NASCAR in New Hampshire: Schedule, watch info, favorites, weather for USA Today 301

NASCAR is back in New England.

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

Who is racing in New Hampshire? What’s the schedule for TV and streaming? And what drivers could contend for the win on Sunday?

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

NASCAR in 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 effort. Then there’s veteran Ty Dillon, who will make his fourth Cup start of the season.

Here’s the entry list for New Hampshire:

Car number	Driver	Team	Sponsor
1	Ross Chastain	Trackhouse Racing	Kubota Tractors
2	Austin Cindric	Team Penske	Autotrader
3	Austin Dillon	Richard Childress Racing	Bass Pro Shops
4	Josh Berry	Stewart-Haas Racing	Miner
5	Kyle Larson	Hendrick Motorsports	HendrickCars.com
6	Brad Keselowski	RFK Racing	BuildSubmarines.com/Boston Red Sox
7	Corey LaJoie	Spire Motorsports	Schluter Systems
8	Kyle Busch	Richard Childress Racing	FICO
9	Chase Elliott	Hendrick Motorsports	NAPA Auto Parts
10	Noah Gragson	Stewart-Haas Racing	Overstock
11	Denny Hamlin	Joe Gibbs Racing	Yahoo!
12	Ryan Blaney	Team Penske	Menards
14	Chase Briscoe	Stewart-Haas Racing	Zep
15	Kaz Grala	Rick Ware Racing	Meat N' Bone
16	Ty Dillon	Kaulig Racing	Car Bravo
17	Chris Buescher	RFK Racing	Fastenal
19	Martin Truex Jr.	Joe Gibbs Racing	Reser's Fine Foods
20	Christopher Bell	Joe Gibbs Racing	Rheem
21	Harrison Burton	Wood Brothers Racing	Motorcraft/Quick Lane
22	Joey Logano	Team Penske	Hunt Brothers Pizza
23	Bubba Wallace	23XI Racing	DraftKings
24	William Byron	Hendrick Motorsports	Valvoline
31	Daniel Hemric	Kaulig Racing	Poppy Bank
34	Michael McDowell	Front Row Motorsports	Long John Silver's
38	Todd Gilliland	Front Row Motorsports	Grillo's Pickles
41	Ryan Preece	Stewart-Haas Racing	Mohawk Northeast
42	John Hunter Nemechek	Legacy Motor Club	Family Dollar
43	Erik Jones	Legacy Motor Club	Dollar Tree
45	Tyler Reddick	23XI Racing	SiriusXM
47	Ricky Stenhouse Jr.	JTG Daugherty Racing	Kroger/Kleenex
48	Alex Bowman	Hendrick Motorsports	Ally
51	Justin Haley	Rick Ware Racing	Fraternal Order of Eagles
54	Ty Gibbs	Joe Gibbs Racing	Monster Energy
71	Zane Smith	Spire Motorsports	Focused Health
77	Carson Hocevar	Spire Motorsports	Delaware Life
99	Daniel Suarez	Trackhouse Racing	Choice Privileges

When is the NASCAR race in New Hampshire?

The USA Today 301 is set for Sunday, June 23 at 2:30 p.m. ET.

Before the race, there will be practice and qualifying sessions on Saturday. The 36 drivers will be split into two groups (found here) with each 18-car group getting 20 minutes of free practice.

Then, the field will compete in two-round qualifying. Here’s how it works:

• The two practice groups will remain the same for qualifying.
• Each driver will make one lap in the first round, with the five fastest drivers in each group advancing.
• In the final round, the remaining drivers each get one lap to set the top 10 starting order, with positions 11 through 36 set based on first round times.

What is the NASCAR TV schedule this weekend?

Rick Allen (play-by-play), Jeff Burton (analyst) and Steve Letarte (analyst) will be on the call for 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)

• Practice: 12:30 p.m. ET, USA Network, NBC Sports app
• Qualifying: 1:20 p.m. ET, USA Network, NBC Sports app

Sunday, June 23 (USA Network and streaming)

• Countdown to Green: 2 p.m. ET, USA Network, NBC Sports app
• USA Today 301: 2:30 p.m. ET, USA Network, NBC Sports app

NASCAR New Hampshire past winners, race history

Just six of the 36 drivers in the field are past winners in New Hampshire.

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

Joey Logano, hailing from Middletown, Connecticut, 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) scored their first wins at New Hampshire in the past two seasons, respectively.

NASCAR in New Hampshire picks, favorites, drivers to watch

When NASCAR comes to New Hampshire, you can usually eliminate one manufacturer from victory contention.

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 more, three organizations – Joe Gibbs Racing, Team Penske and Stewart-Haas Racing – have won 15 straight NHMS races.

Hamlin leads all drivers with a 9.4 average finish 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.

Beyond those two, the drivers with the best NHMS average finish 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).

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

What is the weather 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 on Sunday morning could become more widespread in the afternoon as temperatures reach 80 degrees.

NASCAR is unable to race in the rain, but cars can be equipped with wet-weather tires for racing on a damp track. The tires successfully debuted earlier this season at Richmond Raceway.