Yahoo Sports NASCAR Classics: Races to watch before New Hampshire
Throughout the 2024 NASCAR season, Ken Martin, director of historical content for the sanctioning body, will offer his suggestions on which historical races fans should watch from the NASCAR Classics library in preparation for each upcoming race weekend.
Martin has worked exclusively for NASCAR since 2008 but has been involved with the sport since 1982, overseeing various projects. He has worked in the broadcast booth for hundreds of races, assisting the broadcast team with different tasks. This includes calculating the “points as they run” for the historic 1992 finale, the Hooters 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway.
The following suggestions are Ken‘s picks to watch before this weekend‘s USA Today 301 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.
The NASCAR Cup Series finally arrived to the Northeast in July 1993 for the first time, as the anticipation for the inaugural event at New Hampshire could be felt through the packed grandstands.
Fans from the area had a taste of NASCAR action as the Xfinity Series had raced at the track since 1990. The fans were treated to fields with top Cup Series stars like Dale Earnhardt, Darrell Waltrip and Davey Allison, to rising stars like Bobby Labonte and Jeff Gordon.
Earnhardt‘s victory the previous Cup Series race at Daytona moved his lead in the series standings to 251 points over Dale Jarrett as he looked to continue his path to his sixth series title.
Qualifying for the inaugural event brought two surprises as Xfinity Series drivers Jeff Burton and Joe Nemechek put down strong runs in their first Cup Series attempt.
Burton, driving a No. 0 car for FILMAR Racing, qualified sixth, while Nemechek put his own operation in 15th.
It didn‘t take long for the first yellow flag to come out after Mark Martin led the 40-car field to the start of the race. A three-car incident involving Ken Schrader, Ernie Irvan and Burton quickly slowed the field. Just a few laps later, Schrader‘s day came to an end after yet another incident, this time also ending the day of Phil Parsons and Jerry O‘Neil.
Burton‘s day continued to go downhill as he slammed into the wall after he completed 86 laps, which seemingly ended his debut. That appeared to be the case until Hut Stricklin, who was battling food poisoning, needed a relief driver after struggling to stay in the car. Enter Burton, who hopped in the No. 27 Junior Johnson prepared Ford and eventually brought the car home 25th.
The battle for the victory came down to a plethora of Ford drivers as their fleet combined to lead 296 of the race‘s 300 laps.
Rusty Wallace took the checkered flag, holding off Mark Martin to do so.
Possibly the biggest surprise of the day was Sterling Marlin, who was still looking for the first victory of his Cup Series career. Marlin started second, led a race-high 123 laps and finished sixth.
Hueytown, Alabama‘s Allison finished third in what turned out to tragically be the final race of his career. The following day he was involved in a helicopter crash that in turn took his life on July 13.
The Cup Series saw its September 16, 2001 race at New Hampshire get postponed until the end of the season due to the tragic September 11th attacks.
Qualifying for the race was not scheduled but the field was set by the points standings at the time of the postponement of the event in September. This put Jeff Gordon on the pole with Ricky Rudd alongside him for the race, which was held on a Friday afternoon.
The date change of the event also resulted in four cars from the original entry list withdrawing from the season finale for various reasons. Hermie Sadler, Morgan Shepherd, Rick Mast and Andy Houston did not make the trip to New Hampshire, setting up a 42-car field for the event.
Robby Gordon, who made his first start in the No. 31 car for Richard Childress Racing at the track earlier that season, started 31st in the race with no eyes on the team that struggled for most of the season.
That quickly changed.
The No. 24 of Jeff Gordon dominated the event to no surprise, leading 257 laps but it was the No. 31 of Robby Gordon who finished the race in Victory Lane.
The two had a hard battle for the victory, which resulted in Robby taking the lead and Jeff retaliating under caution, leading to a black flag from NASCAR and a 15th-place finish for the freshly crowned four-time champion Jeff Gordon.
It was the first victory of Robby Gordon‘s NASCAR career, which started in 1991. It also was a happy finish to the season for the Childress organization, which was still dealing with the loss of Dale Earnhardt from the season-opening Daytona 500.
2008 Lenox Industrial Tools 301:
The 17th race of the 2008 NASCAR Cup Series season came down to a handful of late-race pit decisions while dealing with impending rain.
Tony Stewart dominated the race, leading 132 laps but came down pit road after a caution slowed the field. Kurt Busch stayed out after the Lap-221 pit stop and tried to stretch his tank as Mother Nature approached on the radar.
The strategy played to Busch‘s advantage, as the skies soon opened up. NASCAR soon called the race and made it official, handing the victory to Busch.
Strategy calls created a unique top of the board, as Michael Waltrip finished second and J.J. Yeley, Martin Truex Jr. and Elliott Sadler rounded out the top five.
Fireworks during the event between points-leader Kyle Busch and Juan Pablo Montoya saw Montoya get sent to the penalty box for two laps due to rough driving. The two drivers had multiple run-ins during the event, including Montoya slamming into Busch under yellow.
You can watch these three races and hundreds more by visiting NASCAR Classics.
