Ryan Blaney won tonight’s Mobil 1 301 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway to kick off the Round of 12 in style against a late-race challenge from Josh Berry.
The NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs opened the Round of 12 with New Hampshire Motor Speedway – the site of Christopher Bell’s rain-delayed win one year ago. He was red-hot off the back of his Bristol triumph last week, placing him as a top contender for the win at the ‘Magic Mile’.
New Hampshire is a ‘flat’ oval featuring 1.2-6.7 degrees of progressive banking. Reigning Cup Series champion, Joey Logano, took his second Busch Light Pole of the year last night, ahead of Penske-Ford team-mates Berry and Blaney.
Stage one saw a clean getaway from the field, with limited action through the pack as everyone built on their understanding of their cars.
Blaney took the lead from Logano on lap 53 of 70 in stage one, showing the greatest long-run performance of the Penske bunch up front.
A caution came out when Cody Ware spun with help from Austin Dillon. They almost collected race leader Blaney in the kerfuffle.
The field returned to green with a one-lap shootout to end stage one, where Blaney shot into the lead and claimed the stage one victory.
Blaney and Logano kicked off the 115-lap stage two. A caution swiftly fell when Berry spun off the front of Shane van Gisbergen’s #88 Chevrolet.
Blaney broke away again as they restarted coming to lap 18 of stage two. Carson Hocevar appeared in third place before Ty Gibbs brought out a caution 40 laps in, when he spun with contact from JGR team-mate, Denny Hamlin.
Although Hamlin initially flamed the #54 over the radio, both he and Gibbs labelled the incident “unfortunate.”
Chase Briscoe won the race off pit road with right-side tyres only. He restarted alongside Logano and held the lead. The #6 of Brad Keselowski caused a chain reaction when he hit SVG in turns one and two. Kyle Busch, Daniel Suarez and Justin Haley were also collected in the wreck.
Briscoe continued to lead when they restarted with 61 to go in stage two. However, it was Kyle Larson who found himself in second place challenging Briscoe for the lead.
Ten laps later, Larson found the lead, passing Briscoe with Logano in-tow. Logano then passed the #5 over the following laps.
Ty Gibbs bent a toe-link following contact with the wall off turn two and returned to pit road for repairs.
Heavy contact for the #42 of John-Hunter Nemechek forced a caution to neutralise the race. He lost the car while battling with Riley Herbst.
Logano kept the lead off pit road and restarted with Larson alongside. He kept the lead until stage end to earn an additional playoff point.
Logano kept the lead as the field began stage three with 108 laps to go. William Byron, Kyle Larson and Ryan Blaney followed closely.
30 laps in, Ryan Blaney mounted a challenge to leader Logano. He took the lead on lap 228, with 73 laps to go, again showcasing Blaney’s long-run pace, before he headed for pit road.
Green flag pit stops followed, and Blaney kept his lead from Logano. Josh Berry found himself in third place, depsite having spun back in stage two.
Cody Ware made contact with Austin Dillon at turn one, spinning himself and hitting the outside wall. The caution was triggered and the leaders hit pit road.
Berry and Elliott did not pit, so they lined up side-by-side for the restart with 42 laps to go. Blaney reclaimed the lead after just three laps.
Blaney held off a sustained challenge from Berry in the closing laps, claiming his third victory of the year at New Hampshire Motor Speedway – his second in five races. He finished just 0.937 seconds ahead of the #21.
Blaney pulled up to the front stretch without a burnout, showing respect to his equipment. He climbed from the #12 Penske Ford and said “That was probably the hardest 20 laps I drove, just kinda trying to bide my stuff… appreciate Josh [Berry] for not throwing me the bumper.”
The win locked Blaney into the Round of 8, but it was also a constructive day for Byron, Logano and Elliott who took top-five finishes to gain strong points in their playoff bids. Bubba Wallace however will need to improve on his 26th position in the following races to progress to the next round.
The NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs continue next Sunday at Kansas Motor Speedway.
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