• NASCAR Cup Series
  • Xfinity Series
  • NASCAR Camping World Truck Series

New Hampshire Motor Speedway Race Results

Ambetter Get Vaccinated 200

July 17th, 2021

RESULTS

START POS

FINAL STATUS

LAPS COMPLETED

LAPS LED

POINTS

PLAYOFF POINTS

1

Christopher Bell

54 |

14

Running

200

151

0

0

2

Justin Allgaier

7 |

5

Running

200

0

46

0

3

Daniel Hemric

18 |

13

Running

200

0

48

0

4

Austin Cindric

22 |

4

Running

200

0

49

0

5

Harrison Burton

20 |

10

Running

200

0

43

0

6

Justin Haley

11 |

2

Running

200

0

40

0

7

Myatt Snider

2 |

16

Running

200

0

30

0

8

Josh Berry

1 |

21

Running

200

0

35

0

9

Brett Moffitt

02 |

7

Running

200

0

28

0

10

Riley Herbst

98 |

12

Running

200

0

27

0

11

Jeb Burton

10 |

1

Running

200

16

30

0

12

AJ Allmendinger

16 |

6

Running

200

29

41

0

13

Ryan Sieg

39 |

11

Running

200

0

24

0

14

Noah Gragson

9 |

3

Running

200

0

25

0

15

Jeremy Clements

51 |

8

Running

200

0

23

0

16

Brandon Gdovic

26 |

32

Running

200

0

21

0

17

Brandon Brown

68 |

22

Running

200

4

20

0

18

Jade Buford

48 |

18

Running

198

0

19

0

19

Kyle Weatherman

47 |

34

Running

198

0

18

0

20

David Starr

66 |

38

Running

198

0

17

0

21

Tommy Joe Martins

44 |

17

Running

197

0

16

0

22

Josh Williams

92 |

20

Running

197

0

15

0

23

JJ Yeley

17 |

36

Running

197

0

14

0

24

Joe Graf Jr

07 |

30

Running

197

0

13

0

25

Landon Cassill

4 |

31

Running

197

0

12

0

26

Jeffrey Earnhardt

0 |

26

Running

197

0

11

0

27

Dexter Bean

90 |

37

Running

197

0

10

0

28

Jesse Little

78 |

28

Running

197

0

9

0

29

Ryan Vargas

6 |

19

Running

196

0

8

0

30

Colby Howard

15 |

25

Running

196

0

7

0

31

Patrick Emerling

23 |

24

Running

196

0

6

0

32

Matt Mills

5 |

27

Running

195

0

5

0

33

Spencer Boyd

52 |

40

Running

194

0

0

0

34

Jordan Anderson

31 |

33

Running

194

0

0

0

35

Dawson Cram

74 |

35

Running

184

0

0

0

36

Alex Labbe

36 |

15

Running

174

0

1

0

37

Cj McLaughlin

61 |

39

Electrical

164

0

0

0

38

Brandon Jones

19 |

23

Radiator

102

0

1

0

39

Sam Mayer

8 |

9

Accident

28

0

1

0

40

Mason Massey

99 |

29

Accident

26

0

1

0

  • POS 1 | LEADER

    Christopher Bell

    POS1

    LEADER

    Christopher Bell

    Driver badge number 54 |

  • POS 2 | 6.241

    Justin Allgaier

    POS2

    6.241

    Justin Allgaier

    Driver badge number 7 |

  • POS 3 | 6.422

    Daniel Hemric

    POS3

    6.422

    Daniel Hemric

    Driver badge number 18 |

Christopher Bell makes victorious Xfinity return, stays perfect at New Hampshire

Kyle Busch had used up his eligibility for this year in the NASCAR Xfinity Series.

Ty Gibbs had the week off.

But the No. 54 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota they have driven to a combined seven victories this season was still around — much to the chagrin of the series regulars.

Competing in the Xfinity Series for the first time since he finished third in the final standings in 2019, Christopher Bell led 151 of 200 laps, swept the first two stages and won Saturday‘s Ambetter Get Vaccinated 200 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.

RELATED: Official results | Weekend schedule

The victory was Bell‘s third straight at the 1.058-mile track and the 17th of his career. It was the sixth straight win for Joe Gibbs Racing at New Hampshire, which did not host an Xfinity Series race last year because of schedule changes necessitated by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Bell was the only former New Hampshire winner in the field for Saturday‘s race. He finished a comfortable 6.241 seconds ahead of runner-up Justin Allgaier, who held off third-place Daniel Hemric during the final 45-lap green-flag run.

From Bell‘s standpoint, the secret to success was easy to define.

James Gilbert | Getty Images

“What I‘ve got figured out is I‘ve got really, really fast race cars to drive,” said Bell, who started 14th and took the lead for the first time on Lap 44 — one circuit before the end of the first stage. “I just love being here with Joe Gibbs Racing. All these Supras I‘ve had for the last three times I‘ve been here have been amazing.

“Hopefully, the Camry is just as good tomorrow (in the NASCAR Cup Series race), but it just feels good to win.”

A flat right-front tire shot Patrick Emerling‘s Chevrolet into the outside wall in Turn 4 to cause the fifth and last caution of the race on Lap 149. After an adjustment to his No. 7 Chevrolet designed to create short-run speed, Allgaier battled Bell side-by-side after the final restart on Lap 156.

But the strength and turning ability of Bell‘s car, set up by crew chief Chris Gayle, soon prevailed, and Bell pulled away as Allgaier and Hemric fought for the second position.

“Obviously, it was a good short-track battle there,” Allgaier said. “This place is difficult, but it‘s fun. You‘re out there and you‘re sliding around a lot. We didn‘t start off the race like we wanted to, and (crew chief) Jason (Burdett) and the boys did a great job of making adjustments and getting us where we needed to be at.

“I wish I knew what we needed there. The Gibbs cars definitely had something we didn‘t have today. We‘ll go back home, we‘ll keep working on it and hopefully get our Brandt Camaro into Victory Lane sooner than later.”

Series leader Austin Cindric ran fourth, followed by Harrison Burton. Justin Haley, Myatt Snider, Josh Berry, Brett Moffitt and Riley Herbst completed the top 10.

Herbst made a remarkable recovery from an early accident on a Lap 26 restart and now trails Michael Annett by 32 points for the final playoff position. Annett missed Saturday‘s race — with Berry as his substitute — after undergoing surgery for a stress fracture in his right femur.

MORE: What to Watch: New Hampshire

NASCAR opted not to apply traction compound to the third lane of the racing surface, though the PJ1 had been used for recent races at New Hampshire.

Accordingly, Bell believes racing Saturday without the compound will give him an advantage in Sunday‘s Cup race.

“Especially coming here, the Xfinity rules package is really similar to the Cup rules package,” Bell said. “I hope we have a really fast Camry tomorrow.”

The NASCAR Xfinity Series is idle the next two weeks, returning Aug. 7 (4 p.m. ET, CNBC/NBC Sports App, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) at Watkins Glen International.

Note: NASCAR’s post-race inspection in the Xfinity Series garage was clear with no issues, thus confirming Bell’s victory.