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Start Your Engines: It's NASCAR Weekend in New Hampshire

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The New Hampshire Motor Speedway welcomes back the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series on Sunday.

NASCAR is back in New Hampshire this weekend. Races will be held Saturday and Sunday at the New Hampshire Motor Speedway in Loudon, where a hundred thousand fans are expected to watch some of the country’s top NASCAR drivers burn rubber.

Drivers are entering the second half of their race season, and they’ll find themselves on an unforgiving track here in New Hampshire.

The speedway is flatter than most tracks, less banked around the corners. That makes it difficult to pass—and difficult to know who will come out on top, says David McGrath, general manager of the speedway.

“You don’t come to New Hampshire and just dominate this particular speedway. We’ve had so many different winners over the last few years. When you hit the setup right and you’re successfully, that’s a great thing but it doesn’t mean you come back the next race and can duplicate it.”

This year, the track’s outer edge will be coated with a traction compound, which McGrath says should encourage drivers to get more aggressive on the turns.

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