New England 200 full of twists and turns

Trevor Bayne (No. 16) races Carl Edwards (No. 60) and Kevin Harvick (No. 33) three-wide
at New Hampshire in the New England 200 Nationwide race Saturday.
Credit:
Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images

Saturday's New England 200 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway was quite an adventurous race to say the least, with a lot of action: nine yellow flags and a variety of wrecks, mainly involving Steven Wallace, the No. 66 car. Though Kyle Busch would make history with his 100th win across all three top series, he had to survive a race full of twists and turns to get there.

The Roush cars especially had their ups and downs. Ricky Stenhouse spun out early in the race, on lap 33, but would go on to become one of the race's seven leaders.

Before halfway through, Carl Edwards had to pull out of the race. "Jack just said it is a broken valve or broken valve spring," he told the media. Edwards parked his car and then moved on to join the ESPN reporters to comment on the race.

His teammate Trevor Bayne went on to lead the race for 58 laps. "Trevor is doing us proud out there right now," Edwards said of the 20-year-old Daytona 500 winner.

Kyle Busch races to his 100th win ahead
of Kevin Harvick. Credit: Alan Marler -
Pool/Getty Images for NASCAR
At just over halfway, the No. 66 of Steven Wallace collided with Justin Leffler, who was sent to the garage for heavy repairs. This was the first of three wrecks Wallace would be involved in, including two multi-car wrecks in the last laps of the race.

After leading 22 laps, Brad Kesolowski spun on lap 186 and avoided hitting Bayne. Keselowski recovered to finish in the top 10, but Bayne wasn't home free yet.

On lap 190, Bayne and Logano went for a spin, and Reed Sorenson got caught up in the wreck. Bayne and Sorenson finished outside the top 10.

Only seven laps later, a seven-car crash brought the race to a green-white-checkered finish. The crash ended Logano's day.

In the end, it was between Kevin Harvick and Kyle Busch. Harvick led the last lap, but Busch pulled ahead to see his 100th checkered flag.

Harvick finished second and went on to say that he would've raced his rival harder, but NASCAR told him a few weeks ago to not touch the 18 car or they would park him.

Kasey Kahne finished in third with the No. 7 Go Daddy car for JR Motorsports. Dale Earnhardt Jr. had asked him a month ago to fill in for Kentucky and New Hampshire, and the results were favorable with a 4th in Kentucky and a 3rd-place finish Saturday.

Stenhouse Jr. finished in fourth and Aric Almirola finished in fifth.
New England 200 full of twists and turns New England 200 full of twists and turns Reviewed by Unknown on Sunday, July 17, 2011 Rating: 5