Posted on by Staff Report

After two weeks off, the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series returns to action for the regular-season finale at Daytona International Speedway on Friday (7:30 p.m. ET, The CW, ESPN Unlimited, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

Friday’s Winn-Dixie 250 Powered by Coca-Cola will be the 24th points-paying race of the 2026 O’Reilly Auto Parts Series season. Connor Zilisch is the defending winner, who had assistance from Parker Kligerman.

ENTRY LISTS: Cup Series | O’Reilly Auto Parts Series

The battle to make the 12-driver Chase will feature three Joe Gibbs Racing drivers. William Sawalich and Brent Crews both sit a single point above the cutline, with their teammate Taylor Gray the first driver out. JR Motorsports’ Rajah Caruth is 15 points away from a Chase berth.

39 cars are entered into this weekend’s event.

MORE: Weekend schedule | How to watch NASCAR on the CW

View the full entry list here:

Posted on by Adam Fenwick

For the first time since 2021, the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour is returning to historic Stafford Speedway this Friday night for the running of the GAF 150 (8:45 p.m. ET on FloRacing and the NASCAR Channel).

Located in Stafford Springs, Connecticut, Stafford Speedway has hosted more than 100 Modified Tour events since the series’ inception in 1985. NASCAR Hall of Famer Richie Evans triumphed in the first two Modified Tour events at the track, and another Hall of Famer, Mike Stefanik, leads all drivers with 20 series victories at the legendary facility.

Other notable drivers to earn wins at Stafford through the years include Ted Christopher, Doug Coby, Ryan Preece, Reggie Ruggiero, Tony Hirschman, Bobby Santos III, Jeff Fuller, Rick Fuller, Donny Lia, Jerry Marquis, Todd Szegedy, Eric Goodale, Justin Bonsignore and Patrick Emerling, among others.

Tickets to Friday’s GAF 150 are available here. Below is everything you need to know about the 13th race of the 2026 NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour season.

Stafford Speedway
Stafford Speedway is welcoming back the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour for the first time since 2021 this Friday night. (Photo: Adam Richins/NASCAR)

GAF 150 at Stafford Speedway

The event that every NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour team has been looking forward to is finally here.

For the first time since 2021, NASCAR’s oldest division returns to one of New England’s most historic race tracks this Friday for the running of the GAF 150. As if that weren’t big enough, the battle for the Modified Tour championship couldn’t get any tighter.

Following Saturday’s Mohegan Sun 100 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, defending series champion Austin Beers holds a one-point advantage on Patrick Emerling with just four races left in the season. Emerling is a winner at Stafford (2021), something he’ll attempt to replicate Friday to regain the championship lead.

Two other Stafford victors, Justin Bonsignore and Doug Coby, will also be in the field Friday night. Bonsignore won the most recent Modified Tour at Stafford that closed out the 2021 season, while Coby is a 12-time Stafford winner with the Modified Tour. Both drivers should be contenders when the green flag waves Friday night.

Jon McKennedy, fresh off his third victory of the season Saturday at New Hampshire, is just 25 points behind Beers in the championship hunt. A win Friday night at Stafford would further bolster his championship odds as the season nears its end.

Mike Christopher Jr., a regular competitor in Stafford’s weekly programs, will be back in the Elite Racing No. 31 after competing in his family-owned No. 13 last weekend at New Hampshire. Matt Swanson will rejoin the fray aboard his family-owned No. 89, and Chase Dowling will again pilot the No. 44 for the Tinio family.

Other notable entries for Friday’s event include Matt Hirschman, Stephen Kopcik, Tommy Catalano, Tyler Rypkema, Eric Goodale, Ronnie Williams, Trevor Catalano, Paulie Hartwig III and Teddy Hodgdon, among others.

The full entry list for Friday’s GAF 150 will be available later this week.

Stafford Speedway
The NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour first visited Stafford Speedway in 1985. (Photo: Ryan McBride/NASCAR)

RACING REFERENCE:

Race GAF 150
Date Friday, Aug. 28, 2026
Track Stafford Speedway
Layout Half-mile asphalt oval
Location Stafford Springs, Connecticut
Start time 8:45 p.m. ET
Laps 150
Posted Awards $117,881
Tickets Here
How to Watch FloRacing / The NASCAR Channel

SCHEDULE: Friday, Aug. 28: Practice from 3 to 3:40 p.m. ET … Final practice from 3:40 to 4:10 p.m. ET … American Racer Pole Award qualifying at 5:45 p.m. ET … Start of the GAF 150 (150 Laps / 75 Miles) at 8:45 p.m. ET.

QUALIFYING: Two consecutive qualifying laps. Faster lap determines qualifying position. Adjustments or repairs may not be made on the vehicle after the vehicle has taken the green flag at the start/finish line. NASCAR reserves the right to have more than one vehicle engage in qualifying runs at the same time. Starting field for the GAF 150 is limited to 30 starters including Provisional Positions.

TIRE ALLOTMENT: The maximum tire allotment available for this event is eleven (11) tires per team. All tires used for qualifying and the race must be purchased at the track and scanned by NASCAR Officials, unless otherwise approved in advance by the Series Director. The same four (4) tires must be used for qualifying and to begin the race. The remaining tire allotment may be used for practice and/or change tires during the event. A maximum of three (3) tires of the allotment may be used as change tires.

Posted on by Zach Sturniolo

LOUDON, N.H. — Ryan Preece turned in one of his best performances of the year exactly when he needed it.

The question is will it be enough to advance to The Chase for the first time in his NASCAR Cup Series career.

MORE: New Hampshire results | Cup standings

Preece drove the No. 60 RFK Racing Ford to a ninth-place finish Sunday at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, earning 38 points to mark his second-most points gained in 2026, buoyed by 10 stage points gained in the opening stanzas of the race.

But for much of Sunday’s Dollar Tree 301, Preece looked even better than that, running at the edge of the top five through the Dollar Tree 301 as evidenced by his 6.16 average running position — his best of the season. Instead, the Connecticut native left his home track 17th in the season points standings, 31 points behind Shane van Gisbergen for the final spot in the 16-driver Chase field entering Saturday’s regular-season finale at Daytona International Speedway (7:30 p.m. ET, NBC, HBO Max, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

“It was almost going to be a home run before that caution (at Lap 225) came out and that last set of tires went on,” Preece said.

Preece was hounding Wallace for the lead after Preece pounced past Josh Berry for second. But in that same lap, Riley Herbst crashed in Turn 3 with Connor Zilisch, leading the field to pit road for the final time in Sunday’s race. While five teams took two tires, Preece and the No. 60 group took four and restarted seventh. But even with fresher rubber, Preece couldn’t charge through the field quite as well as he could previously.

“For whatever reason, that was just our loosest (handling) set of the day, and as you saw, it hurt us in the final 10 laps,” Preece said. “But to look at the positives, I mean, look at where we were as an organization on short tracks outside of Martinsville. We have not been that great, and today I felt like Brad (Keselowski) was really good on the long run. I felt like Chris (Buescher) was pretty good, and I felt like we were good on the short run. And and that one run when we were coming at Josh and Bubba, we were really good.

“So yeah, from a points perspective, I mean, drivers’ (points), we have a chance — a Hail Mary chance. But the owners’ (points), we have a real chance. So we’re gonna race the [expletive] out of them.”

Indeed, there is a slight but significant difference for Preece in the drivers’ standings as opposed to the No. 60 in the owners’ standings. Preece was penalized 25 driver points and fined $50,000 following the May 3 race at Texas Motor Speedway in which he voiced displeasure with Ty Gibbs on his radio before resulting contact from Preece crashed Gibbs out of the race. So while Preece is 31 points out from advancing to The Chase, his No. 60 RFK team is only six points behind van Gisbergen’s No. 97 Trackhouse Racing team in the owners’ standings. Teams are ultimately paid by where they rank in owners’ points at the conclusion of the season.

The other wrinkle, of course, are the plentiful unknowns heading to Daytona, where a new aerodynamic package will debut without a practice session to find any bearings. Unsurprisingly, that challenge doesn’t faze Preece.

“I’m gonna race the hell out of it,” Preece said. “I mean, [SVG]’s the one that’s in right now and I’m not. Usually, when things are different and not predictable, I excel. And so does Shane. But it’s gonna be a heavyweight match.”

Posted on by George Winkler

It all comes down to this, one regular-season race Saturday night at Daytona to determine the final Chase field. Five drivers are battling for three spots with the rest either locked into The Chase or eliminated from contention. We’ll dive into the details in “The Cutline” section below, but here’s what you need to know: The five drivers (in order of the standings) are Bubba Wallace, Austin Cindric, Shane van Gisbergen, Ryan Preece and Brad Keselowski with 31 points separating SVG and Preece at the cutline.

Besides the cutline, though, there are multiple “micro” battles throughout the standings where point swings for starting The Chase could be directly impacted by the Daytona outcome. For example, 31 points separate Christopher Bell in fifth place from Chase Elliott in eighth place, with the top driver in that cluster starting The Chase with a 15-point advantage over the bottom driver. So these battles within the standings will also be worth watching at Daytona, and we’ll try to outline those as well.

Reminder: The top 16 drivers in points make The Chase. There is no more win-and-in. The regular-season points leader starts The Chase with 2,100 points and second place starts with 2,075. Third place starts with 2,065 points, then drivers are separated by five-point increments through 16th place.

RELATED: Cup Series standings | Daytona weekend schedule

The Race for No. 1

RankDriverPointsPoints to leader
1Denny Hamlin1001--
2Ryan Blaney924-77
3Ty Gibbs880-121

The race for the No. 1 seed is over. Denny Hamlin clinched the top spot with a seventh-place finish at New Hampshire. The Joe Gibbs Racing veteran will now enter The Chase with a 25-point advantage over the second-place driver. This will be the biggest gap between any of The Chase drivers entering the Sept. 6 Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway. We’re all familiar with Hamlin’s championship heartbreaks, including the most recent one last year at Phoenix, but he is now in prime position to finally make good on a trophy run.

While 25 points don’t seem like a lot to overcome in a world where wins are worth 55 points, Hamlin has shown amazing consistency throughout the season that is going to be tough to beat. Hamlin’s seventh-place finish at Loudon was his sixth result of seventh or better in the past seven races. A few races before that, he rolled off a string of three straight victories at Nashville, Michigan and Pocono. With favorable tracks lined up at Darlington, Gateway, Bristol, Kansas, Las Vegas, Charlotte and Phoenix to start The Chase, Hamlin will be tough to catch.

The Mythical Top Six

RankDriverPointsPoints to leader
4Tyler Reddick860-141
5Christopher Bell738-263
6Chase Briscoe727-274
7Kyle Larson708-293
8Chase Elliott707-294

Following Hamlin in the standings are Ryan Blaney, Ty Gibbs, Tyler Reddick, Christopher Bell and Chase Briscoe, making up the “Mythical Top Six,” the group where Racing Insights predicts the most likely champion will come. The battle is tight with only 31 points separating Bell in fifth place from Elliott in eighth place. Kyle Larson and Elliott are separated by one point in seventh and eight place, respectively. Places could change hands during the race at Daytona, and that could make a big impact on who has the advantage heading into The Chase.

Blaney, who won at New Hampshire, is safely in the top six. So to are Gibbs, who finished sixth, and Reddick, who netted an eighth-place showing at Loudon. But Reddick’s performance was a microcosm of his summer slump: He qualified on the pole despite not having good long-run speed in practice, spun out on the opening lap of the race and had to spend the rest of the time making up for that early mistake. He’s clearly searching for whatever magic he had early in the season when he won five of the first nine races.

Below the top six, Larson and Elliott are lurking. Larson lies 19 points below Briscoe for the sixth spot while Elliott is 20 points back. Both are former Cup champions, so they are formidable forms showing up in the rearview mirrors of those above them in the standings. Larson has posted a pair of top-six finishes and seems to be getting his act together at the right time, but he’ll be hard-pressed to make up more ground at Daytona because of his historic struggles on superspeedways. Elliott is known for his consistency, but lately he hasn’t produced the finishes to make a charge up the standings. Besides a top-five finish at Richmond two weeks ago, Elliott’s last top-10 finish before that was back in late June at Nashville.

The Middle Ground

RankDriverPointsPoints to cutline
9Joey Logano682+127
10Chris Buescher676+121
11Carson Hocevar672+117
12William Byron644+89
13Daniel Suárez638+83

The summer of Penske continues with Blaney’s win, marking four wins for the team in the past six races. However, Joey Logano’s torrid run slowed down a bit with a 14th-place finish at Loudon. Logano qualified 20th and was involved in an early spin that set him back. He rallied for a respectable finish but is 45 points behind making the top six, meaning it’s unlikely that he will be in the pantheon of favorable championship contenders to start The Chase.

What’s more is Logano has to worry about the drivers right behind him in the standings. Chris Buescher is only six points behind Logano in 10th and Carson Hocevar is only 10 points back in 11th. As it is, Logano would start The Chase 65 points behind Hamlin, but a drop to 11th in the standings would make it a 75-point deficit.

Looking ahead to Daytona, Logano and Team Penske are generally thought of as strong superspeedway racers, but Logano has four finishes of 27th or worse in his past five races there. Meanwhile, Buescher has been good at Daytona with four consecutive top-10 finishes and a win there in the late summer of 2023. And while Hocevar’s career Daytona performances have been uneven at best, he still has the superspeedway win from earlier in the season at Talladega that could bode well for his confidence.

The Cutline Battle

RankDriverPointsPoints to Cutline
14Bubba Wallace630+75
15Austin Cindric599+44
16Shane van Gisbergen586+31
17Ryan Preece555-31
18Brad Keselowski520-66

Bubba Wallace only needs two points to clinch a spot in The Chase, so provided he doesn’t crash out of the race early, he should be safely in. But there’s also plenty of room for Wallace in 14th place in the standings to move up because he only trails 12th-place William Byron by 14 points. And it’s also not crazy to think Wallace could move up even higher than 12th given a Daytona history that includes three runner-up finishes.

In the same vein, it’s very unlikely that Brad Keselowski, who sits 66 points back of the cutline, will make The Chase. He would essentially need a 70-point race and some help to make it in. Keselowski finished fifth in the Daytona 500 this year and scored 39 points. His second-place finish in 2023 during the Daytona summer race netted him 45 points when he won Stage 2. Look for Keselowski to be eliminated from The Chase, possibly by the end of Stage 1.

So that makes Shane van Gisbergen and Ryan Preece essentially the two drivers to watch here as 31 points separate them on the cutline. Austin Cindric looks relatively safe with a 44-point cushion and has a Daytona 500 trophy to his credit. SVG and Preece, meanwhile, are locked in a battle on a superspeedway, which is a bit odd considering one is a road-course ace and the other’s strong point is the shorter tracks like the one we were just on at New Hampshire.

What will go down here? Well, it’s really anyone’s guess, which is why it’s exciting. Van Gisbergen has four starts at Daytona in Cup and his best finish of the bunch was 16th while the other three were all finishes of 30th or worse. Preece has a more extensive history with 13 Daytona starts and three top-10 finishes to his credit. But he hasn’t had a top-10 finish there since 2021.

Posted on by Zach Sturniolo

Austin Hill will drive the No. 33 Chevrolet for Richard Childress Racing in the NASCAR Cup Series for the full 2027 season, the team announced Monday.

Hill has driven the No. 33 car since Memorial Day Weekend at Charlotte Motor Speedway, stepping in after the death of Kyle Busch on May 21. The team switched from No. 8 to No. 33 to preserve the Busch legacy.

MORE: Cup Series standings

“I’m extremely thankful to Richard and everyone at RCR for believing in me and giving me this opportunity,” Hill said in a press release. “Every race car driver dreams of competing full time in the NASCAR Cup Series, and to have that opportunity with RCR is something I don’t take for granted. I’ve learned so much this year about what it takes to compete at this level, and I’m excited to take everything I’ve learned during my time at RCR and apply it to this next chapter. I want to do everything I can to help this organization continue moving forward. I’m excited for what’s ahead and ready to get to work.”

Hill is a 16-time winner in the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series, where he has competed on a full-time basis since 2022 in RCR’s No. 21 car, winning two or more races in each year of competition. He will continue driving in both Cup and O’Reilly to close the 2026 campaign, but Hill will depart the O’Reilly Series in 2027 for his first full-time endeavor in the Cup Series.

In 30 Cup starts, Hill has a best finish of ninth at the Chicago Street Course in 2025. The 32-year-old Georgia native made 15 Cup starts before the 2026 season and made two starts in a part-time effort this year at Phoenix Raceway and Martinsville Speedway. The 13 races run since Busch’s passing are the most consecutive Cup races Hill has run. In that span, Hill has two top-20 finishes, marked by a season-best 18th at Pocono Raceway on June 14.

MORE: Key players in 2026-2027 Silly Season

“Austin Hill is a talented race car driver, and his continued growth, work ethic and success across multiple levels of NASCAR competition have positioned him for his next step with RCR,” said Richard Childress, Chairman and CEO of Richard Childress Racing, in a press release. “He’s put a tremendous amount of effort into his career, especially this year with everything he’s taken on. We’ve watched Austin grow as a driver and as a person, and we’re proud to have him continue that growth with RCR in the NASCAR Cup Series.”

While ineligible for Cup Series points this year, Hill sits seventh in the O’Reilly standings with just one race remaining before The Chase begins. Hill has clinched a spot in the 12-driver postseason field and will be eligible to compete for the series championship this year. In four prior tries, Hill’s best season-ending rank is fourth, qualifying for the Championship 4 in 2024.

In addition to his O’Reilly success, Hill is also an eight-time winner in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, where he raced full time from 2018 through 2021, posting his winningest campaign in 2019 with four victories and three pole positions for Hattori Racing Enterprises. Hill made his most recent Truck Series start at Pocono in 2023.

Posted on by Pat DeCola

LOUDON, N.H. — The NASCAR Chase doesn’t return to New Hampshire Motor Speedway until next season, another 13-odd months away.

Sunday sure had the feel of it, though.

The drama dropped before the green flag even did — but not until after some heavy raindrops that briefly delayed the start and necessitated cars starting the race with wet-weather tires — with Carson Hocevar spinning out during the opening pace laps as drivers tested the racing surface. The intensity only ramped up from there.

And with Daytona International Speedway’s regular-season finale now the only race separating the Cup Series from a finalized 16-driver Chase field, every position throughout the Dollar Tree 301 seemed to carry a little extra weight around the “Magic Mile.”

RELATED: Race results | At-track photos

“Yeah, it was definitely aggressive for sure,” race winner Ryan Blaney said in his post-race press conference.

Aggressive barely covers it. The sense of urgency was palpable, even as drivers currently well-locked in — like Blaney himself — fought tooth and nail for every inch on every restart, leading to bump-and-runs for the lead, crunch-inducing hits, wild pit-road chaos, you name it. Even pole winner Tyler Reddick spun out almost immediately.

That was the thing about this weekend at Loudon, though. It was not a Chase race. The postseason field is not quite set, and much of the field was still technically eligible for championship contention.

Keyword: was.

Kyle Larson, Joey Logano, Chris Buescher, Carson Hocevar, William Byron and Daniel Suárez are newly clinched as of Sunday evening. Denny Hamlin officially locked up the No. 1 seed.

Not everyone enjoyed the same positive outcomes.

“It’s just an unfortunate end to our run towards the Chase,” said Ross Chastain, who saw his potential run to a championship officially end in Stage 1, mathematically eliminated after a drivetrain issue knocked him out of the race and saddled him with a last-place finish. “The speed has gotten better, so we’ll hopefully keep moving forward on that. That’s the important part. With the things in our control, we were able to make them better through the summer. I’ve learned that’s really tough to do in the NASCAR Cup Series. We did get better, but we’ve got a ways to go.”

For those who finished the race, Sunday was the last real opportunity for the drivers hovering around the cutline to independently shape their situation before a healthy serving of unpredictable superspeedway action takes the math equation somewhere considerably less controllable.

Daytona is next, and it comes with even more unknowns than usual this year.

At Loudon, a team can still qualify well, manage its tires, execute on pit road, score stage points and spend 301 laps methodically constructing the afternoon it needs. We saw Bubba Wallace do this, rebounding from a poor qualifying effort to still walk away P2 on Sunday and leave with a healthy 75-point buffer over the cutline.

At Daytona, a driver can do nearly all of that correctly — flawlessly, even — and still find himself behind the wall because somebody several rows ahead made the wrong decision at the wrong time.

Plenty of skill involved in both. Considerably more control in one, and Sunday represented the last ounce of it.

“It was a tough day for what we needed,” said Shane van Gisbergen, currently straddling the cutline and leading 30 laps early on the wets before fading to 20th. “Being that fast on wet-weather tires and falling that fast shows that we were missing something to have grip on the slick tires. Hopefully there are some learnings on that because Connor [Zilisch, teammate] and I just went backwards as fast as we could when the track dried. It’s just a disappointing way to end the day. We would love to have more of a cushion heading into Daytona, but the No. 60 [of Ryan Preece] did a great job today. I don’t think the No. 2 [of Austin Cindric] gained much on us, but we would love to have more heading into a big unknown race next weekend.”

New Hampshire did not dramatically reshuffle The Chase standings, but it sure brought them into further focus. Even those already well out of the danger zone were aware of the implications around them.

“You could tell the strategies, like the 60 pulling things like that,” Hamlin said on pit road. “You know, I thought it was a good strategy call for them. But yeah, you could see that everyone was in need of points, just chasing points.”

Larson saw it, too.

“The 60 had a good day, or at least I think he did,” he told NASCAR.com. “And I know he’s fighting for everything he can get to get that final spot. So yeah, he was doing a really good job with it.”

And all of it unfolded at a track that will carry Chase pressure of its own when NASCAR returns in 2027, which felt considerably less theoretical and off in the distance by the time the checkered flag fell Sunday evening.

“Yeah, you know, this place has kind of been in The Chase. It’s been out of The Chase. It’s kind of, you know, jumped in and out,” said Blaney. “And I’ve always thought this place is incredibly deserving of a Chase race, just because it puts on a really good show. The fans up here are incredibly passionate about racing … like, it’s just a good atmosphere here. It’s important, I think, to have a [Chase] race here in kind of the Northeast for sure. So it’s nice. I was sad that it was out of the Chase this year. I’m excited it’s back in, and just even you know whether we run really good or bad here, I think this place really deserves a Chase race because the fans are incredibly passionate, and they love motorsports.”

New Hampshire has long rewarded complete afternoons, and Sunday was no exception. Entering the weekend, five of the previous six winners had started inside the top five. The Stage 1 winner had gone on to win three consecutive races. Only one of the previous 14 events required overtime.

This, plus all of the wild aspects of how Sunday went, is the information teams will bring back next year.

Not because Sunday perfectly replicated the circumstances of a Chase race — again, it was not. But the tension this weekend largely belonged to drivers trying to qualify for the 16-driver field, and it was palpable. When New Hampshire joins the 10-race Chase in 2027, the stakes will be different: every one of those contenders will already be in, and every point gained or surrendered here will contribute directly toward deciding a champion.

Sunday offered a glimpse of what happens when New Hampshire’s typical demands — precision, patience, track position and execution — collide with stakes larger than an ordinary points day.

This year, that pressure came from trying just to reach The Chase. Next year, it will come from trying to win it all.

For now, the Cup Series leaves New Hampshire with one regular-season race remaining and the 16-driver field still unfinished.

New Hampshire gave the bubble one final afternoon to shape the equation.

Daytona gets to pop it.

new hampshire motor speedway quiet track
Zach Sturniolo | NASCAR Digital Media
Posted on by Staff Report

Denny Hamlin will pace the 16-driver field for the 2026 NASCAR Cup Series Chase as he clinched the No. 1 seed after Sunday’s race at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.

The No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing driver took the points lead from 23XI Racing’s Tyler Reddick after Sonoma Raceway in June and hasn’t looked back — topping the series table for the next seven weeks through the summer to secure his position entering The Chase.

RELATED: Race results | At-track photos

For earning the No. 1 seed, Hamlin will enter The Chase with a 25-point buffer to second place when the green flag waves for the opening postseason event at Darlington Raceway on Sept. 6 (5 p.m. ET, USA Network, HBO Max, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

After a seventh-place result at New Hampshire, Hamlin improved his 2026 average finish to 8.1, which is on pace to be a career-best in his 21st full-time season. Hamlin has completed every lap of every race except for just two circuits in the season-opening Daytona 500.

MORE: Cup Series standings

“I feel good about where our team’s at,” Hamlin said after Loudon. “Everyone’s kind of clicking well and don’t have a whole lot of weaknesses. We’re not as strong as the Penske cars on these types of race tracks. But you know, Martinsville, we are good. Phoenix, we’ve been good. It’s just over the last few, this just has not been a strong three or four weeks. And when I say not strong, it’s you know top fives and top sevens. It’s something we can work with and the mile-and-a-halfs is certainly something that has been our strength for a couple years now. So looking forward to getting The Chase started and see where it goes.”

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