LOUDON — Police Chief Robert Fiske was too busy to see Kasey Kahne win the Lenox Industrial Tools 301 NASCAR race at New Hampshire Motor Speedway Sunday. (See complete coverage in Sports.)

He and his officers had their hands full with more than 100,000 race fans arriving and departing from the speedway. The entry and exit routes had been tweaked slightly from last year to make passage more safe and efficient for drivers on Route 106 and south along Interstates 393 and 93.

What was a great day for Kahne also turned out to be a great day for safety officials, Fiske said.

Fiske, whose officers are responsible for investigating crimes and accidents inside and outside the speedway, said there hasn't been such a trouble-free July race weekend since NASCAR came to Loudon in the early 1990s.

“This was the best weekend we've ever had,” he said. “There were no accidents, no incidents to speak of, and the tweaking to the traffic lanes helped enormously.”

There were only a few arrests for disorderly conduct all weekend at the raceway, he said. Race fans came in one large bunch late Sunday morning, but they arrived without problems, Fiske said,

And at 7:30 p.m., authorities were opening the highways to regular traffic again, though they weren't scheduled to remove the traffic signs and cones until 9:30 p.m.

“We were able to open the highways (after the race) 20 minutes earlier than last year,” he said. “Each year we've been tweaking the traffic patterns, and each year we've been opening the roads earlier and earlier. This is the earliest yet.”

Route 106 was converted to two northbound lanes and one lane southbound between the race track and I-393 in Concord Sunday morning.

Other changes included converting exit onramps and offramps into temporary lanes between Concord and the Hooksett tolls.

From 2:30 to about 7:30 p.m., Route 106 was closed to northbound traffic from I-393 in Concord to the speedway, and three temporary southbound lanes were set up to handle the outflow of traffic on Route 106.

Temporary northbound lanes along Route 106 were established as well.

The race ended about 4 p.m. At 6:20 p.m., traffic officers reported that I-393 in Concord was “at capacity,” Fiske said, which was the traffic's peak. At that point, drivers likely began encountering wait times, he said.

But in Loudon, traffic was nearly back to normal about an hour later, he said.

“It was uneventful, which for us means it was just a real good weekend,” Fiske said.

dseufert@newstote.com