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NASCAR Monday Mash-Up: Joe Gibbs Racing sweeps New Hampshire

JHby: Jonathan Howard07/17/23Jondean25
Martin Truex Jr wins Crayon 301
(Photo by Meg Oliphant/Getty Images)

This week in NASCAR action, we got two really good races at New Hampshire Motor Speedway that both ended with Toyota in victory lane. I know, the Chevy and Ford diehards are mad that I’m even bringing it up. You have to acknowledge that Joe Gibbs Racing just knows how to get around the Magic Mile.

It was a weekend without the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series. So, we had just two races. Of course, the Cup Series race got pushed to today, Monday. Rain and flood warnings kept NASCAR off the track on Sunday, and honestly, it was the right call.

While Martin Truex Jr. went on to dominate the Crayon 301, his Xfinity Series counterpart John Hunter Nemechek cleaned up in the Ambetter Health 200. A really solid weekend for JGR.

Let’s get into what went down on this long NASCAR weekend.

NASCAR Xfinity Series has a restart problem

I would argue that the racing in both the NASCAR Xfinity and Cup Series was fun. However, with the younger and more inexperienced drivers in Xfinity, we had issues. The restarts were getting the best of these drivers all day long. Seriously, it was an issue over and over again and not something we saw on Monday.

Saturday was full of incidents like this.

The accordion effect was in full force. It had these drivers banging up their cars and other cars; it was a mess. The only ones that benefitted from this were the drivers in front of all of it. If half the field gets wrecked, it’s hard for you to lose your spot, right?

This NASCAR race ended with Chandler Smith trying to race down John Hunter Nemecheck. It also ended with JHN taking the white flag and Cole Custer wrecking Sheldon Creed to bring out the final caution and end the race.

Simultaneous.

As mentioned, John Hunter Nemechek won this race. He led 137 of 206 total laps, thanks to overtime. This race went 217.948 miles and it was the Persil Toyota Supra taking the checkered flag. It also helped push Nemechek’s points lead further. Four wins and a championship in his eyes, can he pull it off?

Martin Truex Jr. puts on a show

A third NASCAR Cup Series win on the season and a third dominant performance. However, this race was different from others. Martin Truex Jr. was ahead and at times had a comfortable lead. However, he was never safe. At Sonoma, he was safe. For most of Dover, he was safe.

In this race, he was not safe. Then again, on this Magic Mile track with new short-track tires, none of these drivers were safe. Just ask Kyle Busch and Corey LaJoie who found the wall early in this race.

They weren’t the only ones who had big wrecks in this race. There weren’t many multi-car incidents. However, one of the most consequential moments of the race involved Aric Almirola.

After his pit crew failed to tighten his wheel all the way, it started to come off and sent Almirola into the wall. It did a ton of damage to the rear end of his car and took him out of the NASCAR race after he was leading on the restart.

27th in the NASCAR standings, Almirola needs a win to make the playoffs.

These NASCAR drivers and crews had a busy day. This track changed a lot. These new tires were tough for some to deal with. It all produced a really great race. Martin Truex Jr. and his team had to make strategy calls all race long – it was an excellent performance.

Joey Logano put pressure on Truex Jr. late, but it wasn’t enough. The 19 was excellent all day and pulled off the win and claimed the lobster!

Before we close out this week of NASCAR and move on to Pocono, I’ll leave you all with this expert burnout.