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While most know the New England area for its natural beauty and its vibrant fishing industry, the land once settled by the Puritans which brought the United States of America into being has a history of racing just as notable as the one down south. From Stafford Springs and Thompson Speedway in Connecticut to Thunder Road in Vermont, New England has many tracks that have spawned their culture of racing and their colorful cast of racers. And for those racers, there is one track in the area that stands above them all.

The NASCAR Cup Series makes its annual trip to the New Hampshire Motor Speedway this weekend for the Crayon 301, kicking off a two-week stretch of races up in the northeast. Since opening in 1990, New Hampshire has become the Mecca of racing in New England, with this relatively flat one-mile oval affectionately becoming known as "The Magic Mile". And since 1993, the NASCAR Cup Series and its stars have been this track's marquee attraction from Rusty Wallace's win in the inaugural race to Christopher Bell's victory last year.

How to watch the NASCAR Cup Series at New Hampshire

  • Date: Sun., Jul. 16
  • Location: New Hampshire Motor Speedway -- Loudon, N.H.
  • Time: 2:30 p.m. ET
  • TV: USA Network
  • Stream: fuboTV (try for free)

What to watch

  • With seven races left to go in the regular season, the lack of new winners from below the playoff cut line combined with exceptional parity in midpack has created a dogfight among the drivers trying to get into the NASCAR playoffs on points. Coming out of the off week prior to Nashville, the final spots on the playoff grid had been held by Bubba Wallace and Alex Bowman, with Daniel Suarez the first driver on the outside looking in. Since then, Suarez, Ty Gibbs and now Michael McDowell have made it to the plus side of the cut line, with a tight points battle making it possible to gain or lose ground in great chunks.

    After earning top five finishes at Atlanta by successfully gambling that rain would end the race early, Suarez and McDowell currently hold the final two playoff spots by three points over Wallace. And with a third place finish at Atlanta, AJ Allmendinger has entered the picture at 13 points back. A crash at Atlanta dropped Ty Gibbs below the cut line at 26 points back, and others like Austin Cindric (-38), Justin Haley (-41) and Bowman (-44) remain in the picture.

    Of that group of drivers, Wallace had the best finish at New Hampshire last year in third, with Suarez finishing ninth and Cindric finishing 13th. That third place finish was a notable one for Wallace, as it sparked his breakout in the second half of the 2022 season -- albeit too late to make the playoffs before winning in the Round of 16 at Kansas. He'll be looking for New Hampshire to give him a similar boost this year, as he has been mired in a slump that has seen him earn only one top 15 finish since the month of June began.
  • It's become a running joke in NASCAR to refer to seemingly every track on the circuit as "Martin Truex Jr.'s home track" after the phrase was repeated ad nauseam several years ago whenever NASCAR raced in the Northeast. But New Hampshire is a special track to the Truex family, and one where Martin is still trying to break through. 

    Since 2016, Truex has led over 100 laps five different times at New Hampshire. And each time he's done that, he's failed to win. Doing the same and finishing the job this time would be an enormous boost to Truex, as two straight poor finishes have taken him from Cup Series points leader to second in the standings, 21 points back of William Byron in the race for the regular season championship.
  • For a select few teams, this is the start of a long weekend in New Hampshire. Following Sunday's race, NASCAR will conduct a two day test of improvements to the Next Gen car designed to improve the racing on short ovals a mile and under, which have confounded the car since its debut in 2022. Among the reported tweaks being tested is a "lift splitter", which would create "lift" for a car in clean air and downforce for a car in traffic, thus allowing a trailing car to close in on the car in front of them without running into a wall of air that keeps them from passing. Any changes to the Next Gen car deriving from the test would likely be implemented beginning in 2024.

    Participating drivers and teams will include Christopher Bell (Joe Gibbs Racing), Harrison Burton (Wood Brothers Racing), William Byron (Hendrick Motorsports), Justin Haley (Kaulig Racing), Ryan Preece (Stewart-Haas Racing) and Erik Jones (Legacy Motor Club).

Pick to win

(Odds via Caesars Sportsbook)

Christopher Bell (+500): Bell was my pick to win this race last year, and this time around I'm doubling down and picking him again. It's simply a matter of playing the hot hand. Since 2021, Bell has a Cup win and an Xfinity win at New Hampshire, and he could have two Cup wins had impending darkness not forced him to settle for second two years ago. His overall record at New Hampshire is outstanding, as he won a Truck Series race here in 2017 and has won all three Xfinity Series races he's entered here.

I'm inclined to pick a Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota either way, as I think Martin Truex Jr. could easily win this weekend given how he's performed here historically including last year. But until Bell proves not to have the magic touch at the Magic Mile, I might just pencil him in for trips to Victory Lane here moving forward.