2011 Lenox Industrial Tools 301
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The 2011 Lenox Industrial Tools 301 was a NASCAR Sprint Cup Series motor race held on July 17, 2011 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway in
Loudon, New Hampshire Loudon is a town in Merrimack County, New Hampshire, United States. The population was 5,576 at the 2020 census. Loudon is the home of New Hampshire Motor Speedway. The main village in town, where 711 people lived at the 2020 census, is defined a ...
. Contested over 301 laps on the 1.058-mile (1.703 km) asphalt oval, it was the 19th race of the 2011 Sprint Cup Series season. The race was won by Ryan Newman of
Stewart Haas Racing Stewart-Haas Racing is an American professional stock car racing team that currently competes in the NASCAR Cup Series, the NASCAR Xfinity Series, and eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series. The team is co-owned by three-time NASCAR Cup Series cham ...
, his first win of 2011. Newman's teammate and owner, Tony Stewart finished second and Denny Hamlin clinched third. There were 10 cautions and 21 lead changes among 14 different drivers throughout the race. Following the race, Carl Edwards led the Drivers' Championship with 652 points, seven ahead of Jimmie Johnson and eleven points ahead of
Kurt Busch Kurt Thomas Busch (born August 4, 1978) is an American professional auto racing driver. He last competed full-time in the NASCAR Cup Series, driving the No. 45 Toyota Camry TRD for 23XI Racing. He is the 2004 NASCAR Cup Series champion and the ...
.
Chevrolet Chevrolet ( ), colloquially referred to as Chevy and formally the Chevrolet Motor Division of General Motors Company, is an American automobile division of the American manufacturer General Motors (GM). Louis Chevrolet (1878–1941) and ous ...
led the Manufacturer Championship with 127 points, 17 ahead of Ford and 22 ahead of Toyota. A total of 95,000 people attended the race, while 4.6 million watched it on television.


Report


Background

New Hampshire Motor Speedway is one of ten intermediate tracks to hold NASCAR races; the others are
Atlanta Motor Speedway Atlanta Motor Speedway (formerly known Atlanta International Raceway from 1960 to 1990) is a 1.54-mile entertainment facility in Hampton, Georgia, United States, 20 miles (32 km) south of Atlanta. It has annually hosted NASCAR Cup Series ...
, Charlotte Motor Speedway, Chicagoland Speedway, and Darlington Raceway as well as Homestead Miami Speedway, Kansas Speedway,
Kentucky Speedway Kentucky Speedway is a tri-oval speedway in Sparta, Kentucky, which has hosted ARCA, NASCAR and Indy Racing League racing annually since it opened in 2000. The track is currently owned and operated by Speedway Motorsports, Inc. Before 2008 J ...
, Las Vegas Motor Speedway, and Texas Motor Speedway. The standard track at New Hampshire Motor Speedway is a four-turn oval track, 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, Kyle Busch led the Drivers' Championship with 624 points, and Carl Edwards stood in second with 620. Kevin Harvick was third in the Drivers' Championship with 614 points, eight ahead of
Kurt Busch Kurt Thomas Busch (born August 4, 1978) is an American professional auto racing driver. He last competed full-time in the NASCAR Cup Series, driving the No. 45 Toyota Camry TRD for 23XI Racing. He is the 2004 NASCAR Cup Series champion and the ...
and nine ahead of Jimmie Johnson in fourth and fifth. Matt Kenseth with 602 was 49 ahead of Dale Earnhardt Jr., as Ryan Newman with 538 points, was nine ahead of Denny Hamlin, and eleven in front of Tony Stewart. In the Manufacturers' Championship,
Chevrolet Chevrolet ( ), colloquially referred to as Chevy and formally the Chevrolet Motor Division of General Motors Company, is an American automobile division of the American manufacturer General Motors (GM). Louis Chevrolet (1878–1941) and ous ...
was leading with 118 points, 12 ahead of Ford. Toyota, with 99 points, was 27 points ahead of
Dodge Dodge is an American brand of automobiles and a division of Stellantis, based in Auburn Hills, Michigan. Dodge vehicles have historically included performance cars, and for much of its existence Dodge was Chrysler's mid-priced brand above P ...
in the battle for third.


Practice and qualifying

Three practice sessions are scheduled before the race; the first on Friday, which lasted 90 minutes. The second and third were both on Saturday afternoon, lasting 60 minutes each. Clint Bowyer was quickest with a time of 28.379 seconds in the first session, around two hundredths seconds faster than Stewart. Newman was just off Stewart's pace, followed by
A. J. Allmendinger Anthony James "A. J." Allmendinger (born December 16, 1981) is an American professional stock car racing driver. He competes full-time in the NASCAR Cup Series, driving the No. 16 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 for Kaulig Racing. Allmendinger's professi ...
,
Paul Menard John Paul Christian Menard (born August 21, 1980) is an American semi-retired professional stock car racing driver who last competed part-time in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series, driving the No. 66 Toyota Tundra for ThorSport Racing. Men ...
, and Kurt Busch.
Regan Smith The family name Regan, along with its cognates O'Regan, O Regan, Reagan, and O'Reagan, is an Anglicized form of the Irish surname Ó Riagáin or Ó Ríogáin, from Ua Riagáin. The meaning is likely to have originated in ancient Gaelic ''ri'' " ...
was seventh, still within a second of Bowyer's time. Forty-six cars were entered for qualifying, but only forty-three could qualify for the race because of NASCAR's qualifying procedure. Newman clinched the 47th
pole position In a motorsports race, the pole position is usually the best and "statistically the most advantageous" starting position on the track. The pole position is usually earned by the driver with the best qualifying times in the trials before the rac ...
of his career, with a record time of 28.165 seconds. He was joined on the front row of the grid by Stewart. David Reutimann qualified third, Kurt Busch took fourth, and Brad Keselowski started fifth. Jeff Burton, Gordon, Juan Pablo Montoya, Menard and Kasey Kahne rounded out the top ten. The three drivers that failed to qualify for the race were Tony Raines, Scott Riggs, and Dennis Setzer. Once the qualifying session completed, Newman commented, "This has been a track that's been really good for me for firsts and I'm looking for that first win again. It's extremely important here to start up front, it's a big track-position race, it's a relatively short race if you look at the mileage and the way the fuel stops work out. We've got a good start, we just need to have a good finish for the team. I want to get that victory on Sunday, that’s what I’m thinking about." In the second practice session, Stewart was fastest with a time of 29.487 seconds, less than five-thousandths of a second quicker than second-placed Bowyer. Keselowski took third place, ahead of Gordon,
Martin Truex Jr. Martin Lee Truex Jr. (born June 29, 1980) is an American professional stock car racing driver. He competes full-time in the NASCAR Cup Series, driving the No. 19 Toyota Camry for Joe Gibbs Racing. He is the 2017 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Serie ...
and Hamlin. Burton was only quick enough for the seventh position. In the third and final practice, Johnson was quickest with a time of 29.391 seconds. Montoya followed in second, ahead of Newman and Burton. Keselowski was fifth quickest, with a time of 29.490 seconds. Joey Logano, Brian Vickers, Truex, Hamlin, and Kurt Busch rounded out the first ten positions.


Race

The race, the 19th in the season, began at 1:00 p.m. EDT and was televised live in the United States on TNT. The conditions on the grid were dry before the race, the air temperature at ; clear skies were expected.


Results


Qualifying


Race results


Standings after the race

;Drivers' Championship standings ;Manufacturers' Championship standings *Note: Only the top five positions are included for the driver standings.


References

{{2011 NASCAR Sprint Cup , state=collapsed
Lenox Industrial Tools 301 The Crayon 301 is a 301 lap ( annual NASCAR Cup Series stock car race held at the New Hampshire Motor Speedway in Loudon, New Hampshire. Christopher Bell is the defending winner, having won it in 2022. History The race has been traditionally ...
Lenox Industrial Tools 301 The Crayon 301 is a 301 lap ( annual NASCAR Cup Series stock car race held at the New Hampshire Motor Speedway in Loudon, New Hampshire. Christopher Bell is the defending winner, having won it in 2022. History The race has been traditionally ...
NASCAR races at New Hampshire Motor Speedway
Lenox Industrial Tools 301 The Crayon 301 is a 301 lap ( annual NASCAR Cup Series stock car race held at the New Hampshire Motor Speedway in Loudon, New Hampshire. Christopher Bell is the defending winner, having won it in 2022. History The race has been traditionally ...