The race was held at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, which is a 1.058-mile (1.703 km) oval speedway located in Loudon, New Hampshire, which has hosted NASCAR racing annually since 1990, as well as the longest-running motorcycle race in North America, the Loudon Classic. Nicknamed "The Magic Mile", the speedway is often converted into a 1.6-mile (2.6 km) road course, which includes much of the oval.
The track was originally the site of Bryar Motorsports Park before being purchased and redeveloped by Bob Bahre. The track is currently one of eight major NASCAR tracks owned and operated by Speedway Motorsports.
Entry list
(R) denotes rookie driver.
(i) denotes driver who is ineligible for series driver points.
The first practice session was held on Friday, July 14, at 1:00 PM EST. The session would last for 55 minutes.[2]Kyle Busch of Joe Gibbs Racing would set the fastest time in the session, with a lap of 29.602 and an average speed of 128.667 mph (207.069 km/h).[3]
The final practice session, sometimes referred to as Happy Hour, was held on Friday, July 14, at 3:00 PM EST. The session would last for 20 minutes due to inclement weather.[2]Kyle Busch of Joe Gibbs Racing would set the fastest time in the session, with a lap of 29.628 and an average speed of 128.554 mph (206.888 km/h).[4]
Qualifying was held on Saturday, July 15, at 11:05 AM EST.[2] Since New Hampshire Motor Speedway is under 2 miles (3.2 km) in length, the qualifying system was a multi-car system that included three rounds. The first round was 15 minutes, where every driver would be able to set a lap within the 15 minutes. Then, the second round would consist of the fastest 24 cars in Round 1, and drivers would have 10 minutes to set a lap. Round 3 consisted of the fastest 12 drivers from Round 2, and the drivers would have 5 minutes to set a time. Whoever was fastest in Round 3 would win the pole.[5]
Kyle Busch of Joe Gibbs Racing would win the pole after advancing from both preliminary rounds and setting the fastest lap in Round 3, with a time of 29.445 and an average speed of 129.353 mph (208.173 km/h).[6]