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Don’t include Nextel Cup regular Ricky Craven from Newburgh and former Busch Series driver Andy Santerre of Cherryfield among those in favor of the green-white-checkered flag finish instituted by NASCAR on Thursday for the Nextel Cup and Busch series.
The NASCAR Craftsman Truck and Busch North series already have the green-white-checkered finish.
So, beginning with the Siemens 300 Nextel Cup race and Siemens 200 Busch event at New Hampshire International Speedway in two weekends, there will be no more finishes under the caution flag.
Instead, there will a two-lap sprint to the finish if necessary.
“In my mind, it’s unfair to all the race teams. If you base your tire and fuel strategy on a 500-mile race and there’s a wreck with two laps to go, it could turn out to be a 512-mile race,” said Craven, who noted that teams could run out of fuel or be forced to run the two-lap sprint on badly worn tires.
“The drivers will be a lot more at risk, especially at the tracks that are longer than a mile and a half,” said Santerre, defending two-time Busch North points champ and current leader.
He said if there is a two-lap sprint on the superspeedways like the restrictor-plate tracks (Talladega and Daytona) and with 43 cars bunched up while going 180 to 200 miles an hour, “a wreck could take out half the field.
“It hurts when you get hit at high speeds. It may be a lot more exciting for the fans but, for the drivers, it isn’t real exciting to crash at 200 miles an hour. And there will be a lot more of that,” said Santerre.
He added that there’s a lot of pressure on drivers to produce top-10 finishes and they may feel compelled to “knock people out of the way” to do so during those two-lap sprints.
He said green-white-checkered finishes are used when necessary in the Busch North races “and it’s great for our series. But we race on short tracks so nobody gets hurt bad when we wreck.”
NHIS gets two historic events
New Hampshire International Speedway not only will be the site of the first possible green-white-checkered finish for the Nextel Cup and Busch series, when the Nextel Cup returns to Loudon for the Sylvania 300 on Sept. 19 it will be the first race in the 10-race dash for the points championship.
The points system was changed this season so only the top 10 Nextel Cup drivers and any others within 400 points of the leader after 26 races will be eligible to win the points title.
“It’s going to be an historic event. We’ve very lucky to be part of two pieces of racing history,” said NHIS public relations director Fred Neergaard. He also said everyone at the track is elated to have technology firm Siemens sponsoring the races in July.
And he indicated that based on recent testing, it appears the “second groove is coming in.”
One of the criticisms echoed by drivers and fans is that NHIS has just one fast racing groove. It has been repaved several times, the last time was April 2003.
“The longer you go with the same track surface, the better it gets. I watched the testing and the cars were running two distinct lines,” said Neergaard.
The Nextel Cup races are sold out but he said there are plenty of tickets for the Siemens 100 Featherlite Modified race on Friday, and the Siemens 200 Busch Series and Siemens 125 Busch North events Saturday.
He said eight Nextel Cup regulars will run in the Siemens 200 Busch Series race: Greg Biffle, Robby Gordon, Kevin Harvick, Kasey Kahne, Matt Kenseth, Casey Mears, Joe Nemecheck and Michael Waltrip.
Kyle Busch, younger brother of Kurt, is scheduled to make his Nextel Cup debut, according to Neergaard, and Hermie Sadler will also run both the Nextel Cup and Busch Series races.
Matt Kobyluck, fifth in the Busch North points, will also run the Busch Series race before jumping into his Busch North car.
Busch North heads to Waterford
Speaking of the Busch North Series, the tour heads to the Waterford (Conn.) Speedbowl in Waterford on Saturday night for the Waterford 150.
Scarborough’s Kelly Moore has won the last two Waterford 150s.
Moore is currently sitting in third place in the points with 1008 points.
Santerre leads with 1,188 points and Mike Olsen of No. Haverhill, N.H. is next with 1,144.
Kelly Moore leads his son, Ryan, by eight points and Kobyluck is fifth with 977 points.
Race time is 7:30.
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