Huey Wins at New Hampshire
Randy James captures his fifth Cup Series win on the season while teammate Jon Pharis finishes off his fifth straight Cup Series championship.
As Jon Pharis has Infineon and Jon Doble has Charlotte, Randy James has New Hampshire. The driver of the #99 paced practice, grabbed a pole, and led 74 of 105 laps on his way to picking up his fifth Cup Series winner’s trophy of the season. As the race took the green flag it appeared as if James was easily the car to beat and that everyone else would be racing for second.
Points leader Jon Pharis would end up in a wreck with teammate Dan Tenoff and All Star Racing driver Steve Kelley on lap 12 and all three would end up retiring, but the ninth-place finish would be enough to clinch Pharis’ fifth straight LNR Cup Series championship, so the party got started a little early.
Each driver had his own share of bad luck, including James, who ended up backing his #99 Ford Fusion into the outside wall, and for a few laps everyone thought that someone else might win. Until James showed his muscle again and returned to the lead after quick repairs and a caution.
On the final restart, it looked as if Jon Doble might give Randy James a bit of a fight near the end, but Doble’s car would get loose and lose the handle while James drove off for a 8 second victory. Doble would finish second, Shawn Becher would finish third, while Tim Phillips, and Johnny Williams would round out the top-5.
In the final points tally, Pharis captures the title by 33 points over Tim Phillips who had one shot at a championship, he would have to win and lead the most laps while Pharis finished 10th without leading one. He nearly got his shot at it too. Shawn Breitzman moves into third while Wade Kilpatrick skipped New Hampshire and fell to fourth.
Next season will kick off on July 11th at Daytona International Speedway with the LNR Cup Series under new management. Jon Doble, this season’s LNR Cup Series Director, will make the move to the new Thursday Night Thunder Series while their Series Director, Shawn Becher, will move into the top spot in the Cup Series.
