My 2024 New Hampshire Vacation / NASCAR NHMS Weekend

This summer I went to my 5th NASCAR Cup Series race and 6th NASCAR Weekend overall and 2nd consecutive year. I first went to a NASCAR race in 2007 for the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series at the then called New Hampshire International Speedway, in 2008 I went to my first Cup series race. I went again in 2009 and 2013. It wouldn't be until last summer in 2023 that I would visit again, that would be the final star for Kevin Harvick at New Hampshire Motor Speedway and I didn't want to miss it. My parents and I had a great time and wanted to go again so once NASCAR released the 2024 schedule back in the fall of 2023 we got tickets again.

Day 1 Thursday:

Thursday June 20th, we packed our Subaru Forester and took off, heading to New Hampshire. It was a very hot day, 98 degrees outside. We were lucky to have that as our driving day because it would have been miserable outside. We got to New Hampshire quite easily and pulled off at a rest stop, it was good to get out and walk around. Once inside we ordered food, I got a turkey sandwich. I then had my picture taken with a Hailie Deegan cutout, it was there to promote her autograph session she was going to have there on Saturday. We also found Hailie's sponsor Viva Tequila Selter there, it was something I've been wanting to try but wasn't able to find here in Connecticut. Once we left the rest stop it was off to the hotel, we arrived around 3 and was able to check in. The room was fantastic, it was simple but very clean. There was soon a thunderstorm which would become the theme of our trip, a hour or so passed and we left our room looking for dinner, we went to a restaurant called Covered Bridge Farm Table, I had probably the best burger i've ever ate there, once dinner was over we went to walmart to get a few items, we found some flavors for our Cirkul water bottles and I found the Caitlin Clark Magazine I was looking for. Back at the hotel that night, we had decaf coffee from the hotel's 24 hour coffee and tea machine and played in the arcade. My dad and I competed in a basketball game which he won.

Day 2 Friday:

Friday June 21st, this was a fun day, last year we didn't have a tourist type day on our trip, it was just all about the race weekend so we went up a day earlier than last year to have time to do something else. Our day started with a brilliant breakfast at the hotel, we then took off to Indian head mountain, my parents climbed the tower to take a look and then we all visited the gift shop. After this we visited the basin, a super cool area which shows the power that water has on rocks! Next up was visiting the sight of the Old Man of the Mountain, such an iconic location, it's disappointing to not have seen it when it was still there. My parents told me I went to it when I was 8 months old but obviously I wouldn't remember that. It was cool to see what was done with the area with the memorial and the steel profilers as they are called which when you look at them right recreate the Old Man of the Mountain's profile, it was an amazing experience. After this we went to Cannon Mountain, we considered going up the gondola but the visibility on the mountain was very bad and it didn't seem worth it with the rain. 

We went to the gift shop and got some stickers. We took a quick stop into the New England Ski Museum then took off to our last destination. We drove to Mount Washington to check out the cog railway. It was really cool to see the way the train goes up the mountain. After this we headed back to the hotel room, along the way back we pulled over as my dad was tired from driving all day and driving the day before as well, I took over driving and drive back to the hotel, it was fun as it was my first real drive when on vacation in another state, It was raining so hard and my mom's phone wasn't getting connection to Apple Maps so we kinda just had to figure it out until the connection was regained. Once we got back to the hotel we decided to go eat once again at Covered Bridge Farm Table, this time I got a chicken sandwich which was quite good. We then went to Market Basket, which is a super cool grocery store. We got lunch meat and some cheese, they sell cabot American cheese which is amazing. I had it last year and it’s something I can’t find at grocery stores in Connecticut. We also grabbed a few bottles of prime and as well and then finally it was back to the hotel for the night, we went and got some decaf coffee once again and then it was time to watch some basketball. I wanted to watch Caitlin Clark and the Indiana Fever take on the Atlanta Dream, we made sure we were back by 7:30 to watch this game. Indiana won the game 91-79. We all quickly fell asleep once the game was over as we had a long day and we had a long day and a busy one ahead.

Day 3 Saturday

Saturday June 22nd. Today was Xfinity race day, once we had hotel breakfast once again we took off for the track around 8:30 we got to the track and parked around 10, we walked to the areas setup right outside the track gate, I bought my mom the diecast car from the race weekend then we went to the Toyota setup, I got my picture with cutout of Ty Gibbs, then we spun the giant wheel Toyota had, you could either win a card with a Toyota driver on it or a Toyota bag, I won a Erik Jones card but someone in front of me won a Ty Gibbs card, which they didn't want so they gave it to me. My Dad spun the wheel and got a Denny Hamlin card, this was extremely funny as Denny Hamlin is the only driver that my Dad doesn't like and he makes it known on race weekends so seeing him get that card was great, My dad spun again and almost got Denny again. My Mom spun twice and landed on the one no prize spot both times, the second time she was given a card anyway as she was so close. Next my Mom and I each got our picture taken in the Toyota show car. We looked around at the other things in the area a bit, we stopped at the Sci Aps set up and my mom was able to get a picture with Ryan Seig, one of the drivers who would be the Xfinity race later. After this we decided to go into the track. Once inside we watched a few minutes of the Modified race. This was supposed to be at 6 PM, after the Xfinity race but it was moved to 10 AM due to rain that was expected later. We then checked out the merchandise haulers, I got a Interstate Batteries Ty Gibbs hat and a Team Interstate shirt with all 4 Joe Gibbs racing drivers on it, I also got a small Ty Gibbs sign to put on the wall. My Mom got a Kyle Larson 1:24 Diecast from his 2023 Darlington win, this also got her a wristband for the Larson autograph session on Sunday. My Dad got a Ross Chastain Hat, T-shirt and sticker. We went back and saw the last few laps of the modified race, before going back to the merchandise haulers, this time we got a few more things, I got a Shane Van Gisbergen Shirt and Hat, My Dad got another Ross Chastain Shirt and My mom got a Rajah Caruth Shirt, a Sheldon Creed Shirt and a Daniel Suarez Shirt. The Suarez shirt also came with a wristband for the Suarez autograph session. My mom also got a Ryan Preece shirt earlier in the day. The final item was a Todd Gilliand shirt for my Brother. Gilliand was sponsored by Grillo's Pickles, which is something my Brother has always liked so when I told him about the sponsorship he said he wanted an item if they had it. We now were going to head back to the car. At the car we made our sandwiches and then ate. We headed back into the track now ready to watch the race. We got to our seats and put on our ponchos as it was slightly raining. The rain quickly ended and the Xfinity series race began on wet weather tires and quickly went to slick tires. Overall the Xfinity race was great with a lot of action including Christopher Bell making a last lap pass for victory, the first ever at the track. Once the race was over we headed back to the car, my mom sat in the back seat and made sandwiches. She did this so we were able to get on the road right away back to the hotel instead of staying in the parking lot for half and half and then potentially waiting longer to leave due to traffic. We made it back to the hotel and my Dad and I went swimming. We were only able to swim for a few minutes as the pool closed at 9 PM and we got to the pool at 8:40. It was great to just be in the water for a few minutes, it was the only time all vacation we went to the pool. We got back to the room and then got ready for bed. Sunday was going to be a busy day. We had to get to the track earlier than Saturday.

Day 4 Sunday 

Sunday June 23rd. We woke up and were quickly getting ready to go. First we had the hotel breakfast as soon as it opened at 7AM. We ate then loaded the car for the day. We got to the track at around 9AM, we had an hour and a half before the track gates were to open, we decided to check out some of the things outside the gate once again, there wasn’t as much to do today as we had already done most of it Saturday, this was a good idea because Sunday has much bigger crowds. We found one tent building type thing that we went inside, it had a Cole Custer truck and the Petty hat inside that it being added to all NASCAR tracks in 2024 to celebrate 75 years of Petty racing, we were quickly told to leave this room though as apparently it wasn’t open, we laughed about it as we were leaving the room because it had no indication that it was closed. After this we decided to go get in line to go inside the track. We were in line at 9:45 and the gates opened at right about 10, 30 minutes earlier than advertised. Once inside we quickly got in line. My Dad went to the Chevrolet trailer for the Daniel Suarez autograph session and my mom and I went to the Kyle Larson autograph session. We showed the wristband that my Mom had and they let us in line. Once in line they did another wristband check, since I didn't  have one I was told I could  be in line but couldn't get an autograph, this was fine though, I was there just to take pictures anyway. After 45 minutes of waiting Kyle Larson showed up and went inside the hauler, he walked right in front of us as we were right behind the hauler door. Just 2 minutes later and we were at the front of the line, they cut the wristband off my Mom's wrist and pulled me out of line to go stand next to the women who would take pictures if people needed them done, I took 3 quick pictures as my Mom got her car signed. It was super cool that she got the car signed and that we got to see Kyle Larson. My Dad got the Daniel Suarez shirt signed when my Mom and I were in line. My Dad got a picture with Suarez and also got a picture of Ross Chastain who was doing autographs at the Trackhouse hauler. After the autograph session was over we got a drink quickly, I got a Monster which was a mistake, Monster gives me headaches. I usually drink Red Bull but I forgot mine at the hotel. Once we got drinks we went to exit the track, we stopped at the tent at the exit, this is a spot that they sell old items for there speedway charity, we got a 2008 and 2013 promo car both of those are races I went to, Two 2022 track banners with the race name that would probably go on light post, a Jeff Gordon pin and best of all a giant 2024 Playoff Kevin Harvick track banner, this was an amazing find. We headed now once again to the Toyota setup as Ty Gibbs was doing a Q&A followed by a quick autograph session. My Mom went to the Toyota hauler and bought a TRD hat. I needed to get something signed but didn't want my new hat signed as I planned to wear it a lot. Ty was doing just a quick sign and walk so you had to be quick. My mom and I couldn't really push in to get an autograph, so a taller and wider guy took the hat and pushed in and reached over to get it signed. It was so nice of him to do that for us. Now it was back to the car for a quick lunch, we took a few pictures with the track in the background, we waited around a little bit before walking back in one last time. We got to our seats at 1:30, but not before walking past the jet dryer which was blasting in our ears as we walked in a slow single file line. We watched driver intros and then stood for the prayer and anthems of both Canada and the United States. Now it was race time, I listened to the cars without earplugs for a few laps before putting them in. Stage 1 flew by quickly before Stage 2 became chaos, the rain was coming, all day we had severe thunderstorm and tornado warnings. The race intensity was picking up lap 150 would make the race official when the rain came if they could not restart. We had a prime spot for seeing crashes, turns 1&2 usually are the incident spots at that track. Eventually the rain came, the cars were brought down pit road, the lightning was picking up now and we decided to leave, we were definitely not the first group to leave, we looked at the radar and talked to the people in front of us who are from New Hampshire and watched the news that morning, it seemed like the race was over, we walked to the car, more thunder and lightning and heavy rain came. We left the track, we went searching for food, we found a nice pizza place and got a cheese pizza and I got a turkey grinder for later. We drove around a bit, I saw a Cybertruck in person for the first time. As we were driving back to the hotel the race had restarted, the track was damp but they were going, we watched the rest of the race from the hotel, it was a weird experience to watch the race on TV after starting it in person. Once the race was over we packed our bags for the next morning and ended our night with decaf coffee. 

Day 5 Monday

Monday June 24th, We packed up the car then got out last hotel breakfast, we hit the arcade once again. My dad and I once again competed in a basketball game which this time I won. My mom won a few rubber ducks from a claw machine, we went back to the room and did one last check. My Mom bought me a Mellow Yellow from the vending machine. I wanted it all week but was looking for a cheaper one at stores and couldn't find one.  We then checked out and hit the road. We made a quick stop at Market Basket, I got a few packs of cabot American cheese then we headed home, we took a quick stop at a rest stop in Massachusetts but besides that it was a straight drive home. My brother was at our house, he was taking care of the cats when we were away, it was great to see him, and thank him for doing that well while we were away. We showed him a few things we got. We gave him his Todd Gilliand Grillo's Pickles shirt which he really liked. We then unpacked and that was it, we were home.

Overall we had a fantastic time. We will likely go again in 2025 which is rumored to be a Playoff race in September. Hopefully it won't rain, I've been to 5 cup races and 3 were affected by rain, 2009, 2023 and 2024. My mom and I each got colds after the trip, probably from the rain, and consistently moving from hot to cold. It was worth it thought, it was an amazing time, and that's why I wrote so much, to share with everyone but to also keep the memories of the little details along with the big things