2014 Sylvania 300

Previous week's race

Brad Keselowski coasted on to victory lane on the final restart in the MyAFibStory.com 400 at Chicagoland Speedway. “I am not really sure what to say,’’ Keselowski said after scoring his second consecutive victory of the season. “I don’t really know what happened. I just know we got to the lead. I saw Kyle and Kevin racing each other really hard, they were aggressively side drafting and I was waiting for an opportunity to strike and it came. The car stuck and everything came together."

Background

New Hampshire Motor Speedway is a 1.058-mile (1.703 km) oval speedway located in Loudon, New Hampshire which has hosted NASCAR racing annually since the early 1990s, as well as an IndyCar weekend and the oldest motorcycle race in North America, the Loudon Classic. Nicknamed "The Magic Mile", the speedway is often converted into a 1.6-mile (2.6 km) road course, which includes much of the oval.

On September 16, Ontario Country District Attorney Michael Tantillo issued a written statement stating that the findings into the investigation of the Tony Stewart incident at Canandaigua Motorsports Park on August 9 would be sent to a grand jury to determine what chargers if any will be filed against Stewart. The statement reads as follows. “Over the past several weeks, I have reviewed with members of the Ontario County Sheriff’s Department their investigation, as it progressed, in the Tony Stewart matter. Recently that office concluded its work and forwarded the complete case file to me. Upon my review of all of the information contained in the entire investigation, I have made the determination that it would be appropriate to submit the evidence to a grand jury, for their determination as to what action should be taken in this matter. Accordingly, the evidence developed in the investigation will be presented to an Ontario County grand jury in the near future. “As grand jury proceedings in New York State are strictly confidential by law, I am unable to state when the matter will be scheduled, other than to state that I intend to present the matter in the near future. Similarly, because of the confidential nature of these proceedings, I cannot state who will be called as witnesses, or what any witness’s expected testimony will be. When the presentation has been completed and a determination has been made, I will advise the public and the media at that time of the results.”

Stewart said he would continue to cooperate in the grand jury proceeding. "I respect the time and effort spent by both the Ontario County District Attorney and the sheriff’s office in investigating this tragic accident," Stewart said in a statement. "I look forward to this process being completed, and I will continue to provide my full cooperation.” Stewart is expected to race this weekend and NASCAR has issued a statement allowing him to do so. "We are aware of the completed investigation and the announced next steps," NASCAR spokesman Brett Jewkes said in a statement. "First, our thoughts continue to be with all who have been impacted by this tragedy. We will monitor this process and stay in close contact with Stewart-Haas Racing. It would be inappropriate for NASCAR to comment on this case so we will continue to respect the process and authorities involved."

Also on September 16, BK Racing sidelined Ryan Truex and put Travis Kvapil in the No. 83 car. This was a decision made quietly and wasn't announced till Friday, September 19. No reason was given as to why this happened and the team has not announced the immediate future beyond this weekend. “I didn’t have anything going on this weekend,” Kvapil said. “We had talked about doing something with the 93. These are my guys here. I had been with them for the last two years and feel I had a hand in building this team. I don’t know what the plans are beyond this weekend, but it’s good to be back.”

Entry list

The entry list for the Sylvania 300 was released on Monday, September 15, 2014 at 10:01 a.m. Eastern time. Forty-three drivers were entered for the race.

First practice

Brad Keselowski was the fastest in the first practice session with a time of 27.516 and a speed of 138.421 mph (222.767 km/h).

Qualifying

Brad Keselowski won the pole with a new track record time of 27.090 and a speed of 140.598 mph (226.271 km/h). “Loudon’s always been one of my favorite tracks, and we’ve won a couple poles here before,” said Keselowski. “But this one is a little extra special with everything that’s going on and going through the Chase and what not. I’m ready to get running tomorrow and hopefully, we’ll get another win. I try not to get caught up in statements, I’m just trying to go out there and do our job. The Penske team has done phenomenal this season, and it’s great to keep it rolling." “I thought we had a really good car in race trim,” said Jamie McMurray who qualified second. “We ran a few laps in race trim to start today. Very similar to the same car we had here the first race. We switched over to qualifying trim we were second quick so yeah our car has been good so far. The track will change a little bit tomorrow when the rubber gets laid down, but overall it’s been a really good weekend so far.” “We qualified a lot better this time than we did the last trip here,” said Dale Earnhardt, Jr. “We saved a set of tires in practice too that will be a big benefit tomorrow in race trim. It was a good day.” Forty-three drivers were entered so no one failed to make the race.

Second practice

Brad Keselowski was the fastest in the second practice session with a time of 28.084 and a speed of 135.622 mph (218.262 km/h).

Final practice

Brad Keselowski was going for the "perfect weekend" (topping the charts in every practice session along with winning the pole), but he came up short as Jeff Gordon was the fastest in the final practice session with a time of 28.139 and a speed of 135.357 mph (217.836 km/h). Corey Lajoie, who was making his first Sprint Cup Series start, tagged the wall in turn 4. Greg Biffle spun out exiting turn 2. The only damage that was sustained was a flat right-rear tire. In the closing seconds of the session, Tony Stewart got loose coming off of turn 4 and spun sideways down the front stretch.

Start

The race was scheduled to start at 2:16 p.m. Eastern time but started three minutes early with Brad Keselowski leading the way, the first caution of the race flew on lap 37, It was a planned competition caution due to overnight rain. Denny Hamlin took just two tires and assumed the lead after David Gilliland pitted after staying out. Keselowski took four and exited pit road 16th, The race restarted on lap 40.

Second Half

Kevin Harvick took the lead on lap 70, Denny Hamlin was running second when he made an unscheduled stop for a fuel probe issue on lap 95.

Second Caution and restart

Debris brought out the second caution on lap 105. The debris was from a Z-MAX decal that was located on the backstretch wall past the exit of turn 2. A NASCAR official eventually removed the logo. Harvick and Joey Logano traded the lead on pit road because of where Harvick's pit stall was located, The race restarted on lap 113, Dale Earnhardt, Jr. was running sixth when he made an unscheduled stop for a loose wheel.

Third Half

Debris in turn 3 brought out the third caution on lap 171. Harvick and Logano once again traded the lead on pit road. Only this time, Logano exited first. The race restarted on lap 178, Caution came out for the fourth time on lap 180 when Martin Truex, Jr. got into Cole Whitt and spun out taking David Ragan with him. Denny Hamlin slid into Ragan trying to avoid him. "Unfortunately, in this three-race deal you can't make any mistakes," Hamlin said of the new elimination format, in which four drivers will be out of contention after every third race in the 10-race run to the title. "And we didn't. But a parts failure put us down." "I hate to say it, but maybe some guys get some trouble and let us back in it. Other than that, it's going to be hard for us to do it without some help."

Restart and big wreck

The race restarted on lap 187, Caution flew for the fifth time on lap 188 for another multi-car crash in turn 2. Matt Kenseth got loose exiting turn 2. He pancaked the front of Kyle Busch and that accordioned into Kasey Kahne and sent Busch spinning down the backstretch.

Fourth Half

The race restarted on lap 193 and caution flew for the sixth time on lap 194 when Brad Keselowski, racing for seventh with Kenseth, got loose and turned himself around in turn 1.

Restart

The race restarted on lap 198 and caution flew for the seventh time on lap 202 after Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. got turned by a loose Dale Earnhardt, Jr. exiting turn 4, The race restarted on lap 206, Caution flew for the eighth time on lap 211 for debris on the backstretch. Brian Vickers stayed out when the leaders pitted and assumed the lead, The race restarted with 85 laps to go.

Midway

Caution flew for the ninth time with 79 laps to go after Kurt Busch slammed the wall in turn 3 following blowing the right-front tire.

Halfway

The race restarted with 76 laps to go, Brad Keselowski retook the lead with 72 laps to go and Debris on the backstretch brought out the tenth caution of the race with 54 laps to go, The race restarted with 50 laps to go, Caution flew for the eleventh time with 43 laps to go after Corey LaJoie spun out in turn 2.

Twelfth caution and restart

The race restarted with 40 laps to go, Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. slammed the wall in turn 1 to bring out the twelfth caution of the race with 37 laps to go.

Restart

The race restarted with 32 laps to go, Kevin Harvick retook the lead with 31 laps to go. Caution came out for the 13th time after Paul Menard got loose and spun in turn 3. He collected Matt Kenseth and hit the wall in turn 4.

Restart and 14th caution

The race restarted with 27 laps to go and Joey Logano retook the lead, Caution flew for the 14th time with nine laps to go after Jeff Gordon slammed the wall in turn 1.

Restart and 15th caution

The race restarted with four laps to go, Caution flew for the 15th time with three laps to go after Tony Stewart got turned and spun exiting turn 4.

Attempt #1

Joey Logano took off on the first Green-White-Checker attempt to score his fourth victory of the season. “It feels good to go into the next one,” Logano said. “We’ve got to keep doing what we’re doing though. We’ve got to keep our eye on the prize and think about the big trophy at the end.”

Race statistics