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August 23, 2026
By Holly Cain NASCAR Wire Service
Photo by Sean Gardner/Getty Images
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 Penske team’s intent to surge into the Chase an absolute championship favorite.
Blaney’s No. 12 Team Penske Ford overcame a slow mid-race pit stop that frustrated the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series champion but ultimately helped motivate the team in the closing laps to a .587-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.
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 six 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.
He’s one of seven drivers that 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 Roush Fenway Keselowski’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 Suarez, 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 Playoff eligibility, Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing’s Ryan Preece delivered big time – 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 Van Gisbergen in the 15th position.
It was a productive day for several cars 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 of the 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 400 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.
NASCAR Cup Series Race – Dollar Tree 301
New Hampshire Motor Speedway
Loudon, New Hampshire
Sunday, August 23, 2026
- (8) Ryan Blaney, Ford, 301.
- (23) Bubba Wallace, Toyota, 301.
- (2) Josh Berry, Ford, 301.
- (6) Christopher Bell, Toyota, 301.
- (9) Kyle Larson, Chevrolet, 301.
- (7) Ty Gibbs, Toyota, 301.
- (4) Denny Hamlin, Toyota, 301.
- (1) Tyler Reddick, Toyota, 301.
- (18) Ryan Preece, Ford, 301.
- (19) Noah Gragson, Ford, 301.
- (25) Brad Keselowski, Ford, 301.
- (26) Austin Cindric, Ford, 301.
- (14) Zane Smith, Ford, 301.
- (21) Joey Logano, Ford, 301.
- (10) Alex Bowman, Chevrolet, 301.
- (15) Michael McDowell, Chevrolet, 301.
- (35) Daniel Suarez, Chevrolet, 301.
- (16) Chris Buescher, Ford, 301.
- (22) Carson Hocevar, Chevrolet, 300.
- (5) Shane Van Gisbergen, Chevrolet, 300.
- (13) Todd Gilliland, Ford, 300.
- (32) Cole Custer, Chevrolet, 300.
- (24) AJ Allmendinger, Chevrolet, 300.
- (28) Austin Hill(i), Chevrolet, 300.
- (29) Chase Elliott, Chevrolet, 300.
- (17) Chase Briscoe, Toyota, 300.
- (33) Ty Dillon, Chevrolet, 300.
- (30) Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Chevrolet, 300.
- (36) Cody Ware, Chevrolet, 300.
- (3) William Byron, Chevrolet, 296.
- (31) John Hunter Nemechek, Toyota, 296.
- (34) Austin Dillon, Chevrolet, 282.
- (11) Erik Jones, Toyota, Transaxle, 251.
- (27) Riley Herbst, Toyota, Accident, 222.
- (20) Connor Zilisch #, Chevrolet, Accident, 222.
- (12) Ross Chastain, Chevrolet, Engine, 41.
Average Speed of Race Winner: 94.133 mph.
Time of Race: 3 Hrs, 22 Mins, 59 Secs. Margin of Victory: .586 Seconds.
Caution Flags: 9 for 51 laps.
Lead Changes: 15 among 7 drivers.
Lap Leaders: T. Reddick 0;W. Byron 1-25;S. Van Gisbergen 26-42;W. Byron 43;S. Van Gisbergen 44-56;K. Larson 57-74;R. Preece 75-91;J. Berry 92-147;R. Blaney 148-188;J. Berry 189;B. Wallace 190-194;J. Berry 195-209;B. Wallace 210-221;J. Berry 222;B. Wallace 223-227;R. Blaney 228-301.
Leaders Summary (Driver, Times Lead, Laps Led): Ryan Blaney 2 times for 115 laps; Josh Berry 4 times for 73 laps; Shane Van Gisbergen 2 times for 30 laps; William Byron 2 times for 26 laps; Bubba Wallace 3 times for 22 laps; Kyle Larson 1 time for 18 laps; Ryan Preece 1 time for 17 laps.
Stage #1 Top Ten: 5,20,77,24,21,12,54,60,97,19
Stage #2 Top Ten: 12,21,23,60,5,6,17,54,11,20
