TWELVE MILES down the road from, and six days shy of, the Lenox Industrial Tools 301 that will draw about 100,000 race fans to New Hampshire Motor Speedway in Loudon, Gov. John Lynch stood in the starter's stand at the Route 106 RacePark late on Monday morning.

Jerry Gappens, the executive vice president and general manager of the Pembroke speedway, strapped into a go-kart and moved to the front row, lining up alongside a young racer out on the track.

Lynch waved the green flag and the go-kart race — kicking off New Hampshire's Sprint Cup Week — was under way.

“It is a big weekend for New Hampshire,” Lynch said, emphasizing the word big. “They're expecting well over 100,000 people to come to the Speedway this weekend, and it's an opportunity to showcase New Hampshire and all it has to offer. Obviously it's a big economic engine for the state.”

Two of NASCAR's next 10 Sprint Cup races, in fact, are scheduled for New Hampshire Motor Speedway. The track holds down two of the coveted 36 Cup dates.

The series returns for the Sylvania 300 on Sept. 23. That race is the second event in NASCAR's playoff-style, 10-race Chase to the Sprint Cup championship.

On Monday, the focus was on a contest featuring Gappens, stock car racer Joey ”Joey Pole” Polewarczyk of Hudson and a gang of young go-karters as a teaser to the main event.

“It's great to connect with these young people who have a strong interest in our sport,” Gappens said. “Go-kart racing is really like our Little League, a feeder system for people who want to grow up and race.”

Tony Stewart, the defending Sprint Cup champion, and many other racers have go-kart backgrounds,

“Most of the top drivers that race NASCAR Sprint Cup or the Nationwide Series today started in a go-kart, because it's something simple and not too expensive to get started in, and you can move up through the ranks, if it's what you want to do,” Gappens said.

Several of the youngsters at the RacePark — including Nathaniel Parkin, 9, of Vermont in his Dale Earnhardt Jr.-themed kart, and Casey Call of Pembroke, who turns 9 on Aug. 4, the same day his hero, Jeff Gordon, turns 41 — like the sound of that plan.

“I think it's kind of significant to be here and see these young people,” Gappens said. “Because we don't know; one of them might be out at our track in seven, eight, nine years running with NASCAR.”

Gappens, incidentally, led the first couple of laps of Monday's race and at the end grabbed the checkered flag that goes to the winner in what appeared to be a controversial finish.

He may have illegally cut a corner or two in the race.

“They weren't going to let me win,” Gappens said with a laugh. “When you're giving up about 40 years and several pounds, you've got to go with your brain and use every advantage you can get. So that's what I did.”

Max Dolliver, 12, of Londonderry was declared the official race winner.

Now the action returns to Loudon and stock cars.

After a free FanFest on Thursday evening featuring a Sprint Cup hauler parade, a question-and-answer session with a Cup driver, and a concert, the cars from three NASCAR series — the Whelen Modified, Nationwide and Sprint Cup — take to the track for practice and qualifying on Friday.

The Town Fair Tire 100 Modified race and the F.W. Webb 200 Nationwide race, which will include Danica Patrick, are set for Saturday afternoon and will be followed by a new event, a Global RallyCross race, scheduled for 7 p.m., live on ESPN.

Sunday is all about Stewart and Earnhardt Jr. and Jimmie Johnson, who won five straight championships before Stewart broke his string last year, and the rest of the Cup stars.

What's next: FanFest on Thursday at NHMS includes free admission for Global RallyCross practice in the morning and various activities just outside the tunnel that leads into the infield, starting at 5:30 p.m.

alessels@unionleader.com