have surprised the powers that be. https://t.co/kHaoIPYrS7
— RaceWeather – Aaron Studwell, Ph.D. (@RaceWeather) July 18, 2021
3:33 p.m.:
3:30 PM EDT @NHMS – Rain showers expected for next 15-20 min. Light showers remain in the forecast
Using precip depiction view because “closest” radar is about 70 miles & radar beam will Miss anything under ~6,000 feet pic.twitter.com/jua5mgqR7L
— RaceWeather – Aaron Studwell, Ph.D. (@RaceWeather) July 18, 2021
3:32 p.m.: The red flag is out about 10 minutes after the green flag waved.
Weather updates for New Hampshire