Schedule, viewing information, favorites – NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Worth

NASCAR is back in New England.

The Cup Series makes its annual trip to New Hampshire Motor Speedway this weekend for a 301-lap race on the track known as the “Magic Mile.”

Who’s racing in New Hampshire? What is the schedule for TV and streaming? And which drivers could fight for victory on Sunday?

Here’s everything you need to know for the USA Today 301:

NASCAR on the New Hampshire entry list

Thirty-six drivers will race in New Hampshire – the 34 full-timers, plus two others.

Kaz Grala will pilot the No. 15 for Rick Ware Racing as he continues his part-time endeavors. Then there’s veteran Ty Dillon, who will make his fourth Cup start of the season.

Here is the entry list for New Hampshire:

When is the NASCAR race in New Hampshire?

The USA Today 301 is scheduled to air Sunday, June 23 at 2:30 PM ET.

There will be training and qualifying sessions on Saturday before the race. The 36 drivers are split into two groups (found here), with each group of 18 cars receiving 20 minutes of free practice.

The field will then compete in a two-round qualifying round. This is how it works:

• For qualifying, the two practice groups remain the same.
• Each driver completes one lap on the first lap, with the five fastest drivers from each group advancing.
• In the final round, the remaining drivers are given one lap each to determine the starting order of the top 10, with positions 11 through 36 determined based on the times on the first lap.

What is the NASCAR TV schedule this weekend?

Rick Allen (play-by-play), Jeff Burton (analyst) and Steve Letarte (analyst) will be on NBC all weekend. Marty Snider, Kim Coon and Parker Kligerman will serve as pit reporters.

Here’s the full TV and streaming schedule:

Saturday, June 22 (USA Network and streaming)

Sunday, June 23 (USA Network and streaming)

NASCAR New Hampshire Past Winners, Racing History

Only six of the 36 drivers in the field are previous New Hampshire winners.

Busch and Hamlin led the way with three wins each, just one behind recently retired Kevin Harvick and NBC analyst Jeff Burton for the all-time record.

Joey Logano, from Middletown, Conn., and Brad Keselowski, racing a Red Sox-inspired car on Sunday, each have two wins at NHMS.

Joe Gibbs Racing teammates Christopher Bell (2022) and Martin Truex Jr. (2023) earned their first wins in New Hampshire over the past two seasons, respectively.

NASCAR in New Hampshire picks, favorites, drivers to watch

When NASCAR comes to New Hampshire, you can usually remove one manufacturer from the race for victory.

Ford and Toyota drivers have won 17 of the last 18 races at NHMS dating back to 2012. Chevrolet’s lone win came in 2016 with Harvick. To narrow it down even further, three organizations – Joe Gibbs Racing, Team Penske and Stewart-Haas Racing – have won 15 consecutive NHMS races.

Hamlin leads all drivers with an average finish of 9.4 and 19 top-10s in 30 NHMS starts. Truex leads all drivers with 1,170 laps led in 30 NHMS starts. Both Joe Gibbs Racing drivers should be strong on Sunday.

Besides these two, top drivers include Keselowski (9.8 in 23 starts), Larson (11.8 in 13 starts), Reddick (12.5 in 4 starts) and Blaney (13.6 in 11 starts). NHMS average finish.

Hendrick Motorsports, which leads all teams with seven wins this season, has traditionally struggled in New Hampshire. The organization has not won at NHMS (Kasey Kahne) since 2012.

What is the weather like in Loudon, New Hampshire for NASCAR?

It could be a rainy weekend in New Hampshire. As of Thursday afternoon, NBC Boston is predicting a 67% chance of rain on Saturday and a 61% chance of rain on Sunday in Loudon. Scattered thunderstorms Sunday morning may widen in the afternoon as temperatures reach 80 degrees.

NASCAR cannot race in the rain, but cars can be equipped with wet-weather tires to race on a damp track. The tires successfully debuted at Richmond Raceway earlier this season.