Race report

Ryan Blaney claws to NASCAR Cup New Hampshire victory over Bubba Wallace

Blaney rebounded from a bad stop mid-race to win Sunday's NASCAR Cup Series race at New Hampshire Motor Speedway

Even after a mid-race pit stop snafu cost him dearly, Ryan Blaney rebounded to earn the NASCAR Cup win at New Hampshire Motor Speedway (NHMS), leading 115 of 301 laps. This is Blaney's 20th career win and his third of the 2026 season.

"Yeah, that made it difficult," said Blaney about the two-tire call that put him out front. "No, it was a good call after our issue on pit road. We did two at the end to try to hopefully get the lead, and we did.

"It was a long, long run to the end, longest run we had. Just tried to manage my stuff. Knew the four-tire guys would pressure me eventually. Bubba came on hard there. Just tried to manage the lap traffic and manage the tire, not make a mistake.

"What a cool race. Fun day starting in the rain. Ended up being beautiful day. Everybody came out, thanks for sticking with it."

Watch: Sun's out: Blaney wins at Loudon, holds off Wallace

Bubba Wallace was closing in the end, but couldn't quite get there on his way to finishing second. Josh Berry placed third, Christopher Bell fourth, and Kyle Larson fifth.

Ty Gibbs, Denny Hamlin, Tyler Reddick, Ryan Preece, and Noah Gragson filled out the remainder of the top ten.

Wallace had a big lock-up while closing in on Blaney, and noted that he picked up a vibration after that, which ultimately ended his pursuit.

"That's the thing I kind of hate about this place," Wallace said about his run. "Last time we ran good. One of the worst driving cars we ever started. The worst driving car we had this year and I finished second.

"Just been saying it all week long, I think I finally know, throw out the field I'm chasing, which is hard to go as a race car driver, searching for the right front, it's not really ever there.

"We fought, man. Had a nice day just by myself, regrouping. Got the head right. I knew I had to fight all day. That's what it takes. Where it starts is with this 23 team. Man, they pushed me to be the absolute best. I fail them a lot, but they stick behind me. It's super cool."

Stages 1 & 2

Tyler Reddick spins from the lead, No. 45 23XI Racing Toyota

Photo by: Sean Gardner / Getty Images

Rain hit the track early in the afternoon, and NASCAR instructed teams to bolt on the wet-weather tires. Before the race could even go green, Carson Hocevar spun on his own after gassing it up.

NASCAR brought the cars back down pit lane, and tried again later with better conditions, but still a damp track.

Reddick started from pole position, but spun in the tricky conditions. Both Hamlin and Buescher had to stop to avoid a major collision with him, and this was the first caution of the race.

Byron then led for a bit, but as the run progressed, it was Van Gisbergen who moved ahead, driving out to a seven-second lead before a competition caution on Lap 40.

During the yellow flag, Van Gisbergen’s teammate Ross Chastain went behind the wall and fell out of the race with a mechanical issue.

The next caution was for Stenhouse, who backed it into the outside wall. In the dry conditions, Van Gisbergen wasn’t as strong and faded to ninth as Larson claimed the Stage 1 win.

During the stage break, a handful of cars had messy stops, with Bell, Byron, Van Gisbergen, and Hocevar all losing several positions.

Six cars stayed out, led by Preece. In the middle of the pack. Hocevar went spinning off the nose of Zilisch, while both A. Dillon and Logano spun in the chaos.

As the race progressed, Berry made his presence known, taking control of the race and leading through the first round of green-flag stops. However, Blaney ultimately moved by and won Stage 2.

Stage 3

William Byron crashes and loses wheel, No. 24 Hendrick Motorpsorts Chevrolet

Photo by: Sean Gardner / Getty Images

During the stage break, Wallace won the race off pit road while Blaney fell outside the top ten as the team struggled with the left-front change.

There was a spirited battle for the lead with Berry ultimately putting the bumper to Wallace, who gave it right back to him. Preece then joined the fray, taking second right as the caution flew for a wreck involving Herbst. He slammed the wall hard after contact from McDowell, and then got run into by Zilisch, destroying both cars.

The field came back down pit road for the final set of stops, and Blaney moved back into the lead with a two-tire call. Byron did the same and restarted second, only for him to lose a wheel on the restart and crash heavily. That will result in some crew member suspensions next week.

As for the battle to win the race, Blaney made those two tires last, even as Wallace and Berry closed in.

Wallace was within a second of the race lead with just a handful of laps to go, only to suffer a lock-up and essentially end any shot he had at challenging Blaney.

At the checkered flag, there was about five tenths between the Penske driver and Wallace.

Watch: Wallace explains late lockup, runner-up finish: 'Had to fight all day'

RACE

All Stats

Cla	Driver	#	Manufacturer	Laps	Time	Interval	Pits	Points	Retirement
1	R. Blaney Team Penske	12	Ford	301	3:22'29.001		12	70
2	B. Wallace 23XI Racing	23	Toyota	301	+0.586 3:22'29.587	0.586	12	43
3	J. Berry Wood Brothers Racing	21	Ford	301	+1.964 3:22'30.965	1.378	12	49
4	C. Bell Joe Gibbs Racing	20	Toyota	301	+7.645 3:22'36.646	5.681	15	43
5	K. Larson Hendrick Motorsports	5	Chevrolet	301	+9.618 3:22'38.619	1.973	12	48
6	T. Gibbs Joe Gibbs Racing	54	Toyota	301	+10.651 3:22'39.652	1.033	12	38
7	D. Hamlin Joe Gibbs Racing	11	Toyota	301	+12.321 3:22'41.322	1.670	13	32
8	T. Reddick 23XI Racing	45	Toyota	301	+12.379 3:22'41.380	0.058	13	29
9	R. Preece RFK Racing	60	Ford	301	+13.586 3:22'42.587	1.207	11	38
10	N. Gragson Front Row Motorsports	4	Ford	301	+16.404 3:22'45.405	2.818	14	27
11	B. Keselowski RFK Racing	6	Ford	301	+17.190 3:22'46.191	0.786	12	31
12	A. Cindric Team Penske	2	Ford	301	+19.172 3:22'48.173	1.982	12	25
13	Z. Smith Front Row Motorsports	38	Ford	301	+27.473 3:22'56.474	8.301	12	24
14	J. Logano Team Penske	22	Ford	301	+27.847 3:22'56.848	0.374	14	23
15	A. Bowman Hendrick Motorsports	48	Chevrolet	301	+28.030 3:22'57.031	0.183	12	22
16	M. McDowell Spire Motorsports	71	Chevrolet	301	+29.088 3:22'58.089	1.058	14	21
17	D. Suarez Spire Motorsports	7	Chevrolet	301	+29.961 3:22'58.962	0.873	13	20
18	C. Buescher RFK Racing	17	Ford	301	+31.224 3:23'00.225	1.263	13	23
19	C. Hocevar Spire Motorsports	77	Chevrolet	300	+1 Lap 3:22'30.525	1 Lap	18	27
20	S. van Gisbergen TrackHouse Racing	97	Chevrolet	300	+1 Lap 3:22'31.162	0.637	13	19
21	T. Gilliland Front Row Motorsports	34	Ford	300	+1 Lap 3:22'31.338	0.176	15	16
22	C. Custer Haas Factory Team	41	Chevrolet	300	+1 Lap 3:22'31.452	0.114	14	15
23	A. Allmendinger Kaulig Racing	16	Chevrolet	300	+1 Lap 3:22'31.859	0.407	13	14
24	A. Hill Richard Childress Racing	33	Chevrolet	300	+1 Lap 3:22'32.565	0.706	13
25	C. Elliott Hendrick Motorsports	9	Chevrolet	300	+1 Lap 3:22'33.678	1.113	13	12
26	C. Briscoe Joe Gibbs Racing	19	Toyota	300	+1 Lap 3:22'36.347	2.669	13	12
27	T. Dillon Kaulig Racing	10	Chevrolet	300	+1 Lap 3:22'36.701	0.354	15	10
28	R. Stenhouse Jr Hyak Motorsports	47	Chevrolet	300	+1 Lap 3:22'38.902	2.201	16	9
29	C. Ware Rick Ware Racing	51	Chevrolet	300	+1 Lap 3:22'41.119	2.217	14	8
30	W. Byron Hendrick Motorsports	24	Chevrolet	296	+5 Laps 3:22'37.604	4 Laps	16	14
31	J. Nemechek Legacy Motor Club	40	Toyota	296	+5 Laps 3:22'44.672	7.068	13	6
32	A. Dillon Richard Childress Racing	3	Chevrolet	282	+19 Laps 3:22'40.287	14 Laps	16	5
33	E. Jones Legacy Motor Club	43	Toyota	251	+50 Laps 2:57'00.404	31 Laps	12	4	Transaxle
34	R. Herbst 23XI Racing	35	Toyota	222	+79 Laps 2:33'02.376	29 Laps	11	3	Accident
35	C. Zilisch TrackHouse Racing	88	Chevrolet	222	+79 Laps 2:33'06.049	3.673	11	2	Accident
36	R. Chastain TrackHouse Racing	1	Chevrolet	41	+260 Laps 27'50.525	181 Laps	7	1	Engine
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