2021 Foxwoods Resort Casino 301
# 2021 Foxwoods Resort Casino 301

The 2021 Foxwoods Resort Casino 301 was a NASCAR Cup Series race held on July 18, 2021, at New Hampshire Motor Speedway in Loudon, New Hampshire. Originally scheduled for 301 laps, the race was shortened to 293 laps due to darkness. on the 1.058-mile (1.703 km) speedway. It was the 22nd race of the 2021 NASCAR Cup Series season. Aric Almirola led the last 28 laps to take a surprise victory, the third of his NASCAR Cup Series career, and his first on a non superspeedway.

## Report

### Background

New Hampshire Motor Speedway is a 1.058-mile (1.703 km) oval speedway located in Loudon, New Hampshire, which has hosted NASCAR racing annually since the early 1990s, as well as the longest-running motorcycle race in North America, the Loudon Classic. Nicknamed "The Magic Mile", the speedway is often converted into a 1.6-mile (2.6 km) road course, which includes much of the oval.

The track was originally the site of Bryar Motorsports Park before being purchased and redeveloped by Bob Bahre. The track is currently one of eight major NASCAR tracks owned and operated by Speedway Motorsports.

**Entry list**

* (R) denotes rookie driver.
* (i) denotes driver who are ineligible for series driver points.

| No. | Driver | Team | Manufacturer |
| - | - | - | - |
| 00 | Quin Houff | StarCom Racing | Chevrolet |
| 1 | Kurt Busch | Chip Ganassi Racing | Chevrolet |
| 2 | Brad Keselowski | Team Penske | Ford |
| 3 | Austin Dillon | Richard Childress Racing | Chevrolet |
| 4 | Kevin Harvick | Stewart-Haas Racing | Ford |
| 5 | Kyle Larson | Hendrick Motorsports | Chevrolet |
| 6 | Ryan Newman | Roush Fenway Racing | Ford |
| 7 | Corey LaJoie | Spire Motorsports | Chevrolet |
| 8 | Tyler Reddick | Richard Childress Racing | Chevrolet |
| 9 | Chase Elliott | Hendrick Motorsports | Chevrolet |
| 10 | Aric Almirola | Stewart-Haas Racing | Ford |
| 11 | Denny Hamlin | Joe Gibbs Racing | Toyota |
| 12 | Ryan Blaney | Team Penske | Ford |
| 14 | Chase Briscoe (R) | Stewart-Haas Racing | Ford |
| 15 | James Davison | Rick Ware Racing | Chevrolet |
| 17 | Chris Buescher | Roush Fenway Racing | Ford |
| 18 | Kyle Busch | Joe Gibbs Racing | Toyota |
| 19 | Martin Truex Jr. | Joe Gibbs Racing | Toyota |
| 20 | Christopher Bell | Joe Gibbs Racing | Toyota |
| 21 | Matt DiBenedetto | Wood Brothers Racing | Ford |
| 22 | Joey Logano | Team Penske | Ford |
| 23 | Bubba Wallace | 23XI Racing | Toyota |
| 24 | William Byron | Hendrick Motorsports | Chevrolet |
| 34 | Michael McDowell | Front Row Motorsports | Ford |
| 37 | Ryan Preece | JTG Daugherty Racing | Chevrolet |
| 38 | Anthony Alfredo (R) | Front Row Motorsports | Ford |
| 41 | Cole Custer | Stewart-Haas Racing | Ford |
| 42 | Ross Chastain | Chip Ganassi Racing | Chevrolet |
| 43 | Erik Jones | Richard Petty Motorsports | Chevrolet |
| 47 | Ricky Stenhouse Jr. | JTG Daugherty Racing | Chevrolet |
| 48 | Alex Bowman | Hendrick Motorsports | Chevrolet |
| 51 | Cody Ware (i) | Petty Ware Racing | Chevrolet |
| 52 | Josh Bilicki | Rick Ware Racing | Ford |
| 53 | Garrett Smithley (i) | Rick Ware Racing | Chevrolet |
| 77 | Justin Haley (i) | Spire Motorsports | Chevrolet |
| 78 | B. J. McLeod (i) | Live Fast Motorsports | Ford |
| 99 | Daniel Suárez | Trackhouse Racing Team | Chevrolet |
| Official entry list ||||

## Qualifying

Kyle Busch was awarded the pole for the race as determined by competition-based formula.

### Starting Lineup

| Pos | No. | Driver | Team | Manufacturer |
| - | - | - | - | - |
| 1 | 18 | Kyle Busch | Joe Gibbs Racing | Toyota |
| 2 | 19 | Martin Truex Jr. | Joe Gibbs Racing | Toyota |
| 3 | 9 | Chase Elliott | Hendrick Motorsports | Chevrolet |
| 4 | 1 | Kurt Busch | Chip Ganassi Racing | Chevrolet |
| 5 | 48 | Alex Bowman | Hendrick Motorsports | Chevrolet |
| 6 | 11 | Denny Hamlin | Joe Gibbs Racing | Toyota |
| 7 | 12 | Ryan Blaney | Team Penske | Ford |
| 8 | 8 | Tyler Reddick | Richard Childress Racing | Chevrolet |
| 9 | 20 | Christopher Bell | Joe Gibbs Racing | Toyota |
| 10 | 5 | Kyle Larson | Hendrick Motorsports | Chevrolet |
| 11 | 2 | Brad Keselowski | Team Penske | Ford |
| 12 | 4 | Kevin Harvick | Stewart-Haas Racing | Ford |
| 13 | 3 | Austin Dillon | Richard Childress Racing | Chevrolet |
| 14 | 21 | Matt DiBenedetto | Wood Brothers Racing | Ford |
| 15 | 22 | Joey Logano | Team Penske | Ford |
| 16 | 24 | William Byron | Hendrick Motorsports | Chevrolet |
| 17 | 17 | Chris Buescher | Roush Fenway Racing | Ford |
| 18 | 23 | Bubba Wallace | 23XI Racing | Toyota |
| 19 | 14 | Chase Briscoe (R) | Stewart-Haas Racing | Ford |
| 20 | 42 | Ross Chastain | Chip Ganassi Racing | Chevrolet |
| 21 | 41 | Cole Custer | Stewart-Haas Racing | Ford |
| 22 | 10 | Aric Almirola | Stewart-Haas Racing | Ford |
| 23 | 34 | Michael McDowell | Front Row Motorsports | Ford |
| 24 | 43 | Erik Jones | Richard Petty Motorsports | Chevrolet |
| 25 | 37 | Ryan Preece | JTG Daugherty Racing | Chevrolet |
| 26 | 7 | Corey LaJoie | Spire Motorsports | Chevrolet |
| 27 | 38 | Anthony Alfredo (R) | Front Row Motorsports | Ford |
| 28 | 6 | Ryan Newman | Roush Fenway Racing | Ford |
| 29 | 47 | Ricky Stenhouse Jr. | JTG Daugherty Racing | Chevrolet |
| 30 | 77 | Justin Haley (i) | Spire Motorsports | Chevrolet |
| 31 | 99 | Daniel Suárez | Trackhouse Racing Team | Chevrolet |
| 32 | 78 | B. J. McLeod (i) | Live Fast Motorsports | Ford |
| 33 | 53 | Garrett Smithley (i) | Rick Ware Racing | Chevrolet |
| 34 | 51 | Cody Ware (i) | Petty Ware Racing | Chevrolet |
| 35 | 52 | Josh Bilicki | Rick Ware Racing | Ford |
| 36 | 00 | Quin Houff | StarCom Racing | Chevrolet |
| 37 | 15 | James Davison | Rick Ware Racing | Chevrolet |
| Official starting lineup |||||

## Race

Kyle Busch was awarded the pole. During the first few laps it began to rain and caused Busch to slam into the wall and others spun including Martin Truex Jr., and Alex Bowman. Busch would be unable to continue the race. The race was red flagged due to rain. When the race resumed, Joey Logano was penalized two laps for a crew member working on the car under the red flag. Bubba Wallace spun with a flat tire as Ryan Blaney won the first stage. Kevin Harvick would dominate, but Brad Keselowski won the second stage. In the closing laps, several laps were taken off of the distance due to darkness looming. Aric Almirola would take the lead from Matt DiBenedetto and hold off a charging Christopher Bell for the win, qualifying for the playoffs being 27th in points and needing a win to qualify.

### Stage Results

Stage One Laps: 75

| Pos | No | Driver | Team | Manufacturer | Points |
| - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 1 | 12 | Ryan Blaney | Team Penske | Ford | 10 |
| 2 | 2 | Brad Keselowski | Team Penske | Ford | 9 |
| 3 | 9 | Chase Elliott | Hendrick Motorsports | Chevrolet | 8 |
| 4 | 4 | Kevin Harvick | Stewart-Haas Racing | Ford | 7 |
| 5 | 8 | Tyler Reddick | Richard Childress Racing | Chevrolet | 6 |
| 6 | 20 | Christopher Bell | Joe Gibbs Racing | Toyota | 5 |
| 7 | 11 | Denny Hamlin | Joe Gibbs Racing | Toyota | 4 |
| 8 | 42 | Ross Chastain | Chip Ganassi Racing | Chevrolet | 3 |
| 9 | 21 | Matt DiBenedetto | Wood Brothers Racing | Ford | 2 |
| 10 | 5 | Kyle Larson | Hendrick Motorsports | Chevrolet | 1 |
| Official stage one results ||||||

Stage Two Laps: 110

| Pos | No | Driver | Team | Manufacturer | Points |
| - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 1 | 2 | Brad Keselowski | Team Penske | Ford | 10 |
| 2 | 4 | Kevin Harvick | Stewart-Haas Racing | Ford | 9 |
| 3 | 12 | Ryan Blaney | Team Penske | Ford | 8 |
| 4 | 11 | Denny Hamlin | Joe Gibbs Racing | Toyota | 7 |
| 5 | 10 | Aric Almirola | Stewart-Haas Racing | Ford | 6 |
| 6 | 9 | Chase Elliott | Hendrick Motorsports | Chevrolet | 5 |
| 7 | 5 | Kyle Larson | Hendrick Motorsports | Chevrolet | 4 |
| 8 | 8 | Tyler Reddick | Richard Childress Racing | Chevrolet | 3 |
| 9 | 42 | Ross Chastain | Chip Ganassi Racing | Chevrolet | 2 |
| 10 | 1 | Kurt Busch | Chip Ganassi Racing | Chevrolet | 1 |
| Official stage two results ||||||

### Final Stage Results

Stage Three Laps: 116

| Pos | Grid | No | Driver | Team | Manufacturer | Laps | Points |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 1 | 22 | 10 | Aric Almirola | Stewart-Haas Racing | Ford | 293 | 46 |
| 2 | 9 | 20 | Christopher Bell | Joe Gibbs Racing | Toyota | 293 | 40 |
| 3 | 11 | 2 | Brad Keselowski | Team Penske | Ford | 293 | 53 |
| 4 | 15 | 22 | Joey Logano | Team Penske | Ford | 293 | 33 |
| 5 | 7 | 12 | Ryan Blaney | Team Penske | Ford | 293 | 50 |
| 6 | 12 | 4 | Kevin Harvick | Stewart-Haas Racing | Ford | 293 | 47 |
| 7 | 10 | 5 | Kyle Larson | Hendrick Motorsports | Chevrolet | 293 | 35 |
| 8 | 20 | 42 | Ross Chastain | Chip Ganassi Racing | Chevrolet | 293 | 34 |
| 9 | 5 | 48 | Alex Bowman | Hendrick Motorsports | Chevrolet | 293 | 3 |
| 10 | 6 | 11 | Denny Hamlin | Joe Gibbs Racing | Toyota | 293 | 38 |
| 11 | 14 | 21 | Matt DiBenedetto | Wood Brothers Racing | Ford | 293 | 28 |
| 12 | 2 | 19 | Martin Truex Jr. | Joe Gibbs Racing | Toyota | 293 | 25 |
| 13 | 8 | 8 | Tyler Reddick | Richard Childress Racing | Chevrolet | 293 | 33 |
| 14 | 21 | 41 | Cole Custer | Stewart-Haas Racing | Ford | 293 | 23 |
| 15 | 29 | 47 | Ricky Stenhouse Jr. | JTG Daugherty Racing | Chevrolet | 293 | 22 |
| 16 | 4 | 1 | Kurt Busch | Chip Ganassi Racing | Chevrolet | 292 | 22 |
| 17 | 13 | 3 | Austin Dillon | Richard Childress Racing | Chevrolet | 292 | 20 |
| 18 | 3 | 9 | Chase Elliott | Hendrick Motorsports | Chevrolet | 292 | 7 |
| 19 | 24 | 43 | Erik Jones | Richard Petty Motorsports | Chevrolet | 292 | 18 |
| 20 | 31 | 99 | Daniel Suárez | Trackhouse Racing Team | Chevrolet | 292 | 17 |
| 21 | 16 | 24 | William Byron | Hendrick Motorsports | Chevrolet | 292 | 16 |
| 22 | 25 | 37 | Ryan Preece | JTG Daugherty Racing | Chevrolet | 292 | 15 |
| 23 | 26 | 7 | Corey LaJoie | Spire Motorsports | Chevrolet | 292 | 14 |
| 24 | 28 | 6 | Ryan Newman | Roush Fenway Racing | Ford | 292 | 13 |
| 25 | 23 | 34 | Michael McDowell | Front Row Motorsports | Ford | 292 | 12 |
| 26 | 18 | 23 | Bubba Wallace | 23XI Racing | Toyota | 292 | 11 |
| 27 | 19 | 14 | Chase Briscoe (R) | Stewart-Haas Racing | Ford | 291 | 10 |
| 28 | 30 | 77 | Justin Haley (i) | Spire Motorsports | Chevrolet | 291 | 0 |
| 29 | 17 | 17 | Chris Buescher | Roush Fenway Racing | Ford | 290 | 8 |
| 30 | 32 | 78 | B. J. McLeod (i) | Live Fast Motorsports | Ford | 288 | 0 |
| 31 | 34 | 51 | Cody Ware (i) | Petty Ware Racing | Chevrolet | 285 | 0 |
| 32 | 27 | 38 | Anthony Alfredo (R) | Front Row Motorsports | Ford | 285 | 5 |
| 33 | 33 | 53 | Garrett Smithley (i) | Rick Ware Racing | Chevrolet | 283 | 0 |
| 34 | 35 | 52 | Josh Bilicki | Rick Ware Racing | Ford | 280 | 3 |
| 35 | 36 | 00 | Quin Houff | StarCom Racing | Chevrolet | 187 | 2 |
| 36 | 37 | 15 | James Davison | Rick Ware Racing | Chevrolet | 40 | 1 |
| 37 | 1 | 18 | Kyle Busch | Joe Gibbs Racing | Toyota | 8 | 1 |
| Official race results ||||||||

NOTE: Race shortened to 293 laps by darkness.

NOTE: The 9 and 48 teams were penalised 25 points each on July 22, 2021, by NASCAR for an engine violation. Teams are limited to 20 engines during the Cup Series season, as eight full engines, known as long blocks, and eight short blocks, consisting of the engine block, connecting rod, pistons, crankshaft, and camshaft, must be sealed and reused for a second race. As reported by Fox Sports' Bob Pockrass, special rules are in place when a team wins a race. Such race winning engine is marked by a car number, and can only be reused by the same team that used the engine in the race win. At this event, the 48 team used an engine previously raced by the 9 team at either Austin or Road America. By rule, because it was a race winning engine, only the 9 team can reuse that sealed engine. The infraction was discovered when the 48 engine in question was inspected and the 9 car tab was found.

### Race statistics

* Lead changes: 14 among 10 different drivers
* Cautions/Laps: 6 for 37
* Red flags: 1 for 1 hour, 41 minutes and 22 seconds
* Time of race: 3 hours, 7 minutes and 52 seconds
* Average speed: 99.004 miles per hour (159.331 km/h)

## Race recap

Kyle Busch would jump to the lead on the start with Truex Jr. following. Throughout the start, light rain started to increase into heavier rain. In an accident similar to the start of the 2001 The Winston, on lap 6 rain picked up heavily in Turn 1, causing the leaders including Kyle Busch. Truex Jr., and Hamlin to all spin and collect damage. As rain picked up even further, NASCAR decided to stop the race on lap 9. Aric Almirola would win. The race did not run the full 301 laps due to sunset.

## Media

### Television

NBC Sports covered the race on the television side. Dale Earnhardt Jr., four-time and all-time Loudon winner Jeff Burton and Steve Letarte called the race from the broadcast booth. Marty Snider and Dillon Welch handled the pit road duties from pit lane.

NBCSN :

| Booth announcers | Pit reporters |
| - | - |
| Lap-by-lap: Dale Earnhardt Jr. Color-commentator: Jeff Burton Color-commentator: Steve Letarte | Marty Snider Dillon Welch |

### Radio

PRN had the radio call for the race, which was also simulcast on Sirius XM NASCAR Radio. Doug Rice and Mark Garrow called the race from the booth when the field races down the frontstretch. Rob Albright called the race from turns 1 & 2 and Pat Patterson called the race from turns 3 & 4. Brad Gillie, Brett McMillan and Alan Cavanna handled the duties on pit lane.

PRN :

| Booth announcers | Turn announcers | Pit reporters |
| - | - | - |
| Lead announcer: Doug Rice Announcer: Mark Garrow | Turns 1 & 2: Rob Albright Turns 3 & 4: Pat Patterson | Brad Gillie Brett McMillan Alan Cavanna |

## Standings after the race

| | Pos | Driver | Points |
| - | - | - | - |
| | 1 | Denny Hamlin | 874 |
| | 2 | Kyle Larson | 861 (–13) |
| 1 | 3 | William Byron | 749 (–125) |
| 1 | 4 | Kyle Busch | 740 (–134) |
| 1 | 5 | Joey Logano | 733 (–141) |
| 1 | 6 | Chase Elliott | 711 (–163) |
| | 7 | Martin Truex Jr. | 696 (–178) |
| | 8 | Ryan Blaney | 689 (–185) |
| 1 | 9 | Brad Keselowski | 676 (–198) |
| 1 | 10 | Kevin Harvick | 673 (–201) |
| | 11 | Alex Bowman | 612 (–262) |
| 1 | 12 | Tyler Reddick | 596 (–278) |
| 1 | 13 | Austin Dillon | 591 (–283) |
| | 14 | Kurt Busch | 552 (–322) |
| | 15 | Christopher Bell | 532 (–342) |
| | 16 | Chris Buescher | 475 (–399) |
| Official driver's standings ||||
| | Pos | Manufacturer | Points |
| | 1 | Chevrolet | 812 |
| 1 | 2 | Ford | 758 (–54) |
| 1 | 3 | Toyota | 755 (–57) |
