Posted on by Zach Sturniolo

LOUDON, N.H. — Bubba Wallace drew closer and closer to the back bumper of Ryan Blaney’s No. 12 Ford in the final run of Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series race at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.

But a brake lock-up with five laps to go neutered Wallace’s chances of completing the pass on his longtime friend, handing him a bittersweet second-place finish in the Dollar Tree 301.

RELATED: Race results | At-track photos: NHMS

“The guy I studied the most coming into this week was the 12 car,” Wallace said. “Still came up a little bit short. We do a really good job behind the scenes of giving us all the tools and all the data that we need to put our cars in Victory Lane, and the flat tracks, we’ve got to work really hard to get there.”

Wallace matched his best result this season — a second-place day in the inaugural San Diego event at Naval Base Coronado in June. The disappointment in not breaking through for his first win was palpable, but there was also a sense of achievement for the speed Wallace’s 23XI Racing team incorporated into his No. 23 Toyota — even if the pathway to speed travels through a suboptimal feel behind the wheel.

“Really bad handling race car — it’s fast, though, so that’s the frustrating part is you’ve got to throw everything away that you know what feels good and just deal with it,” Wallace said. “So that’s what we’re able to do. Appreciate Cincoro, Toyota. It was a good day here in Loudon. Just hate to come home second.”

The defining moment came with five laps to go, following a long run in which Wallace used his four fresh Goodyear tires to track down Blaney, whose team had changed just right-side rubber on his last stop.

As the duo of Blaney and Wallace picked through lapped traffic, Wallace dove to the left of Cole Custer’s No. 41 Haas Factory Team Chevrolet on entry to Turn 3. In that moment, Wallace locked up his left-front tire and picked up a significant vibration that thwarted his chances of winning. Still, all Wallace could think about was how strong Blaney’s Penske Ford was.

“Yeah, lapped traffic was tough,” Wallace said. “Just tried too hard there around the 41 and locked up and picked up a big vibration. Didn’t want to end our day, so just kind of limped it around and made the most of it. But we’ve really got to work hard to figure out where the Penske cars are so good.”

No matter how quick Blaney’s car was, Blaney himself still felt the pressure from Wallace in the late stages around the 1.058-mile oval.

“I was aware of it, for sure,” Blaney said of the dwindling margin to Wallace. “Timmy [Fedewa, spotter] was giving me gaps, and I tried to fill the gap early in the run, knowing we were going to go a long way on tires – and I had two, so just trying to manage them after I got out to, you know, a second or two lead. And then when I saw Bubba got to second on four, I knew he was quick, and so I just tried to manage that for a little bit, and he started kind of creeping in like a tenth (of a second) here, and I tried to pick it up a little bit, so that’s eating a little bit more tire away, trying to just maintain like that second-and-a-half gap. …

“I was just trying to maintain and not make a mistake. And if Bubba got there, he got there, and we’ll race it out. But I just didn’t want to make a mistake, slipping into the corner or something or overdriving it. But yeah, it was a heck of a battle.”

MORE: Cup Series standings

The relationship between Wallace and Blaney spans decades, but only once before had they finished 1-2 together in a Cup Series race (Daytona summer, 2021). Their bond extends to the race track in terms of respect, but don’t mistake that for any easier contests.

“Bubba and I have been racing with each other since we were 10 years old,” Blaney said. “I mean, we’ve been racing together forever and been fortunate to grow up together, remain really good friends over the years and have families together and things like that. There’s only a handful of guys that are at that respect level for me out on the race track, whether I grew up with them or just have that. And Bubba is one of those guys I have a ton of respect for what he can do behind the wheel and just the person that he is and the friend that he is.

“So it’s fun racing with your buddies. But at the end of the day, we are incredibly fierce competitors. We are going to race the hell out of each other — but you know that you can trust that person. Like we’re going to race really hard, but we’re going to race clean. So it’s always fun to race with your friends, especially for the lead and things like that.”

Wallace was close to surpassing his friend for the race win Sunday, but after his second runner-up result of 2026 and The Chase looming, his goal is closing the gap to Team Penske.

“It looks like we were close, but we want to show up and be as dominant as they are,” Wallace said. “We’re nowhere near that, so we’ve got a lot of work to do. But it was a great day. Great day, and they poured a lot of heart and effort into making this package better and what I needed to go fast. It ain’t what I needed, but it went fast, so I’ll deal with it.”

Posted on by Cameron Richardson

Ross Chastain was eliminated from Chase contention following Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series race at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.

The No. 1 Trackhouse Racing driver exited the Dollar Tree 301 just 41 laps in after a mechanical failure caused smoke to spew out of the right-front wheelhouse of his Chevrolet. Chastain entered Sunday’s contest 63 markers below the 16-driver cutline.

RELATED: Race results | At-track photos

Chastain had previously qualified for three of the last four Cup Series postseasons when NASCAR had the win-and-in playoff format. Chastain was runner-up to the championship in 2022.

Both Chastain and teammate Connor Zilisch will miss The Chase, but fellow Trackhouse driver Shane van Gisbergen remains in play for a berth in the 16-driver battle for the 2026 title as the No. 97 Chevy driver sits 29 points above the cutline with the regular-season finale on deck Saturday at Daytona International Speedway (7:30 p.m. ET, NBC, HBO Max, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

MORE: Cup Series standings

All drivers below Chastain in points are also out of contention to make The Chase, and the final three spots in the postseason will be up for grabs between five drivers: Bubba Wallace, Austin Cindric, van Gisbergen, Ryan Preece and Brad Keselowski.

Posted on by Holly Cain

LOUDON, N.H. – Under varying weather conditions, a rain delay, 40 laps driving on wet-weather tires and then the race slowed nine times for caution flags before the bright sun emerged for the final run to the checkered flag, Ryan Blaney proved himself best again at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, hoisting his second consecutive giant lobster in Victory Lane and just as importantly making a bold statement about his Team Penske group’s intent to surge into the Chase as an absolute championship favorite.

Blaney’s No. 12 Team Penske Ford overcame a slow mid-race pit stop that frustrated the 2023 NASCAR Cup Series champion but ultimately helped motivate the team in the closing laps to a 0.586-second victory over 23XI Racing’s Bubba Wallace in Sunday’s Dollar Tree 301 at the New England one-miler. He led a race-best 115 of the 301 laps.

RELATED: Race results | At-track photos: NHMS

It’s Blaney’s third win of the season — 20th of his career — and comes two weeks before the sport starts its 10-race Chase to decide the 2026 champion.

“It was a good call after our issue on pit road,” Blaney said of his team’s decision to change only two tires on the final pit stop instead of four. “We did two at the end to try to hopefully get the lead and we did. It was a long run to the end, the longest run we had. Just tried to manage my stuff. I knew those four-tire guys would probably pressure me eventually and Bubba came on pretty hard. Was just trying to manage lapped traffic, while also trying to manage the tires and just try not to make a mistake.

“What a cool race, fun day, started in the rain and ended up being a beautiful day.”

Wallace, who looks to be a lock on The Chase ranked 14th in the standings, was racing for his first win of the season. And he sure made his best friend Blaney work for it in the closing laps – ultimately locking his brakes while closing in on Blaney with five laps remaining.

“Picked up a big vibration on the left-front and that was it,” Wallace said of the outcome.

“We fought and had a nice day,” he added, “I knew I had to fight all day and this 23XI team pushes me to be my best.”

As with the tight racing in the closing laps, it was an especially busy day on track with varying tire strategies and plenty of restarts necessitated with the high number of caution flags flying on the afternoon.

Blaney’s winning effort extended his hold on second place in the championship standings. He’s now 77 points behind the leader, Joe Gibbs Racing’s Denny Hamlin, who finished seventh, overcoming a pit-stop miscue himself. With his work Sunday, Hamlin officially claimed top seed in the Chase.

SHOP: Race winner gear

He’s one of seven drivers who had already earned Chase positions. Six more drivers formally qualified Sunday including reigning series champion, Hendrick Motorsports’ Kyle Larson, who finished fifth, Team Penske’s Joey Logano, who rallied to a 14th-place finish after being collected in an early race accident and RFK Racing’s Chris Buescher, who finished 18th.

Spire Motorsports’ Carson Hocevar, who brought out a pair of caution flags, also solidified his first-ever Chase appearance, finishing 19th. Hendrick’s William Byron, who finished 30th, and Spire’s Daniel Suárez, who finished 17th, also formally claimed their Chase positions.

The final three positions are yet to be finalized, although Wallace holds a 75-point edge atop the cutoff line in 14th.

On that other end of the postseason eligibility, RFK Racing’s Ryan Preece delivered big-time, with his ninth place in the race cutting his deficit to making that prized 16-driver field by nearly half. He now trails Sunday’s 20th-place finisher, Trackhouse Racing’s Shane Van Gisbergen, by 31 points heading to Daytona International Speedway for next Saturday’s regular-season finale.

And Blaney’s Penske teammate Austin Cindric finished 12th Sunday and is now only 13 points up on SVG in the 15th position.

It was a productive day for several drivers hoping to improve their positions in the standings in the closing weeks of the regular season. And for Wood Brothers Racing’s Josh Berry, it was a productive day showing off his talent for future employment.

Berry finished third in the No. 21 Wood Brothers Racing Ford – his third consecutive top-five showing at New Hampshire and the fourth straight top-10 result this season, a string of success the legendary Wood Brothers team has not seen since 1994 with driver Morgan Shepherd. Berry’s work is indicative of his effort since the team announced that the talented Tennessee driver will not be back next season.

“That was a lot of fun,” Berry said, adding, “Just gave up too much track position early. Fought hard to get back through there. That was everything I had, everything I could do today. It was pretty good and a that was a lot of fun.

“Just a great job by these guys. This car was really solid. Just managed the rain and the drying track and all the different conditions we had so to stay up front like we did was a good day.”

Joe Gibbs Racing’s Christopher Bell finished fourth – his third top-five finish in the last four races. Larson finished fifth followed by JGR drivers Ty Gibbs and Hamlin in sixth and seventh, respectively. The race polesitter, 23XI Racing’s Tyler Reddick, recovered from an opening-lap spin in wet conditions to finish eighth. Preece was ninth and Front Row Motorsports’ Noah Gragson was 10th – his second top 10 of the season and first since April.

It all sets up the NASCAR Cup Series’ regular-season finale, the Coke Zero Sugar 400 on Saturday night under the lights at Daytona International Speedway (7:30 p.m. ET on NBC, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). Blaney is the defending race winner.

Note: Post-inspection in the Cup Series garage was completed without issue, confirming Blaney as the race winner.

Stage 2: Blaney takes stage after Hocevar and Zilisch set off a multicar incident

Ryan Blaney marched to the Stage 2 win, flexing strength as Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series race inched past the halfway mark.

Blaney led 38 of the first 185 laps in the No. 12 Team Penske Ford, clinching his series-best seventh stage victory of the 2026 campaign.

MORE: Stage 2 results | Watch Blaney clinch Stage 2 win

Josh Berry was second in the No. 21 Wood Brothers Racing Ford at the green-checkered flag. Bubba Wallace placed third, Ryan Preece was fourth and Stage 1 winner Kyle Larson rounded out the top five at the end of the second stage.

The race had started with the 36-car field on wet-weather Goodyear tires after showers soaked the 1.058-mile oval in the morning and early afternoon. The track dried out through the first stage, with racing slicks replacing the treaded tires at Lap 40, and normal green-flag conditions prevailed through Stage 2.

The most significant yellow flag slowed the pace early in the stage, when Carson Hocevar’s collision with Connor Zilisch sent Hocevar’s No. 77 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet spinning on the frontstretch on Lap 84. Joey Logano and Austin Dillon also spun in the wake of the incident, but all four cars continued.

Later in the stage, Hocevar raced Zilisch hard, banging fenders with the rookie’s No. 88 Trackhouse Racing Chevy before rooting him out of the groove in Turn 1. Zilisch finished Stage 2 in 21st place, with Hocevar 31st.

Two contenders found trouble in the round of pit stops just after the conclusion of Stage 1. Christopher Bell left pit road early after service, before front-tire changer Blake Houston was able to clear the nose of the Joe Gibbs Racing No. 20 Toyota. Houston tumbled to the track, and Bell stopped after running over the air hose. He made an additional stop to tighten the right-side tires.

William Byron was penalized in the same pit cycle after he exited pit road with a chassis-adjustment wrench still attached to his No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet.

Stage 1: Larson leaps as Cup Series field manages soggy New Hampshire

Kyle Larson sealed a Stage 1 victory, weathering challenging conditions as Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series race got underway in damp conditions at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.

Larson led 14 of the 70 laps in the No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet, notching his fifth stage win of the 2026 season.

MORE: Stage 1 results | Watch Larson clinch Stage 1 win

Christopher Bell finished second at the Stage 1 break in the No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota. Carson Hocevar was third, with William Byron fourth and Josh Berry completing the top five.

The field rolled off pit lane for a scheduled start at approximately 2:15 p.m. ET, with each of the 36 cars equipped with Goodyear wet-weather tires. Rain, however, intensified during those pace laps, and Hocevar’s No. 77 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet spun out of Turn 4, prompting competition officials to halt the field on pit road to resume track-drying efforts.

Polesitter Tyler Reddick led the field to green, but his No. 45 23XI Racing Toyota spun from Turn 4 on the first lap, sparking the first yellow flag and blocking the path of series points leader Denny Hamlin and Chris Buescher. John Hunter Nemechek also continued after a solo spin and wall scrape on Lap 22 with his No. 40 Legacy Motor Club Toyota.

Ross Chastain was the race’s first retiree, taking his No. 1 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet to the garage with drivetrain issues. Chastain will finish last after completing just 41 laps, squashing his faint postseason hopes.

Race officials announced Friday that the start time would be moved one hour earlier, facing the potential threat of inclement weather in the forecast. Persistent rain in the late morning and early afternoon pushed the actual green flag back closer to its originally scheduled time.

The 16-driver Chase postseason field will be locked in after Saturday’s Coke Zero Sugar 400, the regular-season finale at Daytona International Speedway (7:30 p.m ET, NBC, HBO Max, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

Contributing: Staff reports

Posted on by Staff Report

Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series race at New Hampshire Motor Speedway (USA Network, HBO Max, PRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) began with all cars on wet-weather tires after rain showers came through Loudon in the early afternoon. The Dollar Tree 301 went green just over an hour after its updated 2 p.m. ET slated start.

NASCAR has wet-weather tires on hand at short-oval tracks where conditions are damp, including Phoenix Raceway, Martinsville Speedway, North Wilkesboro Speedway and Richmond Raceway.

RELATED: Starting lineup | At-track photos

Goodyear allotted four sets of wet-weather tires for the Cup race at New Hampshire along with seven sets of its regular Cup tread for the 301-mile race.

Polesitter Tyler Reddick led the field to green for the start of Sunday’s race, which marks the penultimate race of the regular season before the 10-race Chase postseason. However, on Lap 1, the No. 45 23XI Racing driver spun from the lead without contact. Denny Hamlin and Chris Buescher stopped behind Reddick to avoid significant contact. All three drivers continued.

Posted on by Brandon White

LOUDON, N.H. – Jon McKennedy checked off a pivotal career milestone Saturday by winning the Mohegan Sun 100 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, his first victory at the track known as ‘The Magic Mile’ with NASCAR’s oldest division.

McKennedy had cycled to the lead  during the closing stretch of the Mohegan Sun 100, but he knew a victory was far from guaranteed. Not only did McKennedy have to fend off a stout field of competitors behind him, but he also had to manage a fuel tank that was close to running empty.

RELATED: Complete results from the Mohegan Sun 100

The intensity was palpable for McKennedy, especially knowing that a two-lap sprint would decide the winner. McKennedy was unphased, utilizing every bit of power to fend off Tommy Catalano and get his No. 79 across the finish line first. Seconds after crossing the finish line, McKennedy’s Modified ran out of gas.

Of all the accolades McKennedy has earned throughout his career, his third NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour victory of 2026 is one he plans to cherish for the rest of his life.

“This is huge,” McKennedy said. “I’ve won a few hundred races in my career all up and down the East Coast, all different types of cars, tons of race tracks. I’ve won [at New Hampshire] before in open Modified stuff, but this is the one I’ve always wanted. I’m speechless.

“This might be one of the biggest wins of my career.”

McKennedy has been chasing a New Hampshire victory with the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour since 2006. It would take until 2018 before McKennedy led his first laps at New Hampshire with the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour, which came while piloting the No. 7NY for Tommy Baldwin Racing. The following season, McKennedy led a combined 112 laps between the two New Hampshire events in Baldwin’s car, but came up short of a victory each time.

McKennedy’s career flourished in the succeeding years with multiple victories and a NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour championship in 2022. Yet the one item missing from McKennedy’s resumé was that elusive New Hampshire win; a race he and every other Modified driver consider to be the series’ Daytona 500.

Reigning series champion Austin Beers and Justin Bonsignore traded the lead numerous occasions to open the Mohegan Sun 100, all while McKennedy stayed composed when he briefly lost touch with the lead draft.

A round of pit stops allowed McKennedy to get ahead of Beers and Bonsignore. He proceeded to work his way to second behind Chase Dowling before inheriting the lead after Dowling was forced to pit due to a tire punctioner after a rain delay.

What followed was a display of mental fortitude and car control from McKennedy. On numerous occasions, McKennedy willingly gave Catalano the top line on the straightaways but maintained control of the lead by driving his No. 79 deep into the corner and keeping the power down on exits.

Catalano never relented and was finally able to take the lead away from McKennedy coming to the white flag. A deep drive into turn one propelled McKennedy back around Catalano, with a crash behind them disrupting the draft enough to prevent Catalano from generating another run.

Narrowly missing out on his first New Hampshire victory in his 11th try was equal parts bittersweet and rewarding for Catalano. Bad luck had always followed Catalano each time he made the trip to New Hampshire, so to score his personal best finish at the 1.058-mile track was something worth appreciating.

“This is the first New Hampshire race I’ve ever finished without an issue, whether that be a tranny or a motor,” Catalano said. “Last year we crashed. Every year we come here, I feel so confident. I feel fast, I feel like I draft well, but I’ve never had anything to show for it. This is huge.

“I had a shot at it at the end, what more can you ask for?”

Both McKennedy and Catalano have raced at New Hampshire plenty of times to know the presence of the draft requires a different approach compared to other NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour events. The lead changed hands 29 times across the Mohegan Sun 100, with McKennedy claiming the last and most important one.

McKennedy admitted drivers are often at the mercy of those around them during events at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. Misfortune never found McKennedy as drivers scrambled for track position in the waning moments, which allowed him to control his own destiny.

“It’s definitely luck,” said McKennedy, who won at New Hampshire in his 17th start at the track. “You’ve got a 50 percent chance of making a move. You’re either a hero or zero. Everything seemed to work out in my favor the last 10 laps or so. I’ve been in this position before in the past with a few laps to go and came up short. Today, it all worked out.”

NASCAR Cup Series driver Ryan Preece, the 2013 NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour champion, crossed the finish line third in his own Modified. The most recent Mohegan Sun 100 winner Tyler Rypkema placed fourth with Tommy Catalano’s younger brother Trevor rounding out the top five.

Mike Christopher Jr., Dowling, Dave Sapienza, Teddy Hodgdon and Andrew Molleur were sixth through 10th, respectively.

Next up for the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour is a return to Stafford Speedway for the first time since 2021 on Friday evening, Aug. 28. FloRacing will carry live coverage of the GAF 150, with the green flag scheduled to wave at 8 p.m. ET.

Posted on by Zack Albert

Bowman Gray Stadium will return to the NASCAR national series schedule in 2027 as the Craftsman Truck Series makes its debut at the track known as “The Madhouse.”

The Truck Series’ inaugural event at the quarter-mile oval in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, is scheduled for Friday, Aug. 20, 2027, aligning with the track’s traditional finale weekend for weekly racing. The announcement arrived Saturday evening during opening ceremonies for Bowman Gray’s season-ending meet, with Rajah Caruth driving a No. 7 Chevrolet truck onto the track.

RELATED: 2027 NASCAR schedule tracker | Latest 2027 news, updates

The event will mark the first points-paying NASCAR national series race at the stadium in 56 years.

“Bringing the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series to Bowman Gray Stadium for the first time is an incredibly exciting moment for this historic facility and for our fans,” said Clay Campbell, president of Martinsville Speedway and vice president of NASCAR Mid-Atlantic. “Bowman Gray has always been about putting on unforgettable racing in front of some of the most passionate fans in the sport. We know the Trucks will put on an incredible show when they take on The Madhouse.”

Bowman Gray Stadium hosted the NASCAR Cup Series for its annual Clash exhibition the last two years, marking the first time stock-car racing’s premier circuit had raced there since 1971. The Clash will return to its time-honored home next season, with a Feb. 13 date at Daytona International Speedway.

The format and procedures for next year’s Truck Series race at Bowman Gray will be announced at a later date. The main-event field for both Clash events at the stadium was 23 cars, and the quarter-mile track will not be able to accommodate the maximum field of 36 trucks in the feature. The largest field for the ARCA Menards Series East during its five-year run at the track from 2011-15 was 27 cars.

MORE: Bowman Gray Stadium official site

Bowman Gray stands as the longest-running weekly track under NASCAR sanction, dating back to its first season of stock-car racing operations in 1949. Bowman Gray played host to the first Kyle Busch Invitational for Legends and Bandoleros cars on Friday night, and its four regular divisions will crown their champions in Saturday’s season finale.

The rest of the 2027 NASCAR schedule, plus broadcast information and start times, will be announced later.

Posted on by Staff Report

Mohegan Sun 100

New Hampshire Motor Speedway

  • Race results
Pos. Car No. Driver Sponsor Laps Diff
1 79 Jonathan McKennedy Stuarts Automotive 100
2 54 Tommy Catalano FX Caprara; USNE Power 100 0.215
3 40 Ryan Preece Racechoice.com; Mizzy Construction 100 0.308
4 3 Tyler Rypkema Northeast Drilling; SYP 100 0.616
5 56 Trevor Catalano USNE Power 100 0.867
6 13 Michael Christopher Mohawk Northeast; USNE 100 1.063
7 44 Chase Dowling S&S Paving / Harshaw Paving 100 1.122
8 36 David Sapienza Sapienza Enterprises; USNE Power 100 1.434
9 05 Teddy Hodgdon* Business Time Motorsports 100 1.439
10 82 Andrew Molleur Horton Ave Materials; Village Springs Water 100 1.6
11 60 Matt Hirschman Bar Harbor Bank & Trust; Pee Dee Motorsports 100 1.727
12 31 Craig Lutz Elite Towing 100 1.873
13 73 Paulie Hartwig III* Professional Therapy LLC 100 1.952
14 28 Doug Coby Nucar 100 2.025
15 50 Ronnie Williams Empower Financial Advisory 100 2.495
16 2 Jacob Perry Klas Motorsports 100 2.599
17 21 Stephen Kopcik Wanick Construction; Newtown Pools 100 2.858
18 0 Ryan Newman Ohsweken Speedway 100 3.096
19 64 Austin Beers G&G Electrical Supply 100 3.125
20 8 John-Michael Shenette Eighty-Two Services; USNE Power 100 3.302
21 6 Cory Dimatteo* Manafort Brothers 100 3.965
22 18 Ken Heagy Merkel Racing Engines 100 5.137
23 58 Eric Goodale GAF Roofing; Riverhead Building Supply 100 18.653
24 51 Justin Bonsignore Dollar Tree 100 21.356
25 95 Cory Plummer* Tuckers Fabrication & Welding 98 2 Laps
26 17 Anthony Nocella Keene Towing & Recovery 80 20 Laps
27 43 Matt Kimball Birch Financial/Naughton & Sons Recycle/Central Mass Tree 80 20 Laps
28 7 Luke Baldwin Baldwin Automotive 70 30 Laps
29 70 Andy Seuss Rockingham Boat 10 90 Laps
30 1 Patrick Emerling USNE Power 3 97 Laps

 

Posted on by Pat DeCola

LOUDON, N.H. — Eighteen races settled the participants. Seven more will decide the champion.

The NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series regular season came to a close in Saturday’s Team EJP 175 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, locking in the 10-driver field that will race for the championship beginning at Bristol Motor Speedway next month.

For Grant Enfinger, Daniel Hemric, Ben Rhodes and Tyler Ankrum, the “Magic Mile” provided the final points necessary to move on. For Stewart Friesen, Jake Garcia and the rest of the field that’ll now have to wait until 2027 for another shot at title glory, it marked a bitter end to the championship road.

RELATED: Race results | At-track photos

And waiting for all of them at the top of the bracket is the driver who spent most of the regular season setting the pace, and a torrid one at that.

Layne Riggs officially secured the No. 1 seed for the 2026 Chase on Saturday, entering with a 61-point advantage over Kaden Honeycutt and needing just 15 points to guarantee the top position. Riggs earned that nod in short order, clinching after Stage 2 and rounding out the day with a victory for good measure to complete a regular season that established the Front Row Motorsports driver as the benchmark of the Truck Series field.

“I wouldn’t say there’s pressure to perform. I like it,” Riggs said in his winner’s press conference. “We obviously have a points lead still. It’s crazy. We won the race today, and we lost a lot of points after the reset. So, good day for us, but not good for the reset. We’re still 25 up right now, so that’s good going in there. I feel like all year long we’ve been a really strong truck. Obviously, the statistics are there for us and the team. I like the feeling of being the best. It makes everybody else know that you’re the guy to beat. Really look at you hard, try to study you, and it’s a great feeling. It’s the position every race car driver wants to be in.”

The designation is more than ceremonial.

Riggs, as he alluded to, enters the seven-race Chase with a 25-point advantage over second-place Honeycutt and a 70-point buffer between him and Ankrum, the reward for a regular season in which the No. 34 Ford asserted itself as the division’s most reliable weekly threat. Five victories through the opening 17 races were already the most in the series entering Loudon. A sixth added oomph for emphasis.

Riggs also carried the points lead for much of the summer, with Honeycutt emerging as the most persistent, yet still distant, challenger.

The gap, however, had once been considerably larger.

Honeycutt arrived at Richmond last weekend 100 points behind Riggs before authoring a perfect 76-point afternoon, winning the race after leading 225 of 250 laps. A pair of slow pit stops contributed to a 15th-place finish for Riggs, allowing Honeycutt to trim 39 points from the deficit and keep the No. 1 seed mathematically alive entering the finale.

New Hampshire finally slammed that door.

The more volatile drama of the day played out farther down the standings. Only six drivers entered Saturday already assured of a Chase berth, leaving four postseason positions unresolved and 10 drivers mathematically alive.

Enfinger arrived in the strongest shape among those yet to clinch, 65 points above the elimination line, followed by two-time series champion Ben Rhodes at plus-53 and Hemric at plus-35. Ankrum held the 10th and final provisional spot by 20 points over Stewart Friesen, while one point behind Friesen sat Garcia.

From there, the climb became considerably steeper, with Butterbean Queen 47 points beneath the cut, Andrés Pérez 49 back, Tanner Gray minus-59 and Justin Haley 70 points out.

Then the green flag fell, and all those numbers became temporary. Enfinger clinched after Stage 1, while Haley was eliminated; Gray was cut after Stage 2.

It went all the way down to the wire — through a pair of overtimes — with the battle between Ankrum and Friesen not concluding until the checkered flag fell.

Ankrum needed all 175 scheduled laps (plus 14 more) to get the job done. Many of those laps came with malfunctioning brakes.

tyler ankrum smiles
Zach Sturniolo | NASCAR Digital Media

“I’m not happy, 100%. I mean, I’m freaking mad,” Ankrum joked — mostly — on pit road after the race. “You know, there’s just so many times in my career, I just wish it was a boring day. And honestly, I felt like it was just gonna be a boring day. I think we got to 13th or 14th there at the end of the first stage, but Friesen was within sight. We had that restart in the second stage, and I just went off into Turn 3, and there was no pedal, which is scary here because I don’t want to be the guy to go into the Turn 3 wall and not be able to slow the truck down, but luckily my spotter Eddie D’Hondt gave amazing advice. We worked through the issue. We turned off the left rear brake and we just ran all the rounds to the rear, ran on all the rounds to the front, and that solved half of my problem. Still didn’t have any rear brakes, but yes, I’m like, I’m not happy. I’m happy we made it, but I’m not happy with them. Like, I just wish we would fricking just have a normal day.”

That left Friesen on the wrong side by seven, with Garcia joining him outside the championship field, another four points down from there.

“Yeah, it was what it was,” Friesen said on pit road after the race. “We just didn’t bring enough speed all year, you know? We battled today. … It’s a bummer. We’re definitely a top-10 team. We just had some misfortune. It is what it is. We go back to work and keep building this team up and getting better and better. I promise you that.”

The result carried particular weight after the bubble underwent a dramatic reshuffling just seven days earlier.

Friesen had occupied the final Chase position entering Richmond before a tire issue sent his No. 52 truck hard into the Turn 1 wall and dropped him to last place. Ankrum capitalized with an 11th-place finish, gaining 28 points on Friesen and taking a 20-point advantage into New Hampshire. Garcia complicated the picture further by finishing sixth, drawing to within 21 points of Ankrum and just one behind Friesen entering the finale.

At Loudon, that late-season swing ultimately proved decisive.

With the field finally settled, the emphasis shifts immediately from qualifying for the Chase to surviving it. Bristol opens the seven-race championship run, beginning a postseason in which the regular season has already supplied a clear favorite.

The No. 34 team did more than just accumulate enough points to land atop the grid. Its six wins, sustained points lead and ability to remain the standard even as Honeycutt mounted a late charge — including on Saturday, as he impressively rebounded from a flat tire to finish third — established the type of season that makes anything short of a deep Chase run feel incomplete.

Honeycutt, however, hardly enters quietly.

His Richmond domination provided a forceful reminder that the championship gap is significantly smaller than the regular-season standings once suggested, now even thinner after the points reset, while the previously clinched Chandler Smith, Christian Eckes, Gio Ruggiero and Ty Majeski arrive with varying degrees of race-winning and postseason experience.

Now they know who will join them.

Ten drivers. Seven races. Saturday at New Hampshire was about earning an invitation to that fight.

Beginning at Bristol, simply being on the list will no longer be enough.

Stewart Friesen looks on
Zach Sturniolo | NASCAR Digital Media

Posted on by Pat DeCola

Track: New Hampshire Motor Speedway
Location: Loudon, New Hampshire
Track length: 1.058 miles
When: 2 p.m. ET
Where to tune in: USA Network, HBO Max, PRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio
Race purse: $11,233,037
Race distance: 301 laps | 318.46 miles
Stages: 70 | 185 | 301
Saturday’s starting lineup | Pit stall assignments

Loudon offers one last clean shot at control before Daytona chaos

LOUDON, N.H. — For the slew of drivers still sweating their way toward The Chase’s impending and imminent return, New Hampshire Motor Speedway represents something increasingly scarce on the calendar.

Control.

A mere two NASCAR Cup Series races remain before the 16-driver Chase field is finalized, and each could hardly offer a different way of getting there. Daytona International Speedway lies in wait next weekend with the regular-season cutoff looming and all the drafting volatility, multicar pileups and split-second, coin-flip (and often costly) decisions that tend to come with it.

But first comes Loudon.

Sunday’s Dollar Tree 301 (2 p.m. ET, USA Network, HBO Max, PRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) offers 301 laps around the “Magic Mile,” and for anyone still hovering around the elimination line, perhaps one final chance to dictate their own terms before Daytona starts making some of those decisions for them.

That should up the urgency considerably.

MORE: Weekend schedule | At-track photos

Shane van Gisbergen currently occupies the 16th and final Chase position, 50 points above Ryan Preece. Behind Preece sit Ross Chastain (minus-63), Brad Keselowski (minus-78), Erik Jones (minus-81) and Michael McDowell (minus-104), leaving a group of drivers with little room for a quiet afternoon on Sunday.

The math isn’t technically in full-on desperation mode for everyone listed there, but the calendar sure is.

“I felt like we took a step in the right direction after Iowa for Richmond, and then I feel like we’re going to take another step when we come here today,” Preece said Saturday morning at New Hampshire before qualifying 18th. “So there’s a lot of things I’m looking forward to, and you know, today I was just in the trailer, and Derek (Finley, crew chief) said, ‘Like, we need a home run right now.’ So that’s the plan.”

Batter up.

The flat 1.058-mile oval is hardly predictable, but its recent races have generally rewarded drivers who establish themselves early and stay there. Five of the last six New Hampshire winners started inside the top five, and the Stage 1 winner has gone on to win each of the last three races. Only one of the last 14 events has required overtime, so late-race chaos doesn’t tend to snatch trophies (or even just a clean top-five, which would still go a long way right now) away from a worthy winner.

In other words, there is typically more opportunity here to build an afternoon than simply survive one.

Come Daytona, however, all bets are off, so take your swing now, drivers.

That distinction should matter to drivers such as Preece, Chastain, Keselowski and Jones, each of whom left Richmond farther from the elimination line than when the weekend began, despite entering it with a degree of optimism. No driver below the Chase cut gained ground on the cutoff there, while the gap between van Gisbergen and Preece only grew.

We’re well past the point where merely limiting the damage is enough, though, and Sunday’s race also carries another wrinkle this weekend that could matter well beyond Sunday evening. When the Cup Series returns to Loudon in 2027, Loudon returns to The Chase.

That gives teams an unusual opportunity this weekend: race for everything immediately in front of them now … while also collecting notebook data that could become substantially more valuable a year from now.

Before we look ahead to next year, however, for a handful of teams, there is already plenty worth remembering from last year. Team Penske, for one, essentially owned the place. Joey Logano started from the pole and led 147 laps, while Ryan Blaney led another 116, won Stage 1 and ultimately took the checkered flag, with Logano finishing fourth.

That performance looks considerably more relevant now than it might have a month ago, as everything appears to be clicking into place for Penske at the exact right moment.

Blaney has displayed elite pace all year — third in season-long speed, according to NASCAR Insights — but Penske has now won three of the last four Cup races all of a sudden after visiting Victory Lane just once through the season’s first 19 events, and its three drivers combined to lead 807 laps over the last five races after totaling 480 in the first 19. Logano arrives at his home track fresh off a Richmond victory, his second win in four races, while Blaney sits second in points and returns as the defending New Hampshire winner.

Even Austin Cindric, whose Loudon history is considerably quieter, enters with some momentum after a season-best third-place finish at Richmond moved him to 15th in The Chase standings, 57 points above the elimination line. The Nos. 2 and 22 each turned in top-five times in practice, with Blaney’s No. 12 topping the board in 30-lap averages.

The timing could hardly be better for Penske to arrive at one of its best recent tracks.

DATETRACKFINISH
April 19Kansas4th
May 3Texas2nd
May 24Charlotte3rd
May 31Nashville1st
June 7Michigan1st
June 14Pocono1st
July 5Chicago3rd
July 19North Wilkesboro2nd
July 26Indianapolis5th
Aug. 9Iowa5th
Aug. 15Richmond4th

Speed reads

Race-day essentials:

• Loudon hub: Key information, pit stalls, additional results | Read more
• Sunday Setup: See what crew chiefs have in mind in the Granite State | Read more
• Analysis: Why Loudon is the perfect pre-Chase heat check for Hendrick | Read more
• Paint Scheme Preview: Fresh looks ready to tackle the “Magic Mile” | View gallery
• Neil Paine: Did Joey Logano just go from Chase bubble to title contender (again)? | Read more
• NASCAR Classics: Dig into the video vault for full-race replays from New Hampshire | Watch now
• Power Rankings: Preece turns to Loudon home turf with Chase hopes on the line | This week’s ranks

Posted on by Zach Sturniolo

LOUDON, N.H. — Josh Berry and the No. 21 Wood Brothers Racing team nearly won last year’s NASCAR Cup Series race at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.

With a notebook full of goods, crew chief Miles Stanley returns to the “Magic Mile” hoping their setup allows them to pull off their best trick yet in Sunday’s Dollar Tree 301 (2 p.m. ET, USA Network, HBO Max, PRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

“We took a lot of what we learned here last year and tested that at (North) Wilkesboro in January and then kind of carried that over to Wilkesboro a few weeks ago and then Richmond and Iowa as well and back to here,” Stanley told NASCAR.com. “So hopefully it all applies, and we can improve a little bit on what we did here last year.”

MORE: New Hampshire hub | Cup Series standings

The recent run of success shows positive steps forward for the No. 21 team, which enters the relatively flat, 1.058-mile track after three consecutive top-10 finishes for the first time in Berry’s career: seventh at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, fourth at Iowa Speedway and eighth at Richmond Raceway. The surge comes as Berry auditions for a ride, as he won’t return to the No. 21 Ford in 2027.

“The momentum is real,” Stanley said. “Just try and keep that and carry that into practice and into qualifying and then hopefully through the race.”

Practice is also back in full force for the remainder of 2026 with a single full-field, 50-minute session each weekend, with the exception of Daytona International Speedway and Talladega Superspeedway. That added time comes with an extra set of tires, all of which Stanley views as a positive change for the garage.

“I think that’s a big thing for us,” Stanley said. “I know there’s varied opinions across the garage of whether it’s good or bad or what we need or what we don’t need, but I like it personally. I think it’s a great thing. I think it gives us the opportunity as a team to strategize a little bit about how we approach that practice, what we use that second set of tires for and just gives us an opportunity to learn more reps, more chances to learn something.”

Ryan Sparks, crew chief of the No. 7 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet and driver Daniel Suárez, agreed that added practice is an overall plus. Previously, the field was split into two groups for separate, single 25-minute sessions. With all 36-plus cars on track, teams can gather more applicable data for Sunday’s true tests.

“I think it just gives the teams another opportunity to optimize the attitude of the car, understanding where your heights need to be,” Sparks told NASCAR.com. “There’s a lot more cars on track at the same time now since there’s no groups, so you can kind of understand how your car behaves in traffic and things like that. Double practice time, just more opportunity to learn about your car and how it’s going to handle that weekend.”

One additional benefit the No. 7 team finds is added track time with Suárez, who is going to tracks with Spire for the first time this season.

“Every week, I feel like, builds a notebook, especially for us with Daniel for the first year,” said Johnny Branzelle, lead engineer on the No. 7 car. “A lot of these places, it’s one thing to keep in mind that we’re going to these places with Daniel for the first time and we have limited practice, so there’s limited opportunity to change things. So each week, we’re going into it based on what we did last year and what our teammates have and trying to just build from there.”

Sunday’s forecast also includes the chance of precipitation, which necessitated a one-hour-earlier-than-planned start to Sunday’s race at 2 p.m. ET. While rain wouldn’t be ideal, Goodyear will provide teams four sets of wet-weather tires if conditions demand them.

There is also a playbook for wet-weather racing at New Hampshire, where teams competed in the inclement conditions in a notable success that saved officials from calling the race prematurely.

“It’s just something else we have to prepare for,” Stanley said. “I hope that we don’t really have the weather, honestly, but it’s just another layer to it. We have some notes now. I think that Loudon race a couple years ago was pretty much the first oval that we (had) done that on. We’ve done it now once at Wilkesboro with a couple heat races and things. Bowman Gray, we did it there. … But we’ve got a little bit of data, and we have a little bit of an idea of what we need to do for changes and kind of how long we think tires will last and those sorts of things.

“NASCAR’s gotten more educated now (and) with that experience has a bit of better idea how to officiate that whole thing, too. I think that race a couple years ago, we weren’t all quite sure how we were going to do it and everyone was learning, but now I think we have a clearer picture of, OK, if it’s wet and you have a certain allotment of wet tires, you can come down pit road and change to another set of wet tires if you’d like to.”