{"id":149811,"date":"2025-09-17T06:35:07","date_gmt":"2025-09-17T06:35:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/149811\/"},"modified":"2025-09-17T06:35:07","modified_gmt":"2025-09-17T06:35:07","slug":"who-are-the-key-nascar-drivers-to-watch-at-new-hampshire-motor-speedway","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/149811\/","title":{"rendered":"Who Are The Key NASCAR Drivers To Watch At New Hampshire Motor Speedway?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>By Neha Dwivedi, Staff Writer<\/p>\n<p>New Hampshire Motor Speedway stands as the 30th race of the season and the fourth of the playoffs, set for Sunday, Sept. 21 at 2:00 PM ET. After Bristol Motor Speedway\u2019s chaos and tire-wear roulette, Loudon\u2019s 1.058-mile oval offers a different kind of challenge, one that often rewards drivers who thrive on intermediates.<\/p>\n<p>Denny Hamlin, who finished P31 after his Gateway triumph, fits that bill. By the numbers, Hamlin is the man most would put their money on. He will enter with an average finish of 9.9 at the track, three wins and 11 top-fives in 31 starts.<\/p>\n<p>Yet Brad Keselowski, coming off a runner-up effort where he nearly snatched victory from Christopher Bell at Bristol, will be another threat. His season hasn\u2019t unfolded as expected but at New Hampshire, his previous runs speak volumes: a 10.5 average finish, two wins and 10 top-fives in 24 starts. Those stats suggest he could give any contender a run for their money.<\/p>\n<p>Beyond these heavy hitters, Kyle Larson and Tyler Reddick both will bring 11.2 average finishes at Loudon, while Bell will carry a 12.2 mark. Among them, Bell knows the way to victory lane at NHMS. Last year, he outpaced his current teammate Chase Briscoe, leading 149 laps to claim the win. Having already pulled off back-to-back victories earlier this season, another repeat wouldn\u2019t raise any eyebrows.<\/p>\n<p>Ryan Blaney will also be a driver to keep an eye on. He\u2019s strung together playoff consistency with P4 finishes at both Gateway and Bristol. Though winless at New Hampshire, the Team Penske driver owns two top-fives and carries confidence into the weekend.<\/p>\n<p>Asked during his media availability by Kickin\u2019 the Tires editor, Jerry Jordan, which of the next three races, New Hampshire, Kansas or Charlotte, might offer his best chance to break through, Blaney quickly replied, \u201cNew Hampshire. That would be ideal. I feel like we\u2019ve run good enough there to where we can contend for one. I would say New Hampshire and then we\u2019ll go from there. We\u2019ll see what we can do this weekend but that would be obviously a nice one to win.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>But Toyota drivers have set the tone in the NASCAR playoffs so far, sweeping the first three races.<\/p>\n<p>Bell, Ross Chastain and Joey Logano took part in the July 22-23 tire test and delivered vital feedback to Goodyear ahead of New England\u2019s return to the Cup Series Playoffs; information that will shape their team preparations for Loudon. That inside track could give them a leg up on the competition.<\/p>\n<p>Also, at New Hampshire, Cup Series teams will run the same Goodyear Racing Eagle tire setup previously used at Bowman Gray Stadium, Martinsville Speedway, North Wilkesboro Speedway and Richmond Raceway. That could tilt the scales slightly toward the Toyota camp, with Hamlin having captured Martinsville earlier this season and Bell standing tall at North Wilkesboro.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"669\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/C-Bell-at-NHMS-1024x669.jpg\" alt=\"Christopher bell heads to new hampshire motor speedway as a favorite, fresh off a win at bristol motor speedway and the defending race winner in loudon. Photo by jerry jordan\/kickin' the tires\" class=\"wp-image-45474\" title=\"Who Are The Key Nascar Drivers To Watch At New Hampshire Motor Speedway? 1\"  \/>Who Are The Key NASCAR Drivers To Watch At New Hampshire Motor Speedway? 2<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"By Neha Dwivedi, Staff Writer New Hampshire Motor Speedway stands as the 30th race of the season and&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":149812,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[446],"tags":[49,48,634,82],"class_list":{"0":"post-149811","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nascar","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-nascar","11":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/149811","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=149811"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/149811\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/149812"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=149811"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=149811"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=149811"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}