NASCAR at New Hampshire live updates: Keselowski gets the victory

Following a weekend off, a morning of silly season news and an afternoon of light rain, NASCAR Cup racing is set to return at New Hampshire Motor Speedway at 2:55 p.m. EST on NBCSN.

The Foxwoods Resort Casino 301 in Loudon is the seventh race remaining in the regular season. Two-time consecutive race winner and current points leader Kevin Harvick will attempt to defend his title at the track, while former Cup champions Kyle Busch and Jimmie Johnson hunt for their first win of the year.

The green flag, previously scheduled for 3:18 p.m., has been moved up by five minutes to 3:13 p.m. along with all other pre-race activities, according to NASCAR.

Follow along here for lap-by-lap updates from the Foxwoods Resort Casino 301. Refresh this page for the latest updates. Full results will be published here shortly after the race.

6:24 p.m., Final: Keselowski wins

With a long green-flag finish, Keselowski rode his fast car to the victory, followed by Hamlin and Truex Jr.

6:05 p.m., Lap 265: No change up front

Keselowski and Hamlin are still leading the way with under 40 laps to go. Truex Jr. is in third, followed by Logano, DiBenedetto, Almirola, Johnson, Harvick, Custer and Byron.

5:45 p.m., Lap 220: Familiar battle up front

Keselowski and Hamlin continue to battle for the lead, with Keselowski currently out front by about 0.25 seconds. Logano, Truex Jr. and Johnson are next, followed by DiBenedetto, Byron, Custer, Reddick and Bowyer.

5:21 p.m., Lap 195: Byron to P3, caution comes out

Matt Kenseth experiences a flat tire and spins to force another caution. Blaney, Logano and Harvick all pit under yellow out of the top-10, while Hamlin maintains his lead over the field, followed by Keselowski in second place. Byron has raced up to third place, and Almirola is in fourth. Both drivers are still seeking a race with, but Byron, who is lower in points, said he’s recently been more conscious of stage points. Still, the No. 24 driver has had a fast car today and could use that to his advantage.

5:12 p.m., Lap 185: Keselowski beats Hamlin by a nose in Stage 2

A three-lap shootout for Stage 2 ends in victory for Brad Keselowski. With Hamlin leading on the restart, Keselowski drives low inside the No. 11 and is able to surge past him with a slightly faster car. He holds onto the lead down the backstretch in the final lap and beat Hamlin by a nose for stage points. Logano, Almirola, Byron, Bowyer, Dillon, Truex, Elliott and DiBenedetto finish in the top-10 for points. Bowman and Kurt Busch were just behind them in 11th and 12th.

5:06 p.m., Lap 179: Caution for Bell, then for Kenseth

After Havick goes to pit road for fuel and four fresh tires, the caution flag comes out shortly after on Lap 172 for Christopher Bell, who turns off a corner. Blaney was on pit road when Bell spun, while Bowyer needed a pit stop, so that works out well for them, but Harvick is only able to go from 25th to 21st place when the race again goes green. A few laps later, Matt Kenseth spins, and another caution comes out on Lap 179. Brad Keselowski takes the lead from Austin Dillon on the first restart and leads Hamlin, Almirola, Logano, Byron and Dillon when the race goes green with only three laps remaining in the stage.

4:50 p.m., Lap 158: Battle ensues, Keselowski wins

Keselowski gets to less than a second behind Hamlin then edges past him briefly for the lead, but Hamlin uses the lapped car of Joey Gase,in Keselowski’s line, as a pick on Lap 144 and retakes the lead. By lap 147, though, Keselowski looks faster, though, and by Lap 147, he takes the lead and gets clean air, putting up to three seconds on Hamlin. Logano follows behind in third. Meanwhile, William Byron has moved up to fifth place after a relatively quiet start. Blaney reports vibration and drops to 13th as Truex moves up to 10th.

4:38 p.m., Lap 133: Running order settles, Hamlin leads

Hamlin maintains a steady lead with a second over Keselowski in P2. Logano settles into third, followed by Almirola in fourth and Harvick in fifth. Cup series rookie Bell is holding onto his sixth place spot. Earlier in the week, the No. 95 driver, said the Loudon track was “one of his best.” His best finish this season came at the first Pocono race, where Bell finished in fourth.

4:23 p.m., Lap 101: Race goes green

Most drivers, including previous leaders, pit under caution, but Harvick, Blaney, Wallace and Bowyer stay out. A tire rolls away from the No. 19 team on pit road, and Martin Truex Jr. is sent to the rear on the restart with an uncontrolled tire penalty. He was previously in third place. Off the restart, Harvick gets out front, but drops back to third behind Hamlin and Logano, who gets up to second. On Lap 111, the order is Hamlin, Logano and Keselowski in the top three as Harvick further drops. Bell and Blaney, who were earlier driving up front and pitted for tires, are lurking in the top-10 and could overtake the leaders when the front of the field soon pits.

4:13 p.m., Lap 92: Caution out. This time for weather.

Light rain touches down and the yellow flag comes out for the fifth time. Hopefully, this will be a quick delay. The rain cluster appears to be moving northeast over the track at 30 miles per hour and it expected to break up, according to the weather radar and track analysts. The running order at the caution remains Hamlin in the lead, followed by Harvick, Truex, Keselowski and Bell in the top-five. Ryan Preece, who crashed out of last week’s race, is up to ninth place, while previous race leader Blaney has dropped to 14th.

3:59 p.m., Lap 75: Denny Hamlin wins Stage 1

Although Blaney had the launch off the restart, he was driving on older tires and couldn’t hold onto the lead, allowing Hamlin to slide into first in the final laps of the stage. Track veterans Martin Truex Jr. and Kevin Harvick also get into the top-three. The finishing order for the stage is Hamlin, Truex, Harvick, Bell, Keselowski, Blaney, Bowyer, Byron, Logano and Almirola in the top-10 for points.

3:51 p.m., Lap 64: Caution for Jimmie Johnson

Johnson, driving inside Clint Bowyer, makes contact with the No. 14 and spins to the inside. Bowyer looked like he drove low into Johnson on the apron. A caution comes out with Hamlin in the lead, followed closely by Blaney. The field pits and Hamlin wins the race off pit road, but when the green flag comes back out on Lap 68, Blaney gets the launch for first place. Chase Elliott was earlier issued a speeding penalty on pit road.

3:47 p.m., Lap 58: Battle among the top-three

A battle ensues between Keselowski, Hamlin and Blaney running 1-2-3. Keselowski pulls ahead with the clean air, leaving Hamlin and Blaney to duke it out for second by Lap 40, but Blaney gets past Hamlin rounding Turn 4 on Lap 42 and settles into second place. Hamlin stays on his heels and eventually gets back past Blaney on Lap 55, and then moves into first by Lap 58. Still, those three vy for track position each lap.

3:32 p.m., Lap 30: Competition caution, Kez keeps the lead

At the competition caution, the running order is Keselowski, Logano, Johnson, Almirola and Elliott in the top-five. Hamlin, Reddick, Blaney, Harvick and Custer follow in the top-10. Jones gets back on the lead lap, as the first driver a lap down at the caution. Keselowski again stays out instead of pitting. Off the restart, Blaney moves into second place, then drops to third as Hamlin drives aggressively inside Blaney and pulls in front of the No. 12. Keselowski still leads.

Meanwhile, a rain cluster is moving in over the speedway and looks like it will touch down before the halfway point, when the race would be called official.

3:21 p.m., Lap 16: Kyle Busch done for the day

The day barely started for Busch before it was over. The No. 18 car hit the wall rounding Turn 3 with a flat front tire, suffering heavy damage, a few laps after making contact with the wall. The defending Cup champion got out of his car and took a ride to the infield Care Center without much of an opportunity. “Go home. Just f—king go home,” Busch says on his team radio before exiting. Erik Jones, also in the hunt for a post-season berth, then gets docked a lap for pitting outside the box.

3:13 p.m., Lap 4: Green flag! Keselowski rolls up to P1

Brad Keselowski, driving between the two PJ1 traction compound lines, passes inside pole-sitter and early race leader Aric Almirola to take the first place spot. Some drivers, such as Clint Bowyer, Kurt Busch and Ryan Blaney, drive too high as the field settles into finding the preferred grove and grip levels. Turn 3, especially, seems to be where drivers are overshooting.

2:55 p.m.: Pre-race ceremonies

Drivers line up on the grid for pre-race ceremonies, which include a moment of recognition for New Hampshire Motor Speedway founder Bob Bahre, who passed away last week at the age of 93, as well as NASCAR Hall of Fame member Maurice Petty, who passed away last weekend at the age of 81. Drivers and fans remain standing for the singing of the national anthem, and reporters at the track note the tributes to No. 48 driver Jimmie Johnson, who is the active driver with the most top-10 finishes at the track. Today marks the seven-time Cup champion’s 35th start at “The Magic Mile.”

2:40 p.m.: Crew chiefs for Wallace, LaJoie out of the race

Before the race, NASCAR announces that the crew chiefs for two teams — those of Corey LaJoie and Bubba Wallace — will be suspended for the Foxwoods Resort Casino 301 due to pre-race inspection infractions. The No. 32 car of LaJoie and the No. 43 car of Wallace had improperly mounted ballasts, according to NASCAR. In addition to the crew chief suspensions, those teams will lose their starting positions and they have been issued a 10 point driver/owner penalty. LaJoie, who works with crew chief Ryan Sparks, was previously set to start 33rd, while Wallace, with crew chief Jerry Baxter, was going to start 15th.

NASCAR also announced that Austin Dillon would start at the rear of the field along with LaJoie and Wallace for unapproved adjustments to his No. 3 car. Aric Almirola is starting on the pole.

HOW TO WATCH NASCAR RACE AT NEW HAMPSHIRE

• Race: Foxwoods Resort Casino 301

• Distance: 318.46 miles, 301 laps (stages end on laps 75, 185, 301)

• When: Sunday, 3 p.m.

• TV: NBCSN (broadcast starts at 2:30 p.m.)

• Radio: PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio

• 2019 Race Winner: Kevin Harvick

STARTING LINEUP FOR NASCAR RACE AT NEW HAMPSHIRE

This story was originally published August 2, 2020 at 2:40 PM.

Alexandra Andrejev

The Charlotte Observer

NASCAR and Charlotte FC beat reporter Alex Andrejev joined The Observer in January 2020 following an internship at The Washington Post. She is a two-time APSE award winner for her NASCAR beat coverage and National Motorsports Press Association award winner. She is the host of McClatchy’s podcast “Payback” about women’s soccer. Support my work with a digital subscription