2008 Sylvania 300

2008 Sylvania 300

Race details
Race 27 of 36 in the 2008 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season
Layout of New Hampshire Motor Speedway
Date	September 14, 2008 (2008-September-14)
Official name	Sylvania 300
Location	New Hampshire International Speedway, Loudon, New Hampshire
Course	Permanent racing facility 1.058 mi (1.702 km)
Distance	300 laps, 317.4 mi (510.805 km)
Weather	Mild with temperatures up to 78.1 °F (25.6 °C); wind speeds up to 9.9 miles per hour (15.9 km/h)
Average speed	105.468 miles per hour (169.734 km/h)
Pole position
Driver	Kyle Busch	Joe Gibbs Racing
Time	qualified by virtue of owner's points
Most laps led
Driver	Jimmie Johnson	Hendrick Motorsports
Laps	96
Winner
No. 16	Greg Biffle	Jack Roush
Television in the United States
Network	ABC
Announcers	Jerry Punch, Dale Jarrett and Andy Petree

The 2008 Sylvania 300 was the twenty-seventh race of the 2008 NASCAR Sprint Cup season and race one of the Chase for the Sprint Cup.

Summary

The 300-lap, 317.4 miles (510.8 km) race was held on September 14 at the 1.058 miles (1.703 km) New Hampshire Motor Speedway in Loudon, New Hampshire. ABC televised the race beginning at 1 PM US EDT with radio coverage by Performance Racing Network along with Sirius Satellite Radio starting at that same time. This was PRN's first race to be broadcast from NHMS as Motor Racing Network handled the June event as per an agreement that was settled in May, almost one year following the purchase of the facility by Speedway Motorsports, Inc.

Pre-Race News

• The biggest pre-race news didn't come from the Sprint Cup Series, other than the mandatory pre-Chase visit to New York City on Wednesday (September 10), and an appearance on Late Show with David Letterman to deliver a "Top Ten List" of the perks of being in the Chase, which turned to a Top 12 List for the occasion, including Jeff Burton exclaiming that "There's nothing like going through a car wash at 190 miles per hour" and Kyle Busch telling us that "after a race your ASS vibrates for days".

The major story to pop up this week was when Craftsman Truck Series driver Ron Hornaday admitted to ESPN's magazine in an interview that he used HGH and testosterone from the same pharmacy that was being used by NFL and MLB players in Florida. Hornaday, who drives for Kevin Harvick's self-owned racing team, admitted this when shown records from the Palm Beach Rejuvenation Center that between December 2004 and January 2006, a year before the stock car racing body banned these illegal substances. NASCAR ruled it a personal medical matter from a thyroid condition, and Hornaday will not be penalized as a result.

Reports of a revised policy including mandatory random testing to be implemented by NASCAR within the next two weeks hastened the revealing of this. Harvick's team has implemented in-house random testing as of this year, and according to those within, there have been no complaints.

• In on-track news, Joey Logano will race after last week's cancellation of qualifying at Richmond due to the remains of Hanna to make an attempt to qualify for this week's race. Logano will carry the Home Depot colors on Hall of Fame Racing's #96 Toyota, usually sponsored by Texas Instruments' DLP technology. Logano will drive for Joe Gibbs Racing in 2009 in the #20 Home Depot Toyota.
• In another item involving sponsorship news for next season, UPS will be moving to Roush Fenway Racing's #6 Ford with driver David Ragan from the David Reutimann #44 Toyota of Michael Waltrip Racing.

Qualifying

After a 90-minute practice session, rain hit Loudon and washed out qualifying, so the field was lined up according to the rulebook.

Race Recap

Kyle Busch, who came into the race as the top seed in the chase suffered major mechanic problems as his sway bar was busted, and Matt Kenseth was involved in a major crash, and when all was settled, Greg Biffle took the win and jump to third place in the Chase standings.

Top Ten Finishers (Chase participants in yellow background)
Place	Car #	Driver	Car make	Team
1	16	Greg Biffle	Ford	Roush Fenway Racing
2	48	Jimmie Johnson	Chevrolet	Hendrick Motorsports
3	99	Carl Edwards	Ford	Roush Fenway Racing
4	31	Jeff Burton	Chevrolet	Richard Childress Racing
5	88	Dale Earnhardt, Jr.	Chevrolet	Hendrick Motorsports
6	2	Kurt Busch	Dodge	Penske Racing
7	1	Martin Truex, Jr.	Chevrolet	Dale Earnhardt, Inc.
8	20	Tony Stewart	Toyota	Joe Gibbs Racing
9	11	Denny Hamlin	Toyota	Joe Gibbs Racing
10	29	Kevin Harvick	Chevrolet	Richard Childress Racing

Failed to make race as qualifying was canceled due to rain: Tony Raines (#34) and Carl Long (#46).