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NASCAR drivers discuss the career and legacy of Martin Truex Jr.
Martin Truex Jr. recentlty annoucned that he will be retiring at the conclusion of the NASCAR season, so we asked drivers about his legacy at the USA TODAY 301.
It was an eventful and very long Sunday in NASCAR’s New Hampshire race’s USA TODAY 301.
Christopher Bell won for the third time this season, and joked that it wasn’t rain-shortened like his win in the Coca-Cola 600 was in May.
NASCAR also broke out the rain tires for the second time this season and finished on them for the first time since they were approved in 2023. The drivers ran the final 82 laps of the race on rain tires.
Here are the winners and losers from the USA TODAY 301 NASCAR Cup Series race at New Hampshire.
USA TODAY 301 RESULTS: Who won NASCAR Cup race in New Hampshire? Norman native Christopher Bell is winner
Bell is the easy choice here with his race win. But the way he did it by leading 149 total laps and dominating the final laps of the race was just the way he needed to get the job done and earn the win, his second of the season and second in five starts at New Hampshire.
The Hendersonville native was strong in Sunday’s race and finished third. Berry was running toward the front all day and utilized the hectic nature of the wet-weather tires to push his way up the leaderboard. Berry’s finish on Sunday was tied for his best finish this season at Darlington. Berry now has four top-10s and two top-5s in the last six races.
Briscoe battled hard throughout Sunday’s race to finish second. He fought off Bell at the end of stage one to stay on the lead lap, which helped with pit strategy and track position. Briscoe utilized the rain-soaked restart with 73 laps remaining and moved through the field in a hurry. He had a couple of chances to win the race with the late restarts inside of the final 10 laps, but couldn’t get the jump he needed to pass Bell.
Bowman suffered an engine failure on lap 142 after the first incident-related caution of Sunday’s race. Bowman was running 17th at the time and was credited with a 36th-place finish in the 36-car field. Bowman entered the day just outside of the playoff cutline, and that is sure to take a big hit after his last-place finish.
Busch had all kinds of struggles in Sunday’s race – much like he has all season. Busch overdrove a corner, spun and collected Noah Gragson. Busch had a spin in the backstretch just before the race went into the red flag and spun under caution after the red flag, slapping the wall and ending his day in 35th place.
LOGANO, ELLIOTT CRASH: Joey Logano, Chase Elliott crash in NASCAR Cup race at New Hampshire in USA TODAY 301
HOW IT HAPPENED: NASCAR Cup Series race at New Hampshire: Live updates, highlights, live leaderboard of USA TODAY 301
There are a couple of levels to this one. First, NASCAR red-flagged the race too early with the rain coming in. But bringing the wet-weather tires to New Hampshire was a great call to get the race done to even more than its scheduled distance. On top of that, the racing was fantastic with drivers fanning out to find a different line around the racetrack.
However, NASCAR really struggled in its enforcement of the rules after the drivers went back racing with the rain tires. The officials were strict on the non-competitive pit stops and not allowing race teams dictate the strategy was a big miss. This was the second time the wet-weather tires were used in a points race on an oval and the first at the end of a race, so it’ll just take some time and practice to get it right.
If and when the rain tires are needed again, NASCAR should let the teams decide their strategy and how they want to run the race.
As the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran overtakes the foreign policy debate in Washington, two Democratic governors with potential 2028 presidential aspirations — Gavin Newsom and Andy Beshear — recently traveled to New Hampshire, introducing themselves to the state’s famously engaged voters. The two weighed in on the war and both criticized and questioned President Trump’s strategy and endgame.
“If a president is going to take a country into war, and risk the lives of American troops and Americans in the region, he has to have a real justification and not one that seems to change every five to 10 hours,” Beshear told CBS News after a Democratic fundraiser in Keene.
“This President seems to use force before ever trying diplomacy, and he has a duty to sell it to the American people and to address Congress with it,” Beshear continued. “He hasn’t done any of that. In fact, it appears there isn’t even a plan for what success looks like. He’s gone from regime change to strategic objectives and now is talking about unconditional surrender, which isn’t realistic where he is.”
Beshear also said he thought that Congress should have reined in Mr. Trump’s war powers.
“He is trying to ignore Congress. He’s trying to even ignore the American people,” Beshear said.
He went on to note that the president’s State of the Union address took place “three — four days before he launched this attack,” and Mr. Trump “didn’t even have the respect to tell the American people the threat that he thought Iran posed to us.”
Last week, both the House and the Senate failed to pass resolutions to limit Mr. Trump’s war powers and stop him from taking further military action against Iran without congressional support.
For Newsom, the war with Iran constitutes part of a broader criticism of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
At an event last Tuesday in Los Angeles, Newsom had compared Israel to an “apartheid state.” Later, in New Hampshire, he sought to clarify his comment.
“I was specifically referring to a Tom Friedman [New York Times] column last week, where Tom used that word of apartheid as it relates to the direction Bibi is going, particularly on the annexation of the West Bank,” Newsom explained during a book tour event Thursday night in Portsmouth. “I’m very angry, with what he is doing and why he’s doing it, what he’s going to ultimately try to do to the Supreme Court there, what he’s trying to do to save his own political career.”
Friedman wrote that at the same time that the U.S. and Israel are prosecuting a war in Iran, within Israel, Netanyahu’s government has undertaken efforts to annex the West Bank, driving Palestinians from their homes; fire the attorney general who is leading the prosecution against Netanyahu for corruption; and block the government’s attempt to establish a commission to examine the failures that led up to the Oct. 7, 2023, massacre of Jews by Hamas.
CBS News has reached out to the Israeli Embassy in Washington, D.C., for comment.
On Iran, Newsom said, “I’m very angry about this war, with all due respect, you know, not because I’m angry the supreme leader is dead. Quite the contrary. I’m not naive about the last 37 years of his reign. Forty-seven years since ’79 — the revolution,” Newsom said. “But I’m also mindful that you have a president who still is inarticulate and incapable of giving us the rationale of why? Why now? What’s the endgame?”
Many attendees at Newsom’s book event said that the situation in Iran is a top-of-mind issue for them, too. Some said they’re “horrified” by what is happening.
29-year-old Alicia Marr told CBS News she decided to attend Newsom’s event because of his social media response to the war with Iran.
“There was one spot left, and I decided to pick it up, and it was due to his response to the war, that it is just unacceptable, and I would agree with that,” Marr said.
While some voters like Marr are eager to hear about where potential candidates stand on foreign policy, many at Newsom’s event said they care most about how potential candidates plan to address domestic issues.
“I’m more focused on getting the middle class back on track and fighting the oligarchy, and I’m less invested in international issues,” said Anita Alden, who also attended Newsom’s event,
“I wouldn’t call myself America first, but we have so many problems at home that are my priority,” she told CBS News.
Former Vice President Kamala Harris, who may also be weighing another White House bid, told Fox 2 Detroit last week that she “unequivocally opposes” the Trump administration’s military action in Iran and urged Congress to take action.
“If we want to stop Donald Trump with this random decision that he has arrived at, then Congress must act, and Congress must act immediately. The American people do not want our sons and daughters to go into this unauthorized war of choice,” Harris said.
Mr. Trump has lashed out against Democrats who have pushed back on his Iran strategy, calling them “losers” last week and arguing that they would criticize any decision he made on Iran.
“If I did it, it’s no good. If I didn’t do it, they would have said the opposite, that you should have done this,” the president said.
Local News
A Massachusetts man was arrested late Wednesday night after police say he was driving more than 100 mph on a New Hampshire roadway.
Officers with the Rindge Police Department stopped a vehicle shortly after 11 p.m. on Route 202 near Sears Drive in Rindge following a report of a car traveling at excessive speed, according to a statement from Chief Rachel Malynowski.
The vehicle, a 2020 Kia Stinger, was spotted traveling at 104 mph in a posted 55 mph zone, Malynowski said.
The driver, a 21-year-old man from Attleboro, was arrested and charged with reckless operation of a motor vehicle, according to police.
He is scheduled to be arraigned April 5. If convicted, the man faces a fine of at least $750, in addition to the court’s penalty assessment, and a 90-day license suspension, Malynowski said.
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