summer vacations new england

♪♪ gave proof through the night that ourflag was still there ♪♪ ♪♪ oh, say, does that star-spangled banneryet wave ♪♪ ♪♪ o'er the land of the free ♪♪♪♪ and the home of the brave? >>> a picture perfect day in new england. the driversclimbing into their cars. 43 warriors going to battle. who will get to victory lane? everyoneloves the picture i posted of you. >>> welcome to nbcsn's coverage of nascarsprint cup series racing at new hampshire. a lot of story lines, a lot of pressure buildingas we enter the second race of the chase. let's go trackside now with marty snyder.>> one of the big topics this week has been

can kevin harvick make it to round two withoutwinning for the next two races. there are several ways to make it to round two. i canpromise you this. we want to win today. as he told the media we'll be aggressive. everyone around us knows how aggressive we'llbe in pursuing the win today, mike. >> i feel like i'm taking a rock to a gunfight. those are the words of clint bowyer during a frustrating moment during practicethis weekend. this morning it seemed like a reversal of attitude. he was smiling andjoking. his goals were serious. he said we know we need to win. something he's done twicebefore in new hampshire. >> 12th place finish at chicagoland has daleearnhardt, jr. just ten points above the cut-off

line. but the team is off to their best startin weeks, 11th place. qualifying effort was the best in the last five races. the crewchief says they have more confidence headed into the race.>> carl edwards fist race with joe gibbs racing in july said he'd never had speed like this.put the car on the pole then and again today. he has a car to help get points to advanceand win to advance to the next round of the chase. let's go track side for the commandto start engines. >> the moment has arrived for the commandto start the 42nd series race on this beautiful facility. to give the command for the sylvania300, please welcome senior vice president and general manager of special lighting, juliandench.

>> wow, new hampshire! i wish my dad couldhave seen this. truck drivers, start your engines! >> crank it up. make sure they have it backup. >> the engines are fired up. it's the secondtime we have been to loudon new hampshire this year. who will end up in victory lane? the greenflag is next >>> it's chicagoland speedway and it's thefirst race of the playoffs. drivers on edge. >> around goes the 47. and denny hamlin also.>> to the outside wall. >> it's hamlin that will win in chicagoland.>> race for a championship is the biggest

thing anybody could ever do.>> that really gets it. >> loudon is probably my biggest concern.>> new hampshire is a difficult racetrack. it's very challenging.>> kyle busch will win at new hampshire. >> as a racer gets fewer and fewer the pressurebuilds. >> now we enter the second race of the chase.from loudon, new hampshire, new hampshire motor speedway. they call it the magic mile.who will find the magic today after 300 laps? up front in row one, edwards and harvick.edwards swept both poles at new hampshire this season.>> in row two kurt busch is a three-time winner here and brad keselowski.>> in row three jimmie johnson starting alongside

sophomore kyle larson looking for his firstwin. >> back in row 4, hamlin and logano. loganowon the race a year ago. >> row 5, newman and jeff gordon with his789th consecutive start. >> for row six two hendrick racers, kaseykahne and dale earnhardt, jr. >> row 8 we have aric irola. >> kyle busch won here in july.>> paul menard. 14th in points. four points behind the bubble right now.>> row 11 we have martin truex who has ground to make up after last week and danica patrick.>> row 12, jamie mcmurray. top five finishes in two of the last four races.>> back back in row 14. clint bowyer, a two-time

winner here. needs to find victory lane today.>> row 14, we have another three-time winner. tony stewart.>> in row 15, sam hornish, jr. alongside a.j. allmendinger.>> in 16, mo fit and castle. brett finished 33rd in july. the only time he's started innew hampshire. >> row 17. gill land and bayne.>> back in row 19, ryan priest. >> and b.j. mcleod.>> row 21, jeff burton and jeffrey earnhardt. >> back in row 22, starting at the tail ofthe field will be tim hill. we'll see if we can chat with one of the drivers. as a matterof fact, the only driver who won in the chase in 2015 denny hamlin.>> ten any has burton in the booth. with us?

>> 10-4.>> the pressure is off after last week. how does it change your strategy for today's race?>> it really doesn't for the most part. i mean, i still want to win this week. we'vegot learning to do for phoenix for sure. i think that's been a little bit of a strugglefor us over the last couple of years. anything we can learn today that will apply there,hopefully will pay dividends. >> good luck. have a good day. >> 10-4.>> today we have seven cars carrying cameras for us today. clint bowyer starts in 26th.row 13. he has the toyota in-car camera. kyle busch starting in row 9 with the sunoco onboard. starting in row 5 and starting tenth

in this, his final new hampshire race withthe aarp camera is jeff gordon. larson with the linksis in car camera. starting sixth.jimmie johnson has the sprint on board camera. kevin harvick starting second with the outback steak house on board camera. a gorgeous day here in new hampshire as we look at theaerial coverage provided by our partners at smithfield foods. it will be a great shotup here especially on re starts with the drivers fanning out into turn one.>> a closer look at today's track facts provided by g.e., we have to if cuss, of course onthe iron man. g.e. track facts covering jeff gordon. from 1992 until today, 789 ski starts.what an incredible streak. >> one of the things that makes that incredibleis you go back in time, think about the cars.

they are safer today. you don't hit as hardas you used to. he did it in a time when you had big impacts going quick. he had to getin the car many days when he didn't feel like it but he made it happen.>> i was fortunate enough to work form+/h and with jeff gordon for years back in 1995 and i have seen the tough hits. he was always ready to get fwhak the car.i applaud him. thankful to work with him. it's a special day.>> a true iron man in jeff gordon. this is his final season in the sprint cup series.let's look at today's sunoco fuel strategy. 300-lap race. just over 300 miles. 317.4.pit road speed. they have to slow it down to 45 miles per hour. the fuel window, 82to 88 laps. this always ends up being a fuel

mileage racetrack.>> it's not if you can only stop three times. everybody can do the race on three stops.it's the last pit stop that matters. we have seen it time and again. people stretch thefuel on the last stop to get the important track position. see if they can get theircar to victory lane. >> a week ago, guy who is had a differenceboth on the racetrack and off. kevin harvick and jimmie johnson. on the restart, kevinharvick was up front. row one. 48. went to the inside. ended up cutting the left reartire down, the 4 of kevin harvick into the wall. they spent 57 laps in the garage beforehe was able to come back on the track. after the race a little bit of a difference betweenthe two drivers. prerace show. harvick didn't

want to talk about last week. jimmie johnsonsaid i'm ready for the race today. so the two focused on what's taking place now onthe track and the biggest thing when you look at the 4 team, they are not in a must winsituation. but they are in a must do well situation for the next two races.>> i think the goal here is simple. don't make dover a must win. come to new hampshire.have a great solid day. top three, top 5. finish. tonight put yourself in position wherethe only way to advance is to win at dover. if everything goes right perhaps they willwin. don't throw it out the window trying to win.>> every team will find themselves in trouble. find themselves needing to have a great raceor great last pit stop or restart. can they

shine when pressure is on?>> perfect day here as the sun shines down on the cars. temperature a little bit betterthan we have seen over friday and saturday's practice in qualifying sessions. a littlebit different of a scenario for these drivers as they get ready to take on the track for300 laps. pace car makes it to pit road. now carl edwards. on the outside. harvick on theinside. green flag in the air. we are under way. carl edwards will lead lap number one.kevin harvick tucked in behind in second. brad keselowski, kurt busch, kyle larson.the only chaser now is not in -- or in the top ten -- only nonchaser up there is kylelarson. he's been strong throughout the weekend. we look for big things for him for the remainderof the chase. now looking to the inside. that

41 of kurt busch trying to get by the 2 ofbrad keselowski. >> you can already see what makes the trackspecial. you can see the 41 trying to run a little bit below the two below the whitelines. the banking falls off. as kurt busch tries to make the pass. when he's low he'son the flatter part of the racetrack. less banking. it's difficult to make the pass.>> progressive banking here. the new hampshire motor speedway. there aremultiple grooves. it's just there is definitely a preferred groove here around the magic mile.top of your screen as the names scroll across, you will see the yellow bar under the namesof the drivers in the chase. there is one driver who has a green bar under his name.that's deny hamlin. he has already won in

this fist round. he will advance to the secondround. >> we talk about qualifying on friday andhow important it was to make the start of the race less stressful. we have the 78 ofmartin truex. back in traffic, trying to battle it out and see what makes it tough is youtalk about it. he may only pit three times, have a few shots to make the car better. witha short amount of pit stops today, the further you can be in the front the bigger advantageit is. starting back in the middle. you're more likely to be in a wreck. you have losttrack position. you have to find a way to get it back.>> it's harder on the equipment. there is no way to relax. clint bowyer has to lookinto his mirror.

>> great shot off the front bumper of the15. this shows you the multiple grooves. he dpoe goes into turn one. you will see howflat the entry is. he'll look to the inside of the 14. look for air on the left frontfender. you see the left rear of the 14 catching the paving seam and how flat the exit is.makes them difficult to maneuver. >> one of the flattest racetracks we raceon. clint bowyer, what a great shot it is from the front bumper.>> you see how important it is to get off the corner well. you heard how long he wasgetting in the throttle. the 14 of tony stewart was getting away. see if clint can take advantagedown to the bottom. that's where he's got to go. the hole is opening up. still the 14got a good run. able to pull him down the

back straight away. clint trying to put pressureon him. keep trying to get to the bumper. that's allyou can do. you have to keep going, hoping the guy makes a mistake.>> clint bowyer back in 26th. trying to make the moward the front. there is another guycloser to the front. >> a little closer to the front. not muchcloser. 22nd now for martin truex, jr. i talked to them about starting back today. you cantalk about this. we'll have split strategies at new hampshire. he said what we hope foris an early caution. everybody pits. we'll stay out. at some point the 78 team has toget off strategy from everybody else in order to gain track position. it would be toughto pass your way from 22 to the front.

>> it is tough to pass. but at some pointevery car on the track will be in traffic. because just like cole told you when he needssplit strategy without a doubt there will be cautions where a percentage of the fieldpits. maybe it's the top ten. the top 15. if you're the leader, unlike the place whereyou put tires on you are not guaranteed. you have to have a car that's good in traffic.they made an announcement today they will switch to toyota. starting in 㧠d82016. amanufactured change for the furniture row team. they also announced that martin truex,jr., would be back in 2016, running for a championship.>> there are a ton of mechanical aspects. a big undertaking for the team.>> a drop of the green flag it's been carl

edwards in front. he led the first 11 laps. jeff gordon making the start today. puts itat number 789. nearly 23 years in a row. starting all the races. >>> the race is on for the lead. harvick tothe inside of edwards. this is the last four laps kyle has been applying pressure to carleedwards. the left rear quarter panel. how do you pass here, jeff?>> it's tiff cult. harvick gets a good run in the corner, through the middle. harvicktrying to make the outside line work. he's one of the few people i have seen it work.trying to make him have more speed down the straight away by making the corner a littlebit longer. he can go straighter and be in

the throttle sooner. carl is running his ownline. even here, the 4 will get up to the number. carl edwards in the 19 should havea much straighter shot off the corner. carry the momentum.>> harvick was able to be in the lane. charged a little bit harder than the 19. a new leaderin new hampshire -- kevin harvick. >> the 19 just got past harvick. the crewchief said we don't have to win today but the incentive is to block it from the 4 car.if they are to win the championship they have to go through harvick. if they can keep harvick from winning andadvancing they would. >> he said he was feeling good about the car.he said it's hard. you can have a car that

feels good in practice but the track alwaysseems to change during the race. it's up to you to make adjustments. jimmy saying he'ssnug under throttle and loose in. running 5th now.>> new hampshire was never matt kenseth's best track. he started 13th today. he's movedup. then to joe gibbs racing in his races at new hampshire. he's been a top ten in everyrace. a little forward progress for the car that yesterday wasn't like they would likeit. several changes on the 20 car. obviously the changes were in the right direction tokeep us moving forward. he's collected three victories here. he feels like he's just alittle bit off in speed compared to the four car and the 2. he feels it's definitely atop five car. if they make the right adjustments

throughout the afternoon they could be a forceto be reckoned with. rick? >> thank you. points continue to be an issuefor everyone. trying to get maximum points. do you notice something about the 19 car whenthe 4 got by him? >> just in front of the left rear corner thequarter panel is wrinkled and it was smoking. see a little bit of haze and smoke. a littlebit of contact maybe. right there. on the straight away with harvick. he has a tirerub. i don't think it is enough to affect him but last week he cut a tire. they are nervous about this right now. yearlettering off the left rear of the 19 of edwards. shar vick has a one-second lead over kurtbusch who moved up to second. keselowski is

third. towards dropped back to fourth.backto fourth >>> kevin harvick has a two-second lead nowover brad keselowski. one of the favorites throughout the weekend. one of the strongestcars. now we have heard on the radio the 24 of jeff gordon not happy with the handlingof the 24. here's what he had to say on the radio.>> trouble here, guys. we have no front grip and low rear grip.>> stay with it. we'll get it. >> guys, since then he said on the radio stilltight from the corner off. the big problem is 3 and 4 for gordon, the exit. he said he'sgone up. alan said we'll put a spring rubber in the right rear. it's already attached inthe car. they have to slide it in there. the

spotter said hang on. we'll get you fixedup on the first stop. >> i always say it's not what they say butthe emotion in which they say it. jeff was calm. gave good feedback. you heard alan.hang in there, we'll get it. that's a crew chief knowing we are 32 laps into a 300-laptrack. jeff doesn't like the handling and you don't want to take that lightly. you'restill 12th. he knows there will be multiple strategies, the track will change. that'sthe difference between being able to climb down off the pit box and get a water and theguy trying to put together corner after corner. >> we are only 34 lap swos into the race.this is one of the fastest races that the sprint cup series runs.>> it's one of the fastest. the problems for

the crew chief is around 225, 240 decisionsare made on when to pit and when not to. if you do it incorrectly and the field pitsagainst you and you are behind on fuel and track position that's a lonely feeling. theworld may not know you're in bad shape, the driver may not know. but as a crew chief youknow you have given up the opportunity to win the race.>> one truck driver that's more comfortable than the rest has to be the driver of the11 denny hamlin who won last week. automatically adving into round two. 34-year-old out ofchesterfield, virginia. >> you heard when we talked before the racestarted. they had things to learn. every team has to decide if the race can continue thefuture.

>> into the wall is aric alberto tomba -- almirolaand the caution comes out. >> was running 16th. any time you see a carup against the wall like that you normally think a right front tire goes down. especiallyafter a comment like what we just heard aric say, that hurt. probably didn't have warningas to when that was going to go on him. >> these long straights if you have a problemwith the right front the angle of impact is tough. you don't hit head on but the anglehurts. you heard him say it hurts. doesn't surprise me.>> there is a lot of fluid coming from under the car. let's see what happened.>> he's already in the wall. you can see he obviously had something go wrong. where heis against the wall, nothing he can do. he's

along for the ride. gets up against the wall.i always describe it as the wall eat it is car, grabs it and won't let go. we saw hiswindow net down, a sign that he's okay. >> you mentioned the track and design is likemartinsville. a true paperclip. straight away. you see aric at the end of the front stretch.the car starts to turn, goes straight at that point. gets into the wall. it's the angleof the impact. a big round track like charlottele though you're going faster you have a wideentry and you're running parallel to the wall. here you are running 90 degrees into the turnone wall. when you have an issue the angle is high which doesn't make it better.>> that's a good sightseeing aric get out of the car, gingerly. out of the car now he'llmake the trip to the infield care center,

a mandatory trip. they have to get out ofthe car and they take an ambulance to the infield care center and they will be checkedout. pit road is open. we have 37 laps on the tires.>> everyone is coming. no doubt to me everyone is coming for at least fuel. right side orfour tires? if we are 5th to 15th there are four tires on it.>> took kevin harvick. he comes to the pit road as the leader. exit rear grip is thebig concern. takes two tires. >> two tires as well. a quarter turn out ofthe right here. the car is too loose. >> a little wedge for better fire up. foredwards he'll get four tires and the a pressure adjustment. harvick is first on pit road.>> look at the race off pit road brought to

you by geico. hamlin makes up four spots withthe tire change. >>> getting ready for our first restart fromnew hampshire motor speedway. take a look at the nbc restart zone. the lines we put in there. like the firstdown lines in football. they are not on the track. that indicates where the lead car orthe control car which is going to be kevin harvick, he has the opportunity to start atthat fist line. coming out of turn four. and he has to start by the second line or theflag man will then throw the green flag to start the race. there will be pointers thatwill come in as well. this is all information that we are giving you, the fans, to be ableto watch and see what takes place on a restart.

when nascar review as restart if there isa question they don't use the nbc start zone lines or the pointers that will indicate speeds.that's all information we use at nbc. nascar will use different data when they determineif someone has jumped or not on a restart. >> why are restarts a topic of conversation?the reason is there is a huge advantage to being the leader. he wants to control thepace. you want to be the first one at turn one. everything is a competition t. restartzone is talked about because everybody wants to use it to their advantage.>> two by two. going around one more time before the green flag.>> so what nascar asked the leader to do, he asked the leader to keep pace car speed.try to keep the pace of the car as you're

going. when you get to the line, you can go.you've got to go by the second line. before you get to the line, you are supposed to keepthe pace of the car. not supposed to slow down. not supposed tospeed up. >> as well as the pointers indicating speedas we come up on our first restart. harvick as the control car. the lead car gets to choose insideor outside line. he chooses the outside line. here at new hampshire motor speedway. yousee the speeds. right around the 45 miles per hour number that the pace car was takingthem around the track. green flag back in the air. we are back under way.>> it will be interesting. the top four cars, harvick, keselowski, hamlin and kurt buschare on two corners.

>> here at new hampshire when you say a two-tirechange you think maybe just the right side. here they can change left as well.>> right there looked like they all changed right side tires. at some point if track positiondictates you can only take rights or lefts, sometimes left is the only option.>> jimmie johnson trying to stay on the inside of the 11 and 88 down in the flattest partof the track. edwards behind him. >> trying to catch the 88 down. he want itis 48 below the white lines. that's where the banking falls off. dale earnhardt, jr.did a good job on the 48. kurt busch, deny hamlin. our first cautioncame out when aric almirola went into the wall. kelli?>> he's out of the care center. that was a

hard hit. how are you feeling?>> my pride's hurt. just disappointed. i don't know what happened. it's really early in therace to blow a right front tire. i don't think that was it. something happened in the rightfront. when i got to turn one, it didn't turn. i hit the wall hard. disappointed for smithfield,ford fusion team. we had a good car. we were running 14th or 15th. the track was kind ofchanging. it seemed like it would come our way. they bought him to pit road to look atthe car. he goes back on the track. they are nervous there might have been fluid comingout. the caution comes out. >> he did a good job using the road coursein turns three and four. he didn't oil down the whole track. good smart missouri by him.>> the left front was knocked in a little

bit. it was a power steering leak and that'sthe problem here. >> you think, golly, that had power steering.be a tough guy and drive the car. when you set up the race cars you think you will havepou steering. the air pressure, cameras, all the things in the front end are built to havepower steering. when you lose it it's difficult to turn the cars. >> pit road is and was open by the entrance.nobody came. we'll go to commercial break. we'll be right back. >>> welcome back to the sylvania 300. aerialcoverage provided by partners at smithfield foods. you want to get news, results and highlightsdelivered straight to your in box, subscribe

to the official nascar newsletter at nascar.com/newsletter.fastest lap time presented by sprint. 50 laps in. kevin harvick with the fastest lap timeat 28.643 seconds. stop in at sprint. cut your rate plan in half. bring in your verizonor at&t wireless bill and turn in that old phone. so the 40 of landon cassill bringsout the second caution. a lot of drivers mentioning there was fluid on the track they thoughtthey were hitting. here's the 18. >> that's where it started. le where he willlow is out. >> found it.[ laughter ] >> kyle busch. ale little light-hearted therewith the found that fluid that was on the track.

so they have put the speedy dry down. speedsorbon the track. got the fluid taken care of. now once again they are 2 by 2. kevin harvick,brad keselowski making up row number 1. kurt busch, hamlin, jimmie johnson, kyle busch,matt kenseth, kasey kahne and carl edwards are the top ten.>> came back quite a bit on the restart. lost a spot on the restart. he's all the way backin 10th. >> taking a closer look at row 1. you seethe speeds. harvick the is the race leader. they come into the zone. harvick back on thegas. green flag back in the air. jimmie johnson not able to hold itdown on the track. johnson will stay in front. kyle busch to the inside. teammates fightingfor position. just behind matt kenseth, the

19 of carl edwards. slid into that spot. threewide into turn 3. four wide now. doesn't work here, does it?>> got out of the throttle. allowed the 78 room. smart move.>> almost up against the wall was larson. he had help there from the 14 of tony stewart.not giving him room out of 4. now martin truex, jr. we see smoke. theremay have been contact between the 14 and the 42. i believe the smoke is coming from the42. we'll take a look. maybe coming from the 14 though. the two were close as they cameout of turn 4. might be the 14. it is. >> looks like damage perhaps on the frontfender of the 14 where it pushed in against the tires a little bit. it doesn't take alot.

>> talking about the left front fender ofthe 14 looks pushed in. >> tire rub.>> yeah. left side. >> left rear quarter panel. they've got alittle bit tight. they are going down the back stretch. you hear tony make the commenti have been hit on both sides. so bumping and banging early on. we have completed 57laps. >> that's a great example of how difficultthe restarts are here. next thing you know you're three wide. it happened so quickly.now you have a decision to make on the next corner.>> the thing that's clear in our minds as racers and fans of racing is a week ago, kevinharvick had a tire rub. you both mentioned,

risk versus reward. do you stay out or getit fixed? does tony stewart need to be checked so he doesn't cut a tire down?>> there is one big difference between last week in chicago and here in new hampshire.we talk about how wide and flat the corner are. the car doesn't move much. it's already basically down against the racetrack.when he's down in the corner the car doesn't travel much. there isn't a lot of deflectionor load on the tire. at richmond -- chicago, there is a lot of deflection and the tirerubs more. here it doesn't rub as much. >> saw the 48 get by the 1 #. a higher line.saw it on the restart. now the 88 of dale earnhardt, jr. also will go by.>> way up against the wall was the 14. of

tony stewart. it's the left front he has anissue with. we mentioned a tire rub turning into more.>> it's difficult for the teams to make a decision. the driver can smell the tire rubbing,see the smoke. but you don't know how much damage is being done. it's such a difficultdecision. >> as awful as this is, it will be less ofa penalty than pitting on the green. it goes flat on the straight away allowing a greatmiss by larson. allows the 14 not to get into the wall. now he can pit under caution andnot lose a lap. it's risk versus reward. fortunately went down in an area tony stewart didn't havemore damage happen to the car. short of anything underneath the car coming loose because ofthe flat tire he'll be fine.

>> this might be initial contact. the 78 andthe 14. there was a little bit of smoke already there out of the right here. left rear, excuseme. >> that's what makes the sport hard. you haveto understand what size track you're on, the negatives of the track. everything is a judgmentcall. you can't use a rule of thumb. you have to understand the position, the risk versusreward whether to pit or not. >> as they all go by, a lot of the lead lapcars go by the entrance to pit road. strategy being played early. marty?>> we talked about split strategy. gordon. you see the two tire change for gordon. hesaid the car feels like it's on the splitter, especially early when he's aggressive withit.

mike?>> clint bowyer has been loose throughout the course of the day after making adjustments.he felt it was a little bit better. they will do a two tire change, right sides only.>> paul menard and the 27 car in need of a good result. he said tight in the center.working to try to help. that's only making him loose. it was a two-tire stop for the27. >> jeff gordon first to hit pit road withthe lead lap cars.e lead lap cars. just changed two tires. their pit stall istoward turn 4. that's a difficult stall to be in.>> that's the tough part. alan has to make a decision. he doesn't have time to changeit. what surprises me is cars down pit road

do as well. as i came off four tires wouldhave had to be the call. >> right now all 13 of the top 13 spots, chasedrivers as we get ready for the restart. harvick on the outside. keselowski on the inside.they drive into turn one. kyle busch. way down. almost on the apron. at the left sidetires below the yellow line as they go through one and two. they are three wide down theback stretch. entering turn three. kyle trying to hold it all the way down. that's prettyimpressive. they remain three wide through the center of the turn before they separated.kyle busch drops behind the two he was racing. dale earnhardt, jr. and hamlin just in frontof him. >> you may wonder why the kyle busch run downthere. you can't run down there once it goes

green. the cars are going slow. they don'tmake any grip. the tires don't make grip in the corner. kyle busch has hung a left andgot on the apron, tried to make the pass. it was worth a try. the pace is so slow. thetires don't make grip. >> do you consider this a short track, jeff?>> 100%. i know it's one mile. that's a big track. this race is a big short track. longflat corners. everything about it says short track.>> we have seen bumping and banging. the 18 of kyle busch had this to say on the radio.>> it's tedious to make up an inch. you get a lucky break through a corner if you canmake up an inch. just maintain.>> that's why you have to do it on restarts.

it's so important. you have everybody in onebunch on a restart. you could make up two, three starts. that's why everybody pusheshard. >> you see fenders pushed in. you just can'tbe patient. if you worked and got those inches you can't give them back. you have to pushthe issue. like here we see the 88 and 11 of hamlin racing. they will continue to fightinto the corner. the 18, he wants them to battle t. more they battle the more he cantake advantage. >> i'm surprised by this. i guess it is agood thing. dale earnhardt, jr. the radio we listen to on friday and saturday, didn'tnot have any faith. it seemed like in the car. didn't feel like the car would be worthit at all. he already worked up into the top

five.>> that's new hampshire. this track changes so much from friday morning. the practicesare at hard times. the track is cool. there is rubber on the track. it's different fromthe race. some drivers understand it and can remember the last time they were here. somedrivers, the patience level is to short on practice.>> you have jimmie johnson in fourth. dale earnhardt, jr. in fifth. we haertd about jogibbs racing. they ran well last week and again this week.>> we sawle kasey kahne showing strength early. last week as well as here in new hampshire.right now kasey kahne running 18th. >> jeff gordon wasn't happy with the car.he was still running 12th. he pitted all the

way down in 21st. we won't know if that workeduntil the next caution comes out. if it comes out quickly, maybe they can stay on the track.they pick up the spots. if this goes green for a long time the strategy may not havebeen the best thing. you don't know until the next caution comes out. >> 6, 7, 8, 10. hamlin trying to stay in frontof the 18. we'll go to pit road. marty snyder. >> kevin harvick. childers asked him how wasit and they said took off nicely on the run. i asked rodney this week about what happenedin chicago last week. especially post race or with the poor finish. he said we alwaysfocus forward. a good example was tuesday. everybody showed up at 6:00 a.m. worked until8:00 p.m. that night. the entire shop was

empty exempt for 14 guys surrounding one car,the 4. rodney said that was a cool moment. >> the 2 car of brad keselowski runs second.freer in and off the run. qualified fourth on friday. quick to credit paul wolf for theset-ups. he said, i don't know. i credit the driver. no matter what configuration the caris in. no matter what the rules package brad runs well. he takes care of tires and thebrakes all day long. kelli. >> jimmie johnson, when i talked to his crewchief they said they need to most work on new hampshire. this is the weakest track.he said we were off in the spring, did something we shouldn't have. he said the last threeweeks we have had fast cars. just haven't finished it off. he feels like it's a culminationof things they have learned over the summer.

he could use help turning in the center.>> kurt busch needs to roll the center better. his only complaint about the car now. likeso many others he had an interesting race since the opening round in chicagoland. afterwardshe was disappointed. it seemed he was only ten laps away from victory. he and the crewchief embraced for what seemed like two minutes. tony gibson said the conversation was to tryto reinforce the positive. get kurt to look at the big picture. not bedisappointed they lost the race but positive in the fact they came away with a solid finish.that's the goal today. rick? >> thanks, mike. a lot of different goalson the track. one goal for that driver is to have a better finish than he had a weekago at chicagoland. right now he's out front.

he led 55 laps but as you flashback to chicagolandafter the hole they got into. kevin harvick is going to need a big finish. keep the momentumup that he's built and have maybe a signature day here in new hampshire. harvick has led 61 laps. continuing to putcars a lap down. burton will be the next to go a lap down. as we look at the points asthey run for the chase grid. harvick moved up to 12th based upon points. but of courseif harvick can continue on and win the race, that advances it right into round two withthe win. win and you advance. >> that's what clint bowyer would be hopingfor now. he's at the bottom of the list. 35 points back. clint bowyer, the slowest ofthe chase drivers running 22 now.

>> 25 of the points is due to the penaltiesthat nascar imposed that you have to appeal. you have to see the outcome of the appealto see where it put it is point position. that makes it hard for clint and the team.they have to understand where we are at. they are 35 points down now. if the appeal goestheir way, even that doesn't move into the top 12. they have to be looking for more speedout of the 15 car. >> better handling, too. the car is loose.bowyer has said the front end feels like it's giving up on him a little bit. it's interesting.you talk about the penalty situation with the team. i have a little conversation withbilly scott this morning. he looked at it two ways and said, look. if we win the appeal,we are only a few points back. we can play

the points game. we lose we are in a mustwin situation. he said he's in an awkward position, not sure how to approach it. hehopes to win. needed a solid result. they knew they would have a hard go of it. menardsaid this is probably the worst track in the race. it's been a challenge for us. his crewchief said, well, this is probably our third worst. we have run here better than we finishedfor a variety of reasons. he said the car was good on the short run. they need to bebetter in the long run. it gets tight in the center which paul menard is dealing with now.>> kelli, you're right. they are the two slowest chasers now. they are struggling, outsidethe top 12. they are in a hole right now. they've got to dig out.>> paul menard,s the thing about the guys

is they have to use the 31 approach. you reallycan't look at where they are running. you have to wait until the race is over. the teamruns 15, 18, 19. then out of 12. they have done a good job using strategy. i'm not asconcerned about the 27 as i am the 15. >> the 15 is a concern. i understand billyscott is a little concerned about whether they will or won't have 25 points. if theyrun outside the top 20 it won't matter. there is a reason the teams make the chase. look at scoring. first through 12 are chasedrivers. mcmurray and gordon 17 and 18. the simple fact is i know they want to win andthey have to. they have to run well in the top five. this is one of clint's best tracks.to come here they have to be disappointed

outside the top 20.>> we talked about it before the race started. the goal is to go to dover in a position whereyou don't have to win. go to dover where you can have a reasonable finish. the problemis these guys running 21, 22. they are not good in points. everybody is ahead of them.you continue to lose point ifs you can't find a way forward later.>> two guys in the similar predicament are jeff gordon and jamie mcmurray running 17and 18. >> let's talk jeff gordon. we talked aboutthe two tires. they got the splitter off the ground. it worked. gordon restarted 25th.he's up to 17th. gordon talked about the speed they found and said i feel we haven't livedup to the potential this year. everybody wants

to talk about a turn around. i call it livingup to our potential. jeff gordon going forward since the restart to get another shot. mcmurraystruggling more. i talked to him this afternoon before he climbed in the ka. he said we havebeen very good here in new hampshire. back to back top fives in the chase race at newhampshire. he said this weekend we have just missed it. we tried larson's complete set-up.it didn't work. he said, i feel quicker than i was the last run. they are back in the 18thposition now. not making a lot of progress. >> frustrating. even though we still haven'thit the one-third mark of the race. we are still under a hundred. 91 have been completed.we are on lap 92. it's a fast race. two cautions slowed the race. kevin harvick set the standard.

harvick had a good car all weekend. he hasalmost two-second lead over second place brad keselowski. jimmie johnson, dale earnhardt,jr., kurt busch the top five. but with harvick's car as dominant as it is earlile in the rrthe guys running poorly and need a good finish? >> we saw how quick they can change. it'sgreat the lead lap. the goal is to be where kevin harvick is. we are only in chapter twoor three. points only get paid one time. the last lap. even though harvick has a greatpace. it is exactly what they need to do. it's still 207 opportunities around the trackfor it to go wrong. >> right. kyle larson, the highest scorednonchaser now. we have larson and patrick. it is the playoffs. they have worked to makethe playoffs. the 42, everybody has circled

to win a race this year. he's run well. currently13th. he wants to run higher than that. he's the current highest nonchaser as well as danicapatrick. competing ahead. >> it's a good run for danica patrick. runningin 14th. that's a solid run. did a good job on restarts. they need something good to happen.they need a race. they need to finish where they run. they need to try to finish 14th.they ran 18, 19, 20 but finished 30th. they need something going right into next year.>> speaking of next year that's what this is. the team of kasey kahne. this is a teamexpected to make the chase at the start of the year. they have to use the final 8 or9 races to find what they need for the team moving forward into to 16. jeff gordon passedthe 51. up to 17. there is a lot of rumor

mills about where the 51 may end up. jeffis doing a great job in the car today. >> four nonchasers to the top 18. swref gordoncurrently 16th. harvick up front. >>> nascar on nbcsn is brought to you by sprint.toyota, let's go places. by dditech home loans. all chase drivers in the top 12. follow misssprint cup for a grievance cho win an autographed hat from today's victory lane. kevin harvickhas now led 81 of the 102 laps complete as we pass the third of the race pass the 100lap marker. harvick continues to put car as lap down. sam hornish junior. 29 seconds alap. the tire fall off with the tire wearing out at a track like new hampshire, we mentionedsometimes harder tires don't fall off or wear off as quickly. the lap times aren't fallingoff as dramatically as we have seen at other

tracks. >> thing about jeff gordon where he pitted.he went back and is taking this long to get back to 16. there is obviously not a big advantageto new tires. >> one of the interesting thing is how thedrivers watch the lines of other drivers on the track to maybe figure out if there isa faster line around the track. we listened to brad keselowski. here's what they haveto say on the radio. >> 29-18. 28.80 in front.>> i couldn't tell you a part of the track we run different. maybe we run a little higherin the center one and two. not noticeable on three and four.>> that's brad asking for lap times as he

tries to look for things. he's trying to finda place to put the car. looking at kevin harvick, his line. he's trying things. the only wayto know when you talk about a tenth of a second is get a lap time. you can feel the car isbetter, feel it drove better but it went slower. as you move around the starter is giving youlap times. the faster is car is no matter what it feels like that's what i don't wantto do. >> it's interesting. brad keselowski, thereare three cars that are the class of the field. harvick, keselowski and jimmie johnson. harvickput a three-second gap between he and keselowski. keselowski has about a three or four-secondgap between himself and third place jimmie johnson.>> keselowski is looking for a different line

while he's running very competitive laps everytime around the track. >> every team here is looking to optimizethe run. every run. the key is to run every lap as fast as you can. you've got to findyour rhythm. what works on corner entry into one. how does that affect the exit of turntwo. what you do affect it is middle of the corner, the exit. you have to find the rhythmthat makes your car go as fast as it can go. keselowski is the fastest as he's lookingaround. he's also finding lap times. harvick was in lap traffic. ran a 30.55. obviouslyhe was caught up in traffic. >> but the different lines, keselowski mustbe finding the right line. that time he was the fastest lap. kevin harvick continuingto work his way around the ma swrik mile.

trying to work his way into round two witha win. >> should we be surprised that harvick hasoutrun the last five times. they have come back to finish in the top five. kevin said,we are a team that focuses forward, never back. a lot out of the front windshield.>> if he looked back you would see keselowski. the gap is maintained. paul said we came tothe weekend thinking we could find more short run speed. we never found it. not bad. the gap staysabout the same. the two is in good shape. >> jimmie johnson running 30. turned 40. hecompleted his first century. a 12 # 0-mile bike race. just over five hours in the rain.when i talked to him he said he was a little

bit sore but mostly it was mentally challenging.swrj saying he's better off working the track car. behind him, dale earnhardt, jr. started11th. that was their best qualifying effort. they did something out of the box. he saidwe need to see it more than once. he said there is more confidence the dale. he saidit is a different mind set coming into the race.>> jason asked matt kenseth how the car was. he said, not bad. i can't go anywhere. hesaid, i wouldn't change much. they told him a moment ago we are about 11 laps. so lap130 to come to pit road. >> he needs to be tighter on entry. his crewchef chief said we have caution on the track. >> we have to go to the garage. throttle'sstuck.

>> that brings the caution out. instead ofwaiting for lap 130, everyone will be hitting pit road now. running 30th. already had beenput a lap down. straight to the garage. alex will take the 7.>> i thought i heard him say the throttle stuck. that's a horrible feeling. you lift,the thing keeps going. not a good feeling.>> turned into the garage stall. most of the teams cleared out the equipment. once the race starts. now withthe caution coming out. bayne was the highest nonlead lap car. even has run long enough.it's full of fuel. really start thinking about adjustments. as we close in on halfway youdon't want to spend extra time on pit road after the stop. now is the time to make adjustments.>> he got tight in the center. the longer

it went. the track bar just inside the cardidn't help much. quarter round and right rear going in to loosen the car up a littlebit. >> jimmie johnson pits from the third position.he never won here during the chase. he said he's a little bit free. overall the car isgood. four tires for the 48 and his teammate dale jr. he said he needs to cut the centerbetter. good balance. four tires and a track bar adjustment for the 88.>> brad keselowski got four tires. he was a two-tire taker on the first run. he gota slight airplane adjustment for a car free at the end. he'll be in second. rick?>> thank you. a two tire taker. not easy to say. you see the race off pit road. a lookback at alex bowman. hard right turn. into

the wall, the 7 went. he's in the garage now.we are under caution. >> early in the race trying to push the 48below the white line. he's not able to do it. keselowski ran up the racetrack and tookthe line away from him. >> dale earnhardt, jr. running third. mattkenseth, fourth. jimmie johnson running out of the top five. here comes kyle busch onthe outside. three wide down the back stretch as they get ready for turn three. denny hamlinon the inside of the 48. hamlin moving back to the front and the 48 with a big bobblethere. now three wide on the outside as they enter the front stretch.>> right in front is kyle busch. le it may not seem like much.look at the other mess.

>> i think kyle busch, more than anybody whenyou get to the start/finish line you can advance your position. good run on the 22. turned left. not donethere. he was down to the bottom of the racetrack. all four tire. now he'll get next to the 11.that's a great example of how you have to be aggressive on the restarts. it startedearly. it started way before they got to the corner.>> luckily the pit road wall ends where it does. does a great job right there. stopsthe car. gets a turn. that gives them the acceleration to stay under the 11.>> sounded like he shifted. >> he went through one and two in third. hekept it in third gear, didn't go to fourth

until the back straight away. good pickuprick. >> biggest movers. busch, larson and dylanin advanced four positions. lost a spot to hamlin.>> we'll make a student out of him yet. >> i just keep hanging out with you guys.i'll get it. >> i'm sorry.>> kevin harvick, brad keselowski, dale earnhardt, jr. they are the top three. kenseth, buschand hamlin. surprisingly we mentioned the stat about kevin harvick leading over a thousandlaps since his last win as we see the 55. david refwan, unscheduled pit stop for reaganon pit road. about 11 laps since we were last on pit road. the driver second to 11 haveall won a race.

brad keselowski in front of the # 8 of daleearnhardt, jr. >> i like what i'm seeing out of the 88 today.good on restarts, long runs. this is what the team needs. any of the hendrick cars wespoke about. this is the run they need. they need a little bit of confidence. they needto feel like, we came, we had a chance to win. again, we are getting into the meat ofthe season, the part of the season where you can win or lose a championship. you need tobe your best now. they are stepping up as the chase has started.>> hamlin gets by kurt busch. he will take the spot away to move into the top 5. kelli?>> hamlin with the win last week. when i asked his crew chief what it was like

he said on the way here it almost felt unfair. >>> kevin harvick led 123 of the 145 lapsnow. that's a dominant car today. jeff gordon is trying to bounce back from maybe a littlebit of strategy played early on. >> strategy and adjustment. we have reported,talking about the spring. trying to pass danica patrick. gets into herleft rear, moves her up and goes on by. with 150 to go. needs adjustments. running in onthe lap times. >> the problem he's got is there are onlythree guys behind him in the chase. he's running well. running 14th. that's not horrible. hehas to find his way forward. everybody in front of him to get himself into the top 12for the next round.

>> you were talking about it. he's tight forgordon. spring rubber in the right rear and out of the left rear. trying to get the 24better. i think the frustrating part for jeff is that he's passing the same people overand over again. came in 15th last time. now 19th. when you pass the same people run afterrun it's frustrating. >> yes. that was passing you. i can tell youthat. they did what they had to do. the car is fast. they have done the things they neededto do to get the car to drive well. just needs track position. i think he gets it and hecan compete with the front-runners. >> one of the big stories has to do with the41 car. not necessarily performance on the track. but what happens off of it. tony gibsonwas hospitalized for an emergency appendectomy.

i spoke with him. he's doing much better.he pointed out a potential silver lining from that. he said he wasn't in the shop most ofthe week. he said his engineers stepped up in his absence. took over control of whatneeded to be done before they got to the track. he said that helped groom them a little bitfor the potential future career has crew chief. he thought that was a great idea because it'shelping him built depth. he also knows it's important when team members step up in theplayoffs. >> if you have to. everyone has to raise thelevel when we get to this part of the season. this is the playoffs. there are only ten opportunities.when the playoffs start there are ten opportunities to shine. ultimately you've got to do it inthree race segments. you need great race it

is fist three if you want a chance to advanceto round two. >> race teams are like football teams. youwill hear like the driver jimmie johnson. deny hamlin or battling here. there are somany people top to bottom within the organization that make the cars successful. engineers.mechanics, pit crew and back at the shop. fabricators that build the cars. it takesa whole organization to be successful. >> when your crew chief comes in after havingemergency surgery he's not going to listen when you say i'm tired, my ankle is hurt.that's leading by example. i'm here. i'm doing it. everybody else can, too.>> denny hamlin got by for the fourth spot. hamlin, though he already has a win and isgoing to advance into the second round he's

still pushing hard as he works toward thefront to get a little bit closer to brad keselowski who was talking about the handling of hisnumber 2 machine. >> i think like right where i let off thebrake the car has turn. it's got to do other things to get it to turn that are making mefree. when i let off the brake. that's where it's the most.>> driver, what do you hear there? >> good feedback. he's saying he didn't need the rotate. anythingthey have done to make the car turn better hurt his rear grip. they haven't found a wayto make the front end work without sacrifice somewhere else. that's the hard part aboutthe track. the corners are lock. they last

forever and they are flat. when the car doesn'tturn it's hard to get speed that you need. >> this is one of the stats i had in my notes.understand the order of operations. that seems silly. entry is the most important thing.the driver can't get into the corner the way he wants to. you're always tight in the middle.then it seems to be free off. instead of trying to fix it we had success by turning. let thetruck driver get it off. you have to have it back from the driver. if not you're justguessing. that gets you nowhere. >> harvick is out front. the fasts turn lasttime by deny hamlin. he must be the man on the move as he gets closer to the top spot. >>> caution is out. kyle busch into the wall.now he's behind the wall and in the garage.

he'll have to do a lot of work to the rightside of the car. especially the suspension on the right front. the right front wheellocked up as he went into the garage. take a look.>> obviously there is a right front tire down. i don't know if he ran over something or melted.you can melt the inside edge of the tire. i'm not sure which it was. certainly looksto me like a tire going down. one here in july. there is an issue at new hampshire.mart write? kenseth said the track has taken it. top left. four tires. harvick, the leadertook two on that stop. kelli? >> hamlin in the 11. the lower left there.said it fired off better but he could use more center turn. adjusting the track bar.he'll get four tires.

>> sunoco fuel for brad keselowski. he tooktwo tires to try to speed up the pit stop and get track position. there was anothercar coming by he had to slow down for. the big story is kyle busch in the wall. nowin the garage. >> carl edwards, pit road penalty removingequipment from the box that puts him at the end of the line for the restart. pace carmakes it back to pit road. harvick, keselowski. see their speed at they enter the restartzone. two by two headed into turn one. outside linehas worked on the restart for kevin harvick. three wide as they come out of three and four.a gas can was removed from the 19's pit stall. that's why that penalty was assessed. threewide going into turn one. jeff gordon in the

middle. once again, gordon in the middle,three wide. justin allguyer in the 51. been a little bit of a thorn in his side today.>> this is what we talked about. jeff gordon is in the chase. he has every right to racethe track. that's what's different. what's different about the playoffs is it's not justchase cars on the track. >> here come two chasers working their wayaround the track. >> jimmie johnson behind the 78.>> 78 of martin truex. did two tires to gain track position. everybody around him is onfour. he's on two. >> kevin harvick. kurt busch running fourth.kasey kahne rounding out the top ten. now jimmie johnson on the inside of the 78. swronswill try to take 6th away from martin truex,

jr. lower line prevails. he takes the spot. here'shamlin. two tires not working out for martin truex, jr., this time. logano next in lineto get by. he continues to fall back. >> truex pitted. he was running 11th. thegoal here is there is not a pick up spot obviously. the worst case scenario, don't fall furtherback than 11. they came out in fourth by putting the tires on. just tonight get further backthan 11th. you would have gained by doing this.>> the other strategy and adjustments made to a car we have to look into a similar situationwas jeff gordon who pitted when he was running 12th. made adjustments to the car. they fellback outside the top 20. worked back up to

16th. it's still been a loss with the adjustmentsthey have had to make. >> that's what happens. we talk about thedecisions the crew chief makes and forget them. this was a decision made over a hundredlaps ago. they are still behind because of it. it's quick sand. the more you strugglethe deeper you go. like edwards. they had equipment on the last pit stop. had to goto the tail end of the field. that penalty will be hard to dig out of. they only takeright side tires. you see at the back of the car the gas man trying to stay plugged in.get as much fuel in the car as possible. towards leads and goes over the white line. that'sthe penalty. the compound penalty and mistakes after they were told they had a penalty the19 lose it is fuel. they didn't come back

in to get left side tires. i think it wasjust a mental mistake. let emotion take part. they didn't take left side tires. they shouldhave completed the four tire change. they had to restart 26th. there is work todo now. the whole didn't have to leave. it was like out of bounds in football versussoccer. just a little part left the box and that was enough.>> outside the pit box nascar owns. none of your equipment can. that's for safety morethan anything else. why is that a penalty? we can't have parts of pit equipment leavingthe box. another car could hit it. it's really a black and white call. unfortunately it didn'ttake but half the dump can to penalize the 19.>> the a wedge wrench goes out on the racetrack

that's a potential danger for everyone. theydon't want equipment leaving the box. that's the reason for the penalty. we continue towatch the 78 of martin truex, jr., fall back further.>> he's battling, fighting hard. that's the fresher left side tires with kasey kahne.you see how much better it turns on the corner. he was able to get the power down. he hasposition on the 78 at turn one. >> right now the gamble is worth it. againif he falls back past 11le. consider it wasn't worth it.>> kasey kahne, running 10th. trying to take the 9th spot away. ricky just behind him,just outside the top 11. harvick leading in new hampshire

>>> look at our toyota driver update. mattkenseth, one of the best toyota drivers in third. denny hamlin 7th. carl edwards with an issue on pit road running25th now. kyle busch running 40th now after hitting the wall and they are in the garagecontinuing to work on the 18th. how does that affect the chase grid? we look at the 16 drivers.as they run, hamlin with the win will be up top. harvick right now hovering right aroundthe cut line in 12th. of course if he wins he goes up and that adjusts everything downto where jeff gordon would drop down into 12. you see clint bowyer, 28 points belowthe cut line. kyle busch already four points below the cut line. because of the issue hehad on the track today.

>> this is why this is so stressful to theteam. isle bush and his team, they are having a good day. they're not doing anything wrong.thai not running great but they are running well with a good chance to make a good finish.your entire season can change. the teams know it. harvick has dominated the race. the raceisn't over. there is a lot of race on that to go. anything could happen. he can go fromwhat looks like a sure win to being completely out of the playoffs.>> harvick has locked up the points for most laps led. 161 laps led. nobody can beat himfor that honor. there is only 116 laps to go. brad keselowski, matt kenseth and kurtbusch. jimmie johnson, they are the top five behind harvick. hamlin has taken the spotaway from jimmie johnson. that's the top five

spot. battle for 5th tied between the three.hamlin, johnson and dale earnhardt, jr. racetrack seems to be changing. does the track bar adjustment inside the carthese drivers have help them win a track starts to change and in a run, can that help themwith the handling of the car enough that it doesn't have them falling completely backand out of contention? >> the problem is everyone has that adjustment.it's not just advantage over your competitors. you have the adjustment. it depends as yousee here, a great battle between teammates. you have the race each other yet stay off.you don't want to bang fenders, leaving one with a flat tire. what that track bar adjustmentdoes is if the set up allows the track bar

to adjust the balance it can help. we haveheard today drivers say moving the track bar hasn't helped. try something else. the set-updoesn't allow track bars to be a big help. >> dale earnhardt, jr. moved past jimmie johnsonfor sixth. hamlin has fifth. the 88. they work past the 23 of jeff burton. you wantto go through the field once again. we'll start with marty snyder.>> kevin harvick said today he led all but 23 laps. as you mentioned, already lockedup the bonus points leading the most points today. the number 23. 23 races, believe itor not, since kevin harvick and the team were in victory lane. ten second place finishesthis year. able to get win number 3 in the column today.>> brad keselowski in the last eight races

here in new hampshire motor speedway. an averagefinish, 4.75. clearly the second best car on track today if they can just keep it underhim. if anything happens to harvick; the 2 is there. good run so far.>> coming into the chase. kenseth said it is easy to stick with what worked so far. we saw a lot of speed. harvick today to chicagolast week. we have to be developing it at joe gibbs racing. they did it today for kenseth.they were not going to practice yesterday. they have made the car not only better forthe start of the race but better throughout the race.>> marty, tony fwib son told the team this week he doesn't want them to look ahead. don'teven look at dover. concentrate on new hampshire

and get max points. so far biding his time.the car isn't perfect. near the front but can't get there yet. the car has been loose.they adjusted the ride height. the car has been better but he can't make it to the front.>> denny hamlin's spot, secure his crew chief. they said they would absolutely do somethingdramatic to go for the win. there is a caution now.>> the caution has come out. we are hearing debris in turns 3 and 4. coming from naserka. 191 laps complete. >> nobody can make the fuel. you have to bethinking about that. what do you do now to put yourself in position. do you take rightside tires here and dare take them again? we saw the 78 of martin truex. much like hewas there. the gamble didn't have a big win.

it wasn't a loss. it goes back to the pitstop for the 4. we saw the two put on right side tires. everybody else put on four. dothey have to put on four and everybody else put on two? we'll find out.>> that's the question. while the 78 didn't lose spots he's sitting here.>> hopefully not what you want to help your car turn. it's not in it anymore if that wasyour spring rubber. now the 78 is staring four tires in the face. he almost has to takefour tires. this will hurt. there will be teems that take right side tires here. themajority maybe will and that hurts the 78's track position. >> kevin harvick, brad keselowski, kenseth,kurt busch and hamlin the top five. all in

line as they get to pit road and head yourway. >> kenseth has a stall, the car too tight.they will make an adjustment here and air pressure adjustment. as you predicted forharvick, the leader will be a four tire stop. >> kurt busch's team has gone to work on thechassis several times but not this time. four tires, air pressure and fuel.>> well balanced. he'll get four this time. but a little adjustment.>> six cars in front of kevin harvick, the race leader. off six spots. kenseth wins therace. >>> 36 laps for the team to put the 18 backwith a on the track. the mcdonald's who are you lovin'? as we ask the experts up here.>> i like harvick. he's been dominant today.

took four tires. that gives him the opportunityto take two on the next. >> i think the guys in front of him take twoagain also. all depends on the restarts kevin can get.>> now out front, kenseth shows the outside line. green flag in the air and we are underway. closing in on 200 laps complete. lap 197 way down to the bottom of the track andon the apron was the 4 of harvick. >> that's a new groove. i have seen low. that'sa new low. unbelievable. all the way down to the grass. now truex has to have that optionas they go three wide into turn 3. >> very congested through three and four.>> talk about two tires versus four. the two guys that have four tires are the 2 and the4 car. the race could be happening now. if

the two stays in front of the 4 everybodyelse comes in. these guys can take two. they have to take four later then the 2 couldhave track position on the 4. >> you have to understand who you are racing.when it comes to 103 to go the crew chief tells the driver who must you get in frontof. who is on our strategy? >> tony stewart falling back. did some pitstrat by the to get up into the top ten. running 8th now. that can hold onto the position.kenseth, dale earnhardt, jr., logano, keselowski the top five.>> the other concern about having to pit or losing the track position is you have no ideahow the car drives behind other cars. this is the first time really with the exceptionof the first 30, 40 laps kevin harvick had

to pass from behind. this is the first timehe's been in the situation. >> of course with the lap times.>> 48 smoking out of the back. >> smoking.>> left front tire must be down. jimmie johnson looks to have cut a left front tire.>> coming off the left front tire. >> said it's flat, take care of it. he wasthird. another chaser with issues. >> left side. get ready to pick the car up.>> there is no inner liner here. they have to get the car and lift it to get the jackunder it. that's the big concern. this has to be an efficient stop.>> only three tires. >> back it down.>> in front of you.

>> they took two tires last time around. sopositive, high on his crew. it was a left front for jimmie johnson. he saw the smokeand radioed it back. immediately told him, of course, to bring it to pit lane. a quickstop to get those fresh tires on the left side there.>> jimmie johnson making his way off pit road and back to the racetrack. he was able to stay on the lead lap when theycrossed the start/finish line. but now jimmie johnson falling a lap down as matt kensethwas able to get by him. >> jimmie johnson's goal now is to get allthe way back as far as he can to be the first car one lap down so as the caution does comeout he can get the free pass. that's jimmie

johnson's race now. he has to focus on that.>> 27 points. third to 30th in the last 60 seconds. jimmie johnson lost 27 points inthe chase. >> that's how quickly it can happen. we mentionedat the top of the show. things happen quick. kenseth, race leader. dale earnhardt, jr.,brad keselowski. kevin harvick worked his way up to 4th now on the four-tire stop.>> you talk about cars that handle good and handle in traffic. on the last restart -->> into the wall is the 10. coming back down the track. danica patrick. looks like the55 of ragan made contact with danica as she was coming down the track. she gets the carre-fired. looks like she'll try to drive it back.>> all the blue foam on the track was the

55. peeling the door open. probably the rightside. looking at the 55. that's the energy wide. >>> welcome back to new hampshire motor speedway.we are under a red flag condition. after danica patrick got into the wall in turns one andtwo. then contact made between the 10 and the 55. david ragan trying to avoid the 10.got into danicarick and tore right side off the car. as she was getting out we heard radiocommunication. this is what she had to say. >> 31 just totally took me out. i get it.i get that he was, woing hard to pass me. it's not like it was first ten laps of therace. >> you see danica. she's expecting ryan tobe -- well, where the 24 was. she expected

ryan to be lower than he was. as you saidthese entries are wide. you try to get the guy under you to be as low as you can. danicathought ryan was going to get him more room. to be honest, i don't know who was wrong orright there. it's one of those things. i know ryan newsroom didn't do it on purpose. hethought he was where he needed to be and she thought she was where she needed to be. wreckshappen. >> does ryan think he has room to the left?did he think jeff gordon was there? jeff was to his bumper. does he think he's giving the10 room? it's a judgment call. that's short track racing. that's how quick it happens.>> dade ragan trying to take the lowest line down. is that a situation, should danica havelocked up the tires?

>> she hit the wall. could have had a problemwhich she doesn't have brakes. when you hit hard things get broke and sometimes the carsdon't have brakes. >> you see the cars rolling. the 22 rollsthe 11. the crew chiefs are saying we have run 204 laps. the brakes are hot. what they are going totry to tell the drives to do, the pace car is rolling off. continue to let the car rolla little bit. don't let the pads sit against the brake disks. when you have a red flageverything cools down. we talk about the brake vibration. this is another track you can getit. after cooling that can be a bad problem. >> it was just six minutes we were under ared flag condition. cars are rolling again.

the track cleaned in turns one and two. theopportunity for teams to make it to pit road won't happen this time. pit road is stillclosed. >> my stomach is in knots. we mentioned earlilierthe fuel window is around 33 to 38 laps. here we are at 96. next time it will be 95 lapsto go. i don't know why it is about loudon. we always have a caution at 90, 95. now it'seasy to be aggressive, go for the win. >> how much will you go for? are you willingto stretch fuel? if you run out of gas as we have seen people do, jimmie johnson lost27 points with a flat tire. if you run out of was that can cost you 20 points.>> just out of the care center is david ragan. >> he's okay thankfully. certainly a heavyhit. didn't look like you could avoid it.

>> that was a hard hit. thankfulle to thenascar safety initiatives. everything is good to go. we had a rocky day in the toyota. hadan unscheduled pit stop, a loose wheel. got the lucky dog. felt like we got back in rhythm.i saw the 10 car wrecked. i was hoping and i thought she would hold onto the brakes andmaybe not come back down the track as quick and violent as she did. if i wouldn't havehit her she probably would have hit the inside wall. i'm good to go. i wish she would haveheld onto the brake. >> hit road is open.>> who will we see? le. >> if you're edwards running 14th, stenhousein 15th, why not pit? >> trees haven't changed colors yet. today'saerial coverage by our partners at smithfield

foods. biggest chase mover from sprint isclint bowyer. fwaned a lot of spots. the goal is to keep them. don't give them up. a lotof people have four. to make it work, keep the track position. jeff, i'm frustrated.i'm frustrated by pit decisions. i look down and see paul menard. that was a great pitdecision to be in 19th. you see on the chase grid. can he stretch the fuel to the finish?he's three points to the good. he's short on fuel. we talked about the 27. not showingthe speed to win. great gamble for the 27. this is what they need to move them through.>> the longest anyone has gone. the longest between stops has been 83 laps. we have 91to go. >> we may get a lot of caution and that savedpaul menard. field in line. 2 by 2. kenseth

and earnhardt. green flag back in the air.kevin harvick passes the 88. makes second. >> junior department get the good restart. did it hurt the 2 car?>> the 2 of brad keselowski was all over the back bumper on the restart. looked like hewas starting to push him. 4 car goes from 4th to second on the restart. martin truex,jr., outside the 41. harvick to the inside for the lead. he'll take it away from mattkenseth. the caution comes outment. >> there is the yellow.>> the 34 of brett mo moffitt. saving fuel. if you had come to pit road what an opportunity.hindsight is 20/20. >> if you don't have a winning car.>> get everything we can. come on.

>> that's a big break for jimmie johnson.you have to race the car you have. you have to decide if you don't have a winning car,get off strategy. a lot of teams have the opportunity. they squandered it. we'll seeif it pays off. >> you have to pit now. fuel only. they areon four tires. you have to be willing to gamble. surely they will pit this time. with thatthe lead. >> sam hornish was the most efficient on therestart. all the leaders will come. the guys that pitted will be the leaders.>> you will see a lot of fuel. maybe tires. >> he stays out. strategy being played byall the chasers. made the call for kenseth to stay out. he has to stop for a second forlarson. kelli?

>> dale earnhardt, jr. in the 88 has beendealing with cars tight in the center. working the track bar. you will see the quicktwo-tire change for the 88. >> keselowski cleanly out in the 2. he didn'thave anyone blocking him. he'll be fist off pit road.>> just behind him, kurt busch. then the 4 of kevin harvick. a close call for harvick.logano is coming off pit road. the 42 of kyle larson was just coming into a stall as kevintried to leave his. close call for the 42 and the 4.>>> two by two again. strategy is huge here. kenseth chose to stay out. hamlin will restartsecond. greg biffle. tony stewart fifth. trevor bayneand cole whitt in the top ten. a change of

fortune for a lot of the chase drivers. theydominated the top ten. even the top 12. now we have five that aren't chasers in the topten. >> the whole key is when you were on pit roadlast. underneath the names at the top of the screen. that's off the field. some decidingto pit. some to stay out. now harvick and the faster cars work through the field butdo it cleanly without damaging cars. >> so important for guys to recognize thesituation they are in. brad keselowski. he's got himself off traffic. without a doubt everybodyhas to pit. harvick, kyle busch. don't anything foolish to take yourself out of the opportunityto get a good finish. >> greg biffle. last stop on lap 206. fenway.hoping. he thought his car was good in race

trim. he's attacking mcmurray. he knows he'sbetter on fuel. the reason he wants to get by him, the mirror will be bigger. the longerwe run, kevin will continue to move traffic. >> here is the strategy. in my opinion, battlefor the lead. >> deny hamlin takes the top spot away frommatt kenseth. hamlin goes back to back to win the first two races of the chase. they might stay out. they hope this thinggoes 45 laps. they will come to get tires and the tires will be an advantage. does anyonestay short on tires? every gamble is a good one. the cautions will determine which oneis the right one. >>. >> now we can make it.>> he said we will do something dramatic for

the win. we aren't here for an easy top ten.i asked him would you consider doing anything to help a teammate get a win and he said absolutelynot. it was actually matt kenseth's philosophy. he said you help the teammates out and itcosts you something. >> kenseth and rat cliff didn't stop. bifflemake as stop. we'll check the conversations. >>.>> that would have put it. >> that's you, man.>> okay. >> what was going to happen is we weren'tgoing to have a lot of conditions. >> 10-4. hopefully we'll run long enough toburn up the tires for everybody. >> that was the theory of why the 20 didn'tpit. they thought if they did it would go

way too far back in the field. and burn thetires up, too. trying to come up with the flag.>> i hear disappointment in matt's voice. he said, oh, shoot. he knows he's seen howthe race runs out. the big question, is it kenseth and hamlin? i look at greg biffle.he can make it from lap 206. keselowski though is at lap 212. it is a question now of how hard you wantto run. keselowski has got to be up on his horse. running as hard as he can. he has toforce greg biffle to feel the pressure coming. >> i will disagree. i'm sorry. biffle got206. keselowski on 212. keselowski is fast enough. he should ride. stay fuelled. he canput pressure on the 16 of biffle later. if

i'm the crew chief on the 2 you have to saveme enough fuel in case it go s green. the 16 is in trouble. he can't go if a far. youhave to focus on this being a green flag run. if you can make it, you're going to win therace. >> teammates fiegtsing for position there.kevin harvick has 7. kurt busch 8th. hamlin won in chicagoland a week ago. already lockedup a spot in round two. trying to do it again. chase for the sprint cup continues live fromthe monster mile. the fist elimination race. from dover international. saturday, xfinityseries. coverage at 3:00 p.m. eastern. nascar is on nbcsn. welcome back to new hampshiremotor speed way. hamlin continues to lead. he's now led 11 laps. moments ago, mike wasable to talk with danica patrick.

>> danica rolled the car back to the garagebut you walked to the care center. are you okay?>> i'm fine. i definitely got hit enough to knock the breath out of me for a second. tobe honest i went because i have been wanting to get my carbon monoxide checked. i thought,i have time now. i'm fine. i feel fine. i got hit. and when i got hit by the car, notthe wall it seemed like the worst of it. it's such a shame. we were really having a goodrace. the car was decent. we took two tires on the last stop. it was definitely a littlebit too loose. i was waiting for it to come to me. newsroom is always super fair. i knowhe was working to get by me. it sounds like maybe jeff got into him or something. it'sthat time of year. it's the chase. people

are racing hard and. maybe jeff couldn't seewhere he was in relationship to the 31 and me. still i didn't get the good end of thestick. >> glad you're okay.>> thanks. >> danica patrick out of the race.>> kevin harvick now trying to reel in the 2 of brad keselowski. they are on a similarpit strategy. they came in lap 212. >> in my opinion when i look at the race with68 to go there is a lot of water downstream to change the outcome. these are the two ithink the oh focus needs to be on. keselowski and harvick. both pitted at lap 212. both short on fuelfrom what we understand. but they are racing

each other. they are the cat and mouse gameof how hard do we want to go versus how muchle fuelle to safe.>> they are six laps short. he has not asked harvick to save fuel. harvick get as littlebit faster every lap. this could be the battle for the win. these guys will have fuel atsome point to make it to the end. yesterday in practice, rodney at the very end of therun asked kevin harvick to give him fuel saving laps. they know what the number is. if theycan get by the two here and go into fuel saving mode they know the number they need to hitto save the fuel they need to make it to the end. good strategy yesterday in practice.all set up then by childers and harvick. >> the problem trying to get by the two car.the longer you go running hard, the harder

it is to save fuel. harvick is really goodat saving fuel. this is a gamble. do we think another caution is coming out? if they thinkone is coming out, harvick and keselowski need to be running hard to gain spots. butif the caution doesn't come out they need to have been saving fuel, waiting and justsaving fuel. this is a big gamble being made by people that are going to need the points.>> who wants them to safe fuel? greg biffle. he's looking up going, y'all should be savinggas but you're catching me. save gas. great move. you should give greg biffle the opportunity.he's running third. it will be hard to hold off the other two. great position for therace team. >> so many times the racele has come downto fuel mileage. once again the top three

now in a different strategy than the nexttwo. >>> last stop you saw the 51 of allgaier.ninth caution of the day. heads spinning. what strategy do you use? kenseth on pit road?hamlin on pit road. he's got more lead lap cars coming at him.>> kenseth said the car has taken a big swing. he said it was looser this one. four tiresfor kenseth. gets mcmurray here as well. said the car is too tight in traffic. mcmurraywith four tires leaving pit road. >> hamlin in the 11 said the track is freer.he was working the track bar. air pressure and a wedge adjustment. sunoco fuel for hamlin.>> four tires for logano. they haven't had the best handling car all day. gave themselvesthe best rubber they could for the end of

the race.>> you can see everything as we continue nascar nonstop with new hampshire motor speedway. we mentioned how important restarts are. thisone might be the most important. >> this one could determine the winner ofthe race. see the 16 of greg biffle. he stayed out. the lane the 16 of biffle take willsdetermine where keselowski starts. we know for a fact that kevin harvick will start third.he will be on the inside line. which line gets moving? you can do everything right.we know biffle has not been as fast as the other cars. that's harvick right behind keselowski.that's what harvick wanted. >> greg biffle on the older tires. there wasa wave of cars in the 212 area. the two fastest

today if not the three fastest between keselowski,harvick and cur kurt busch. hamlin was leading the race. he chose to get tires. he has 25.will they pay off in the 55 lap run to the finish?>> more on the four. >> an interesting twist. childers wanted harvickto pit that time. he thought two tires would be better. he was watching the monitor. itwas delayed. by the time he said pit, pit, pit, harvick was past pit road. they are tryingto make the fuel stretch, seeing if they can win the race.>> points are very important as we look at kyle busch. he fwans two more points becausethe 10 and the 55 off the track. 2 by 2 once again. biffle, keselowski making up row one.green flag back in the air. the 19 of carl

edwards. can biffle hang on and stay in frontof keselowski. he does. nascar is saying the restart is underreview. they will take a look at the restart. they were coming into that restart zone. lap212. carl edwards to the inside of dale earnhardt, jr.>> all over the back bumper of greg biffle. biffle will be pushed hard by the 2 of bradkeselowski as well as the 4 of kevin harvick. biffle has to go the longest on fuel. withjust 56 laps to go. already the engineers, crew chiefs scratching their heads. how muchfuel do we have. how far can we go. that will slow them up. they will lose the momentum.you could see harvick making it three wide. >> the 2 being posted . the 2 being posted.big, big implications. there for brad keselowski

and the chase.>> restarts have been a hot topic of conversation. >> what do you want me to do here, paul?>> brad asking for what you want to do. 26 cars on the lead lap. brad keselowski willbe shown the black flag. >> kevin harvick has the information. he'snot pushing the issue. he's holding back. >> again, this is a good opportunity for harvickto save fuel. like you said. he knows this information. he doesn't have a lot of pressurefrom bush. he's able to safe more fuel here and try to attack the 16 later.>> on pit road. another one of the chase teams is the problem.>> there the 2 makes the left turn to pit road. will serve the penalty for the restartviolation. biffle cont keselowski. accelerated

quicker. greg biffle staining the tires. aloft oh question marks. the red lines and the pointers are ours. nascar doesn't lookat that when they make the decision. >> we are not nascar. they say the 16 didn'twant to go yet. that's the call they are making in the tower. you're the driver, jeff. ifkeselowski went bf the 15 of biffle. you have to make the call. you don't want to make thecall. you want this stuff to happen on the racetrack. you see harvick for the lead. nascar continued to see while. drivers sayingdon't make us make the call. harvick to the inside for the lead. greg biffle trying tohold on as he runs the higher line. door by door now. harvick back does harvick have toconserve fuel? sfm now that kevin harvick

is in front of biffle he can. he has the bestcar. he can safe as much fuel as possible. we know the 16 needs more laps. this is atime harvick can save fuel. >> harvick out front. biffle second. hamlin,kenseth, kurt busch the top five. as we go nascar nonstop. >>> welcome back. kevin harvick in front ofhamlin as biffle drop dropped back to fourth. kenseth running third. the fastest car onthe track is the 11 of tenny hamlin who came to pit road on lap 239. not a fuel issue forhamlin. he's going very hard now. >> he knows the 4 is in fuel konss vags mode.he has a win in the bank. nothing to lose. he'll push the 4 as hard as he can. at somepoint harvick has to decide if i have saved

enough fuel to hold him off or do i continueto save. >> even before he took the lead from gregbiffle, has to start saving fuel. he's in fuel saving mode getting around the 16 car.once he got past him and saw the 11 coming. rodney said you know the 11 will run us hard.keep him behind you and stretch the fuel. it's been since march since he can do whathe can to keep it up front. >> i think part of the decision is based onwhat they feel they have to do to transfer to the next round. if they came in just completelybelieving they have to win in order to transfer. then you do one thing. if you analyze andsay, bowyer isn't running well,le kyle busch had problems. keselowski is a lap down becauseof the penalty. do you say second or third

is okay, good enough to move into the chase.all that thought process goes into making the decision.>> how difficult is it when you have the apple out there. kevin harvick know ifs he win itis race he advances to the second round. >> also knows if he runs out of fuel he hasto win dover. like steve said, don't leave new hampshire knowing you have to win dover.>> jeff, remember, he told us in the prerace show there are ways to get to round two. wedon't have to win to get to round two. all they need here is the on three finish. he's able to keep in the 11 and the 20.>> this battle now taking place between harvick and hamlin would have been a three-car battleif it wasn't for the restart penalty that

brad keselowski suffered.>> he was confused because when he got word he was going to be black flagged and had tomake a pass through penalty he was behind greg biffle. he said how do i have a penaltywhen i'm behind the guy. that's not when the call was made. it was made on the restart.now his spotter is trying to direct him through traffic. the car in front of him is a lastcar or was given a number. the car is worth oh point. brad came out 25th and lasted alead lap. everybody he passes now is a point toward the championship.>> keselowski on the lead lap running 24th. now there are 25 on the lead lap. this isa battle for the lead. a battle for second now.>> the drivers have been telling nascar we

want you to make calls. they feel like theywant the rules and they want to have to abide by them. if not it's free reign for everybody.the problem is when they call on you. then you feel like, i didn't do it. there shouldn'thave been a penalty. the drivers push the restart thing. it's gone on and on. nascarsaid, you know what? enough is enough. we'll start penalizing.>> hamlin is in a difficult position. he has a teammate behind him. his teammate has runhim down. if the two of these cars battle side by side, that will put a little gap betweenthem and the 4 of kevin harvick. and make harvick have the opportunity to not have torun as hard. hamlin wants him to run as har as he can so he can get up there and win therace. he's got kenseth behind him. so he has

to work hard to keep kenseth behind him.>> we know caution can come out. logano consistently runs some of the fastest laps on the trackin fourth. these guys all have to play how hard do theyrun. they are battling hard. you wouldn't know they are teammates.>> hamlin already has a win. has the free pass already. to round 2 of the chase.>> we saw the pit road for 15. >> unscheduled pit stop for bowyer addingto the frustration of the weekend for him. they came to pit road . didn't appear flat.may have been going soft. it wasn't completely flat. obviously not a situation the 15 wantedto experience. they needed to come away with a run today.>> kevin harvick on a different pit strategy

than hamlin running second. >>> take a look at today's mobile one performancefactors. >> kenseth and hamlin want to apply as muchpressure as they can to make the 4 burn too much fuel and hopefully run out.>> kenseth has been able to get by. hamlin has fallen back. kenseth makes the move. canhe reel in harvick. we listened toã· strategy. here's what they have to say.>> the 4 car cannot make it. cannot make it. don't burn up your stuff.>> so that's the strategy of the 11. how about the 4? this is their radio.>> too many laps right here. >> how many?>> probablile 12 total. that's not saying

anything under caution.>> what makes me nervous is he said, how many do i need? that makes me nervous.>> the driver doesn't know how many laps he needs to save then how much do you know tosave in makes me nervous. >> kenseth off the second.>> clearly catching the four car. he was behind denny hamlin and said i will burn up my tireshere. i will back up. let them cool down and make iran at the 11. he passed the 11. nowhe's in the 4. jason told him you're doing a good job. this is really getting fun, guys.>> absolutely. >> it comes down to 22 laps. does harvickhave enough? if he does, can he still hold off matt kenseth who is charging to the front?

>> this would be stressful if the race didn'thav ramifications it has. it is difficult to win a sprint cup race. then you add thefour car runs out. no matter how good of a year he's had, his championship hopes maybe over. you add to that and that's why the chase adds so much pressure the four car.harvick. everybody is especially nervous now. >> 25 cars on the lead lap. if harvick wereto finish 25th, he loses 24 points again. >> you call it 25 cars. no, no. 24 pointsin the lead lap. right now it's all about points. what's the gamble? if he makes it,we caulk about the negatives. what if he makes it?>> if he wins he is in the second round. >> right around 5th. seems like he's in thetop two every week.

>> which would you do if you're kevin harvick?>> i love this plan. i hope he does the information. if you have the strategy which i thought wasright. you have to be willing to finish third. >> you have to say, you know what? i haveto safe enough. if harvick had the information early enough that he feels he had to saveit, perfect strategy. if he got it late i have to finish 4, 5, 6.>> the strategy was they didn't want to be in a position where they had to win at dover.ultimately they had to win to advance if they finished where they are now, of course theyadvance. they get the win. if they win in the top two and three it's a very good pointdais for the team. they don't have to win. they can point their way in.>> with 18 to go you can only save so much

fuel. the decision is made. there isn't aswitch he can flip to save enough if 18 laps if he hasn't yet. this is something you have to do over thewhole run. you heard the radio communications earlier. this is something you need to knowfrom the word go. you can't save quarts or gallons of fuel in 15lele miles.>> we saw the leaders run out of fuel. the leaders are pushing each other so hard theywere running too hard with the fuel they had and they ran out. kenseth handling number11. what were they saying as they dropped back?>> hamlin said he got tight for some reason. more importantly it sounded likely althoughit was difficult to make out he may have ab

issue. the pit crew sprung into action.>> the only guy that has an issue is hamlin. >>.>> you know, even though kevin is out front leading the race and running a fast lap timeas fast as we have seen him all day long we've thinking he's running fast. as fast as he'sbeen. one thing is if he runs out. coming out of turn two. straight away and to pitroad. you're not going to finish 24th. maybe 30th.>> he'll finish in the top five or ten. >> 74 plus 14 to go. puts you at 88. theysaid guys, i don't think we'll be in the window. maybe they weren't getting good gas mileage.>> they had six laps of caution. that could save you two and a half to three laps.

a corner to go. they could come down. madeit farther an you or i could. harvick proved he can save the fuel. kenseth is thinkingnow, forget the fuel. if i can catch him and pass him it won't matter if he makes it ornot. >> one thing kevin did for several years inevery practice he would go out and run and figure out how to save fuel. he set a trendin the garage for that. you go out and see lap times and think why is harvick slow. he'sfiguring out fuel mileage. now a lot of people do it. all those years of understanding howto save fuel is a down payment on having a good day like possibly having today.>> you're making him burn the gas. >> that's the 20 telling him you are makinghim run hard. burn the gas. 12 laps to go.

11 laps.>> several times said to matt you are making him burn that gas. you guys all heard theone conversation about fuel. other than that he said one time they need to take care. noconversation since then. i wonder if they are happy with the numbers they are seeing.they know the number they need to hit. >> you know, they trust him to handle it.they don't feel they have to tell him how to handle it to remind him. they trust thathe'll do it. >> as we talk about the leader, talk aboutwho will win the race. we talked about how to safe points. jimmie johnson was a luckydog a little bit ago. he has fought back. currently in the 8th position. brad keselowskiis 17th. that's what we talk about when we

talk points. you have to recover. they didn'twant to run 8th. one caution ago they were outside the lead lap in the 20. great recovery. this could be the race thatmoves them into round two. >> how about keselowski who has fallen backto 17th now. the penalty. he battled back. he moved up to 17 but after the restart penaltyhe's back to 17. >> working themselves up. he can stille follow.>> those were a lot of points when it comes to the next round. under 8 to go. the fuelwatch is on for the 4 of kevin harvick. does he have enough gas, enough fuel to get allthe way around eight more times? that's the question. has he been saving fuel? i'm nervousfor him. matt kenseth hopes he hasn't saved

enough. i'm nervous for matt kenseth. thisis what racing is about. it doesn't have to be door to door to have a great race. thisis a chess match. it's a sub 30 second lap worrying about tires, fuel. they have to bein control of the entire situation. >> they continue to work to score traffic.that's helping kevin harvick. if he doesn't have the 20 of kenseth all over his back bumperstill. >> he was six laps short. that's whoo rodneychilders told him. we'll see how much fuel kevin saved here. six to go now. they weresix laps short from the end. we'll see how much harvick saved.>> remember we had a caution in between the time he was on pit road and now. there werea few laps under caution where you could save

fuel. >> that will save you a lot of points. everyonce of fuel matters. >> even is on the edge of their seat now wonderingif harvick can make it all the way. >> five to go. kenseth in second. hamlin third.logano fourth. great day for greg biffle. an amazing run for greg biffle. he came topit road in lap 206. he has to save fuel if he wants to hold on.>> lasted farther than kevin harvick. >> we don't know if he saved enough fuel.has greg biffle saved enough? can he hang on for the top five or ten finish?>> nothing's easy. the 4 is dominating. now you have to manage fuel. you have all thethings going on. that's why racing is difficult

and it's so hard to win.>> three laps to go. three miles of fuel is what he needs fluchltz slow through the turns.he's out of gas. you heard it. we ran out of gas. not enough fuel saved. harvick willcome to pit road. matt kenseth out in front now. big, big points implications for the4 team. they needed a great finish. they are on pit road losing spots. and points as everycargos by them. >> how much fuel did it run out. it can'tleave until it has fuel pressure. wasting time. he does get the tires. it will be leasta lap down. >> the lap down cars started 23rd. 88 of daleearnhardt, jr. also on pit road. the white flag is in the air. one more time around.41 of kurt busch could be out of gas.

matt kenseth. coming through the turns. oneand two down the back stretch. kenseth coming to pit road. lap 239. giving him enough fuelto goal all the way to the checkered flag. kenseth trying to punch his ticket for thesecond round of the chase. kenseth will win at new hampshire.>> let's go, buddy. >> as we wait for the finish line. hamlin,logano. biffle ends up fourth. he was 6 laps shorter as far as fuel. harvick runs out.biffle hangs on for top five. carl edwards, top 5. jimmy johnson, jeff gordon, martintruex, jr., kasey kahne and ryan newman. top ten finishes. you see kevin harvick makinghis way back around through three and four. we knew it would be close. it ended up beinga little too short for kevin harvick. worked

out perfectly for matt kenseth. joe gibbsracing. joe gibbs racing has won four consecutive races. it wasn't with four different drivers.13 wins in 2015. an impressive list to join.>> 8 races to go. >> a lot of time and momentum behind him.our score sheet showing kevin harvick finishing 21st. you do the math. he lost 20 points.dale earnhardt, jr. 25th. clint bowyer, 26th as far as chasers. where they end up. onerace to go. before the cut-off. the bottom four in points in the chase. do not advance.to round two. you win and you advance. that's exactly what matt kenseth was able to do todayat new hampshire motor speedway. when we come back, he's in victory lane.>>> welcome back to new hampshire motor speedway.

didn't take long for matt kenseth to get tovictory lane. let's go there now. >> kenseth unbuckling now. just arrived invictory lane getting out of the race car. obviously a big celebration about to eruptdown here as matt kenseth has punched his ticket to round two.>> may not have had the most dominant car today. he was there to capitalize when kevinharvick ran out of fuel. you saw the 4 sputter. what were your thoughts?>> had to be there to win it. the dollar general guys did a great job.>> it's fine. relax. made it to the front faster than we thought. i was given kevineverything we've got. it was just a little bit short on fuel. this is unbelievable. feelsunbelievable. thanks dollar general, gatorade,

citizen watch. we've got great partners. ireally appreciate the guys a lot. i thank the lord for putting me here. it's been somuch fun. >> what's it like going to dover knowing you'realready advancing to round two. >> it doesn't change. thought about it a littlebit today today. we are running second. third behind deny. well, the first round if youget all top tens you will advance. i said forget that. you have to work to catch themand beat them. these things are hard to win. we'll bring good stuff, try to run as goodas we can next week and go from there. >> joe gibbs racing won the first two in roundone. how do you describe it? >> it can stop at any given moment. workingfor jason and the whole group has been awesome.

we have more coming. feels good.>> i have a suspicion we do have more coming. matt kenseth in victory lane.>> that was a lot of emotion from matt kenseth. you don't see that type of celebration fromthat guy. he's enjoying every minute of it. momentsago, dave burns caught up with brad keselowski. >> unofficially brad keselowski picked up13 positions as he ran there at the end. brad, tribe your understanding of the penalty youreceived on the restart. >> it's a pretty basic understanding. entertainmentsport, not a fair sport. we had a great car. the team, i don't know if we could have beatthe 20 and the 11. they would have had four tires. heck of a rebound. proud of the guysto come back and get a top 12 out of that

without another yellow or catching the brakes.>> how do you believe it set you up for dover? >> not terrible.>> brad keselowski made up ground at the end after having to go through the past two penalties.the penalty came on the restart. we want to show you again what took place. brad keselowskiwas second. biffle was the lead car. >> stays a steady 44 miles per hour. alwaysinto it. keselowski leads before biffle we were fortunate to get new tires on the car. we had to go racing with 50 or so to go. thecar was strong. maybe not race winning but a top five. we got inside the top ten. soundedlike guys ran out of fuel. got us to 6th. i'm happy. we had to deal with a lot of adversity.got a great finish.

>> two solid finishes. what do you think thegame plan will be headed to dover? >> you have to go in and race. dover is agreat track for us. victory can be a huge shot in the arm for the team. really get greatmomentum going for us. we'll to, give 100% and hopefully get the trophy. hopefully advanceto the next round. >> great recovery today.>> jimmie johnson looking for his 7th championship. he's got to get out of round one if he wantsto have an opportunity. look at the chase grid now after two races. kenseth and hamlinboth with wins. you win and advance. edwards, pretty comfortable in the point situation.you look down at brad keselowski after the penalty on the restart. 16 points in frontof the cut line.

>> i want johnson up. plus 27 will fee feelgood. at dover they can do what they need to do. harvick loses a little bit over 20points in the last lap of the race. newman, busch in the range of losing out at dover.>> got to win dover. everybody else can race their way in. we have to see as the race involveinvolves the strategy the team needs. paul menard only one point out. mcmurray, two pointsin. dover will be interesting. >> the iron man of nascar, jeff gordon. 12points in front of the cut line. marty snyder is with him.>> he's checking the chase grid. let's talk about new hampshire. once you got back to25th it was almost impossible to get to the top 10.>> it was tough to pass today. this place

is tough to pass. we started further off thanexpected. i have to give everybody on the drive for hunger team credit. they brought the car to life. we just neededlong green flag runs. hat a couple of restarts. didn't go well. you know, maybe pit stops,maybe the sequence wasn't great. at the end the last one. that really helped us a ton.we had a long green flag run, a decent restart. able to pick off cars. a couple of them ranout of fuel as well. good way to close out the day.>> what race do you think we'll see at dover and how does it set you up for the first cutrace? >> harvick will be on a tear and maybe kylebusch. nef had unfortunate circumstances.

they're fast and capable of winning at dover.anywhere. you know those guys want to be in this thing bad. i would love to go back. weare fighting hard. we certainly have a little bit of a cushion. not enough where we canrun easy. >> 12 points doesn't feel like much of a cushion.nice 7th place finish today for jeff gordon. >> finish there for jeff gordon. kevin harvickgot out of the car. we asked to talk to him. he chose not to take our interview. obviouslya disappointing day for him after leading so many laps here. 216 of the 300 laps. theyrun out of fuel three laps before the end of the race. dave burns moments ago was ableto catch up with carl edwards. >> that's not the finish carl edwards waslooking for. overall a top five. how does

it set you up into the final race of roundone? >> things are going according to plan. i can'tthank the guys enough. it's a good fwamable at the end that worked out. they are greatpeople. they really love racing. now we'll have funat dove. >> you had to fight back. once you were theguy that had four tires and once the fuel cam was still attached when you left the box.how did you get through? >> the guys did a great job. little thingshappen when you're pushing. my guys are the fastest on pit road. they put me up front.in the end we ended up where we were. right back where we deserved to be. just a fun day.nice to qualify fist and run well.

>> confidence from the pole sitter finishing5th today. >> and a smile as he gets the top ten finish.we look at the unofficial results. kenseth and hamlin. not only 1-2 in the race but 1-2as they advance to round two. >> a good run by the chase guys. biffle infourth and kasey kahne in 9th. >> tony stewart needed a shot in the arm.brad keselowski, you can't say enough about the recovery. even murray. menard. they wererunning behind at the start of the race. fought hard to end up in the top 15. 21st through30th chaser kevin harvick after running out of fuel. dale earnhardt, jr. out of fuel.bowyer finish 26th, two laps down. you have to go back fut to see kyle busch's name. gotinto the wall. right front tire went down.

they had damage. were in the garage for 38laps before they got back on track. they made up five positions by coming back on the track.every point is very important as we look at the chase grid. only one race to go beforewe advance to round two and the points situation as we mentioned kyle busch. he's 13th. onepoint behind dale earnhardt, jr. who is right there on the cut line. >> it's going to get tight in dover. how aboutmatt kenseth. he won the race. i feel like we are not talking about him enough. he'sa championship caliber driver driving a fast race car. matt kenseth will be hard to beatfor the championship. >> what have we learned? 400 laps at dove.don't turn it off. points change a lot in

the last five laps of both race one and nowrace two of the first round of the chase. >> and next sunday, the nascar playoffs firstelimination race live from dover international speed way. sprint cup series racing from themonster mile all starting at 1:30 p.m. eastern. saturday, xfinity series racing. the 200 beginsat 3:00 p.m. eastern. coming up more post race coverage from new hampshire.>> something for everyone in the race. blink and you will misa major chase story line.matt kenseth and the team and family celebrating in victory lane which is right behind us.we are sitting in victory lane. the team celebration continuing. you know, one car dominates theday. that car isn't the one that wins the race. so many things to talk about. i reallydon't know where to start. i will leave you

with an incredible event. for basically everymajor name in the chase today. >> that's why we went to the playoff system.i was on the edge myself. two guys, kevin harvick and kyle busch. two of the fastestguys may not make it to the next. >> we have said iyk next week when the chasestarted. the teams make the fewest mistakes and they make liars out of us. the teams thatmade mistakes today were penalized heavily when it came to points.>> matt kenseth will join us coming up in the show. moments later kelli caught up withdeny hamlin. >> that was moments ago. we'll try to getif audio problems fixed. hamlin came back with a strong finish. second place. doesn'tneed the win. he and matt kenseth, no surprise

to see two joe gibbs drivers are the onlytwo so far that are safe. >> well, they are clearly running. we talkedabout it for eight weeks. >> exactly.>> a lot of people said they saw the 4, the hendrick and the guys would step up in theplayoffs. joe gibbs racing stepped up. it's been gibbs or penske racers that have wonduring the nbc races. we remember what kyle did. just crazy.>> one of the guys with problems. we mentioned five. i count five big name drivers. we'lltalk about the guys with trouble. see if we can hear what deny hamlin had to say to kelli.>> backed up his win in chicago at the second place finish here at richmond. looked likeyou could push harvick to run out of gas.

did you expect more?>> that's what i was trying to do is push as hard as i can. i thought he was in fuelsave mode when he was five or six lengths in front of me. when i got to him he had todrive harder. the goal is to try to run them out. you know, luckily our teammate had thebest car at the end. we had something going on with the right front. i don't know. thecar faded. this is great for jgr. kenseth and the guys. we're looking forward to it. >> you finished 1-2 with your teammate invictory lane. what to a make of the ride you're on and jgr as a whole?>> i'm happy. this is as good as we have run. i'm excited to go to the track every week. when you get to drivecars and engines from toyota like we have.

it's just a fun experience.>> enjoy it. thanks. i think he said something very key there. a sustained period of time.>> yeah. >> that's what you need for the ten-week playoffsystem as you see joe gibbs in victory lane. >> i think he said a couple of things. thisis like the tour de france. deny runs the leetder out of fuel. my man in the yej matt kensethgoes to the front. it was a team effort. they combined, teamed up. the sustained effortthe guys put in. we spoke about it before the interview.>> over the last two, three months. it's been a long time since i have seen anything like it

in the sport.>> it has been. something else people talk