2009 Sylvania 300

Background

New Hampshire Motor Speedway is one of ten intermediate tracks to hold NASCAR races, the others being Atlanta Motor Speedway, Charlotte Motor Speedway, Chicagoland Speedway, and Darlington Raceway as well as Homestead Miami Speedway, Kansas Speedway, Kentucky Speedway, Las Vegas Motor Speedway, and Texas Motor Speedway. The standard track at New Hampshire Motor Speedway is a four-turn oval track, 1.058 miles (1.703 km) long. The track's turns are banked at two to seven degrees, while the front stretch, the finish line, and the back stretch are banked at one degree.

Before the race, Mark Martin led the Drivers' Championship with 5,040 points, followed by Tony Stewart and Jimmie Johnson who were tied for second place on 5,030 points. Denny Hamlin, was 5,020 points, was tied with Kasey Kahne, with Jeff Gordon, Kurt Busch and Brian Vickers all level with 5,010 points. Carl Edwards, Ryan Newman, Juan Pablo Montoya and Greg Biffle rounded out the top twelve with 5,000 points each. In the Manufacturers' Championship, Chevrolet was leading with 190 points, thirty-six points ahead of their rival Toyota in second. Dodge and Ford were tied on points in the battle for third place. Biffle was the race's defending champion.

Practice and qualifying

Three practice sessions were held before the Sunday race—one on Friday, and two on Saturday. The first session lasted 90 minutes, and the second 45 minutes. The final session lasted 60 minutes. During the first practice session, Montoya was fastest, placing ahead of Kevin Harvick in second and Clint Bowyer in third. Stewart took fourth position, and Martin placed fifth. Kurt Busch, A.J. Allmendinger, Kyle Busch, Johnson and Hamlin rounded out the top ten fastest drivers in the session.

Although forty-five drivers were entered in the qualifier; according to NASCAR's qualifying procedure, only forty-three could race. Each driver ran two laps, with the starting order determined by the competitor's fastest times. Montoya clinched his second pole position of the season, with a time of 28.545. He was joined on the grid's front row by Stewart. Kurt Busch qualified third, Hamlin took fourth, and Edwards started fifth. David Stremme, Martin Truex, Jr., Bobby Labonte and Kyle Busch completed the top nine qualifiers. Jeff Gordon, one of the drivers in the Chase for the Sprint Cup, qualified tenth, while Harvick set the twelfth-fastest time. The two drivers who failed to qualify for the race were Derrike Cope and Dexter Bean. After the qualifier Montoya said, "You know how these races go, "If it was a 10-lap shootout, I'll say, 'Hey, we're looking good.' But it's like 200 laps, 300 laps or something, or 400, I don't even know. It's a bunch of laps. As long as I lead the last one I don't care."

On Saturday morning, Montoya was fastest in the second practice session, ahead of Truex in second, and Martin in third. Stremme]] was fourth quickest, and Johnson took fifth. Hamlin managed sixth. Kurt Busch, Biffle, Labonte and Kahne followed in the top ten. Of the other drivers in the Chase, Stewart was eighteenth-fastest, while Edwards ended with twenty-third-fastest time. Later that day, Montoya paced the final practice session, ahead of Truex in second and Kurt Busch in third. Martin was fourth-fastest, ahead of Johnson and Dale Earnhardt, Jr.. Hamlin was seventh-fastest, Jeff Gordon eighth-, Harvick ninth- and Stewart tenth-fastest. Other Chase drivers included Kahne in fourteenth and Biffle in twentieth.

Race

The race, the twenty-seventh of a total of thirty-six in the 2009 season, began at 1:00 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time and was televised live in the United States on ESPN. Around the start of the race, weather conditions were sunny with the air temperature around 67 °F (19 °C). Bishop Michael Cote began pre-race ceremonies with the invocation. Universal Music Group Nashville recording artist Josh Turner performed the national anthem, and Tim Leach, Vice President of Sales, Service and Logistics for Sylvania, gave the command for drivers to start their engines. During the pace laps, Tony Raines had to move to the back of the grid because of him changing his engine.

Stewart accelerated faster than Montoya off the line, getting ahead of him by the first turn. One lap later, Montoya reclaimed the lead by passing Stewart at turn one. Stremme moved into fourth on lap three, while Hamlin passed Stewart for the second position. Vickers, who began the race in twenty-sixth, had moved up seven positions to nineteenth by lap five. By the sixth lap, Montoya had increased his lead over Stewart to 1.4 seconds. Five laps later, Jeff Gordon moved into sixth position, while Edwards passed Labonte for eighth. By lap 15, Montoya had a 2.3-second lead over Stewart. Seven laps later, Stewart had reduced Montoya's lead to 1.1 seconds.

On lap 24, Dave Blaney took his car to the garage because of an electrical problem. Seven laps later, Truex lost three positions after running seventh. On lap 37, Stewart reclaimed the lead from Montoya. On the 39th lap, Michael McDowell drove to the garage because of brake problems. During the 43rd lap, Jeff Gordon passed Hamlin for fourth position. After starting the race in twenty-third, Earnhardt moved up into fifteenth position by lap 46. Four laps later, Stremme dropped to sixth position, after being passed by Edwards and Johnson. On lap 51, Jeff Gordon passed Hamlin for the fourth position, while Mike Wallace took his car to the garage because of brake problems.

By lap 56, Harvick and Labonte were running in nineteenth and twentieth, while Stewart's lead was 1.7 seconds by lap 63. Three laps later, Kahne's car suffered an engine problem, causing the first caution of the race. During the caution, all of the leaders elected to make pit stops. Montoya reclaimed the lead during the caution and maintained it at the restart. On lap 79, Jeff Gordon passed Martin for the seventh position. By the 83rd lap, Montoya's lead was 1.8 seconds over Stewart. Two laps later, the second caution was given because of debris on the track at turn three. None of the leaders elected to make pit stops. Montoya maintained his lead at the restart, followed by Stewart and Hamlin.

On lap 92, Stewart fell to fifth after contact with Hamlin, allowing Kurt Busch to move into second position one lap later. On lap 95, Jeff Gordon passed Truex for twelfth position. By lap 101, Montoya had a lead of 1.2 seconds. Kurt Busch managed to close the gap to Montoya by 0.7 seconds by lap 110. On the 113th lap, Jeff Gordon passed Vickers to claim eleventh. Twelve laps later, Kurt Busch claimed the lead off Montoya. Five laps later, Jeff Gordon moved up to ninth, while Newman and Vickers moved up to tenth and eleventh respectively. On lap 131, Earnhardt passed Martin for the tenth position.

By lap 138, Kurt Busch had a 2.4-second lead over Montoya. On lap 141, the third caution was given as debris was spotted on the track. During the caution, all of the leaders made pit stops. At the lap 146 restart. Montoya became the leader, ahead of Hamlin and Kurt Busch. Two laps later, Hamlin moved into first, one lap after colliding with Montoya. On lap 153, Montoya reclaimed the lead through turn four. Five laps later, Johnson passed Martin for the sixth position. Three laps later, the fourth caution was given after Erik Darnell spun sideways in turn two. Most of the leaders made pit stops (which included a pit road collision between Kurt Busch and David Ragan), and Stewart became the leader at the lap 165 restart. Two laps after the restart, the fifth caution was given as a multi-car collision occurred, as Joey Logano and Elliott Sadler collided, collecting Paul Menard, Michael Waltrip, Robby Gordon and John Andretti.

Stewart led on the restart; On the next lap, the sixth caution was given as Jeff Burton spun sideways. At the lap 180 restart, Stewart was the leader, ahead of Johnson, Newman, Earnhardt and Hamlin. On the next lap, Johnson claimed the lead through turn one, while Sam Hornish, Jr. went to his garage due to oil issues. Two laps later, Earnhardt and Montoya moved up into third and fifth positions respectively. Five laps later, Montoya passed McMurray for the fourth position; Earnhardt passed Stewart for second. By the 190th lap, Johnson had a lead of three seconds, while Montoya passed Stewart for third. On lap 193, Allmendinger made contact with Stremme who spun into the wall at turn two, prompting the seventh caution. Most of the leaders made pit stops during the caution. Kurt Busch became the leader by the lap 197 restart, from Martin and Sadler.

On lap 199, Burton and David Reutimann moved into third and fourth respectively after passing Sadler. Five laps later, Martin passed Kurt Busch to claim the lead. On lap 208, Jeff Gordon had fallen to fourteenth position after minor contact with Johnson, while Hamlin and Montoya moved into fourth and sixth positions respectively. Three laps later, Montoya moved into fifth after passing Reutimann. On the 219th lap, Johnson passed Sadler for the seventh position. Nineteen laps later, Johnson passed Montoya to take over fifth, while Hamlin passed Burton to claim the second position. On lap 243, green flag pit stops began, as Martin was the first to pit, handing the lead back to Kurt Busch. On lap 248, Hamlin became the new race leader after Kurt Busch came into pit road. Twenty-one laps later, Kevin Harvick drove to pit road due to mechanical problems.

On lap 272, Martin reclaimed the lead as the previous leaders had made their pit stops. Four laps later, the eighth caution was given because of debris on the track in turns three and four. Most of the drivers made pit stops during the caution, although Martin stayed out and remained the leader on the restart. After the restart, the ninth caution was given after Reutimann and Earnhardt made contact, causing Earnhardt to collide with the turn two wall. At the lap 287 restart, Martin remained the leader ahead of Kurt Busch. One lap later, Montoya moved up into third after passing Hamlin and Johnson. On lap 289, Montoya passed Kurt Busch at the first turn for the second position. One lap later, Kurt Busch lost a further position when he was passed by Hamlin. On lap 292, Martin had a 1.1-second lead. Two laps later, the tenth caution came out after Allmendinger spun in turn two after he made contact with Marcos Ambrose. Martin led on the restart, followed by Montoya and Hamlin. On the final lap, Allmendinger spun sideways, bringing out the eleventh and final caution, and the field was frozen, with the finishing order determined by where the drivers were running at the moment of caution. The result gave Martin the victory, which was his fifth win of the 2009 season. Hamlin finished second, ahead of Montoya in third, Johnson in fourth, and Kyle Busch in fifth. Kurt Busch, Newman, Sadler, Biffle and Bowyer rounded out the top ten finishers.

Post-race

Martin appeared in victory lane to celebrate his fifth win of the season, and his first at the New Hampshire Motor Speedway, in front of 101,000 who attended the race. Martin also earned $232,750 in race winnings. Montoya was somewhat frustrated with the result, saying: "Martin just screwed me -- he just stopped the car on the apex, right on the bottom, and I had nowhere to go," Montoya said. "I could have pushed him out of the way ... but I respect him a lot." Martin was delighted with his victory: "Alan [Gustafson] won the race, Alan's the man. This is a dream come true. ... We still have the lotto at Talladega [Nov. 1], and [I] think we'll run OK at Martinsville. We finished [seventh] in the spring, but I don't run good there -- but this is my hardest place. It's a tough place." Martin also argued that his driving did not cause the final caution: " Once you got the lead, you need to make sure you don't drive it in there and turn it sideways (and) slide it up the racetrack. I mean, how stupid would I look then?"

The race result kept Martin in the lead of the Drivers' Championship with 5,230 points. Hamlin, who finished second, moved into second, tied on points with Johnson on 5,195, twenty points ahead of Montoya and thirty ahead of Kurt Busch. In the Manufacturers' Championship, Chevrolet maintained the lead with 199 points. Toyota remained second with 160 points. Dodge advanced to third with 118 and Ford was bumped to fourth with 117. 5.04 million people watched the race on television. The race took three hours, nine minutes and one second to complete; because it ended under caution, no margin of victory was recorded.

Three days after the race, Joe Gibbs Racing were given penalties for Kyle Busch's car. Joe Gibbs Racing's penalty, for unauthorized alterations to the ride height of Kyle Busch's car, included a fine of $25,000 for crew chief Steve Addington, and the loss of 25 owner and driver points for Joe Gibbs and Kyle Busch respectively. Addington was also placed on probation until December 31, 2009.