Information By: TAYLOR SMITH / TEAM PENSKE – LOUDON, NH
USA TODAY 301 Qualifying: New Hampshire Motor Speedway
Loudon, NH – June 22, 2024
NASCAR TRACKS – NEW HAMPSHIRE MOTOR SPEEDWAY – NASCAR 101
NASCAR Cup Series teams faced damp and gloomy conditions upon arriving to New Hampshire Motor Speedway Saturday morning, ultimately forcing the cancelation of NASCAR Cup Series qualifying. As a result, the starting lineup was set per NASCAR’s rulebook. As a break in the weather followed, drivers were able to log minimal laps during an abbreviated practice session.
- Ryan Blaney, driver, No. 12 Menards/Dutch Boy Ford Mustang – 2nd
- Joey Logano, driver, No. 22 Hunt Brothers Pizza Ford Mustang – 6th
- Austin Cindric, driver, No. 2 Autotrader Ford Mustang – 29th
HEAR FROM BLANEY: “I don’t know what the weather is going to do. Nobody knows. I feel like we’ve always run pretty good here. I thought we had a good shot to compete for the win last year and we had a problem on pit road, last stop of the race and kind of took us out of it. I feel like this place has been fairly good to us and like I said earlier, I think our short track program is kind of getting to be fairly decent. That stuff changes week to week. You just try to stay on top of it and try to keep learning from previous years and weeks. But I’ve always wanted to hold the lobster ever since I was a kid. So hopefully we can keep adding to our entrees. We had corn last week and lobster this week and trying to add a full plate of dinner. So we’ll see what we can do.”
RETURNING TO SONOMA: In 112 Cup Series starts at the Magic Mile, Team Penske has scored seven wins, including the inaugural event on July 11, 1993 with driver Rusty Wallace. Connecticut’s Joey Logano won his first premier series race at New Hampshire in 2009 before claiming his second lobster, the highly coveted ‘prize’ for the race winner, in 2014. Across his 25 starts at the track, Logano has 14 top-10 finishes. For front-row starter Ryan Blaney, he has four top-10 results at the Loudon, New Hampshire, track, with a best finish of fourth. Austin Cindric has two Cup Series starts to his credit at the 1.058-mile track, finishing with a best of 13th in his 2022 rookie season.
SUNDAY AT SONOMA: Coverage of Sunday’s USA TODAY 301 begins at 2:00 p.m. ET. on USA, PRN, and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.