Tire failure ends day early for Kenseth at Loudon

August 2, 2020

New Hampshire Motor Speedway (Loudon, N.H.)

301 miles

Start: 21st | Finish: 37th Points: 1 | Standings: 28th

Details of the day:

• While racing hard inside the top 15, late in the second stage, Kenseth lost grip and spun the car, fortunately no contact with the wall or other cars, on Lap 178 to bring out the caution.

• Shortly after taking the green on the final stage, Kenseth experienced a blown tire on Lap 195, then again on Lap 203. The last blown tire resulted in damage from contact with the Turn 3 wall, and forced the No. 42 team out of the race early.

• The caution flag was shown 11 times today, for a total of 52 laps.

• The lead changed 22 times among seven drivers.

Chad Johnston, crew chief, No. 42 Clover Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE “Unfortunately, we had no luck with the Clover Chevy today. We worked throughout the race to free the car up and fix the tight conditions through the center of the corners. The tight center feeling never really went away, but the car was handling better at the mid-point of the race and we were able to make up some spots. Matt was working really hard to gain some track position at the start of the final stage when the car stepped out on him trying to make a pass. From there it went from bad to worse with a handling issue that lead to a blown right front tire, and then another blown tire shortly after that, forcing us out of the race. Another frustrating day for us, so we’ll look forward to the Michigan doubleheader next weekend and two shots at a track where this team has been good.”

Next:

The NASCAR Cup Series will go to Michigan International Speedway for a double header weekend on Saturday, Aug. 8, for The FireKeepers Casino 400 and again on Sunday, Aug. 9, for The Consumers Energy 400. Both races will be broadcast on NBCSN, the Motor Racing Network and Sirius/XM NASCAR Channel 90. Saturday's race begins at 4 p.m. EDT and Sunday's begins at 4:30 p.m. EDT.