Loudon NASCAR: Brian Vickers ends four-year win drought
Brian Vickers ended an almost four-year winless streak with a confident performance at New Hampshire Motor Speedway
The part-time Michael Waltrip Racing driver had the Loudon race in the bag after passing long-time leader Tony Stewart with 14 of the 301 laps to go.
But for the 12th time the race went under a full-course caution, and Vickers had to survive a green-white-chequer finish to end his 75-race losing run.
Stewart had moved to the front by non-stopping during one of those many cautions at roughly three-quarter distance. The Stewart-Haas team stuck with its gamble despite the many opportunities to pit, but fell short when Stewart's Chevrolet ran dry just after the final restart.
This left early race leader Kyle Busch to take up the charge, but there was no time left to deny Vickers his win.
On a day when numerous teams tried something different to get track position, Jeff Burton enjoyed one of his strongest races in years, taking third place for Richard Childress Racing.
Kurt Busch appeared to have the pace to win, but was shuffled down the order by taking four tyres when most of the rest took two. A tap from Matt Kenseth sent him spinning into Ryan Newman, effectively ending both their races.
Poleman Brad Keselowski took fourth, Aric Almirola was fifth, while Jimmie Johnson, who started last when his second-place qualifying time was disallowed, fought his way up the order to claim sixth.
Results - 302 laps:
Driver Team/Car Time/Gap
1. Brian Vickers Waltrip Toyota 3h14m10.000s
2. Kyle Busch Joe Gibbs Toyota 0.582s
3. Jeff Burton Childess Chevrolet + 1.013s
4. Brad Keselowski Penske Ford + 1.263s
5. Aric Almirola Petty Ford + 1.717s
6. Jimmie Johnson Hendrick Chevrolet + 2.065s
7. Kevin Harvick Childess Chevrolet + 2.732s
8. Carl Edwards Roush Fenway Ford + 2.809s
9. Matt Kenseth Joe Gibbs Toyota + 2.815s
10. Jeff Gordon Hendrick Chevrolet + 3.063s
11. Kasey Kahne Hendrick Chevrolet + 3.265s
12. Jamie McMurray Earnhardt Ganassi Chevrolet + 3.395s
13. Clint Bowyer Waltrip Toyota + 3.634s
14. Dale Earnhardt Jr Hendrick Chevrolet + 3.733s
15. Greg Biffle Roush Fenway Ford + 3.753s
16. Martin Truex Jr Waltrip Toyota + 4.048s
17. Paul Menard Childess Chevrolet + 4.141s
18. David Gilliland Front Row Ford + 4.308s
19. David Ragan Front Row Ford + 4.522s
20. David Stremme Swan Toyota + 4.594s
21. Denny Hamlin Joe Gibbs Toyota + 4.663s
22. AJ Allmendinger Phoenix Chevrolet + 4.884s
23. Dave Blaney Baldwin Chevrolet + 5.068s
24. Juan Pablo Montoya Earnhardt Ganassi Chevrolet + 5.197s
25. Joe Nemechek NEMCO Toyota + 12.251s
26. Tony Stewart Stewart-Haas Chevrolet + 52.481s
27. Bobby Labonte JTG Daugherty Toyota + 1 lap
28. David Reutimann BK Toyota + 2 laps
29. JJ Yeley Baldwin Chevrolet + 3 laps
30. Ken Schrader FAS Lane Ford + 3 laps
31. Kurt Busch Furniture Row Chevrolet + 18 laps
32. Landon Cassill Circle Sport Chevrolet + 21 laps*
33. Marcos Ambrose Petty Ford + 24 laps
34. Ricky Stenhouse Jr Roush Fenway Ford + 26 laps
35. Josh Wise Front Row Ford + 31 laps
36. Casey Mears Germain Ford + 59 laps
* Not running at finish
Retirements:
Danica Patrick Stewart-Haas Chevrolet 237 laps
Travis Kvapil BK Toyota 236 laps
Ryan Newman Stewart-Haas Chevrolet 225 laps
Joey Logano Penske Ford 211 laps**
Morgan Shepherd Keselowski Toyota 92 laps
Michael McDowell Parsons Ford 89 laps
Mike Bliss Humphrey Smith Toyota 75 laps
** Running again at finish
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