Double Lobster For Blaney at New Hampshire!

Ryan Blaney heads to the grid at Chicagoland Speedway! (Riley Ogle | Motorsports Today)

LOUDON, N.H. - Ryan Blaney did it again, Sunday, August 23, as he went back-to-back at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, winning the Dollar Tree 301! Blaney led a race high, 115 laps in route to his victory, earning his third win of the 2026 season.

HOW IT HAPPENED:

The race started in a unique way, as after the race was pushed up an hour early due to incoming weather, NASCAR simply could not avoid mother nature. The race started under wet weather conditions, but the initial start did not go at the 2:00 planned green flag time as the track was simply too wet.

During pacing, Carson Hocevar spun out of turn four while testing his grip level, causing NASCAR to make the decision that the race was not in the correct condition to start.

Once the puddling was depleted from drying efforts while it continued rain, NASCAR decided to throw the green flag in wet weather conditions. For the first 40 laps, the race was anything but uneventful.

The first caution of the race didn't even take a lap, as trouble happened for pole sitter Tyler Reddick. Reddick went for a spin out of turn four, lacking grip and luckily avoided calamity as owner 23XI owner Denny Hamlin just stopped in time to avoid contact with the #45, causing both drivers to lose major track position.

When the green flag displayed on lap 7, the next 35 laps remained green with spectacular racing.

The star in the rain, was Shane Van Gisbergen as after a 5th place qualifying effort, his Trackhouse Racing Chevorlet showed strength and experience, as he grabbed the lead from William Byron on lap 25. What ensued for the next 15 laps was simply a clinic by the New Zealander. Van Gisbergen had lapped multiple cars and after 8 laps, checked out 6 seconds from William Byron.

On lap 37, teammate Connor Zilisch was over 20 seconds off the lead in the 8th position. Had the stage stayed green all the way, there was a strong possibility Van Gisbergen, was going to lap majority of the field, as he found himself over a second faster than the field at times.

Unfortunately for Van Gisbergen, the dream of a dominant oval day ended on lap 40? Why? Because NASCAR threw the caution as the time was deemed right to switch from a wet weather state to a dry track state.

NASCAR had non-competitive pit stops allowing Van Gisbergen to retain the lead, but the best car in rain, was far from being the best car in the dry.

On the restart, Van Gisbergen led the next 13 laps, but quickly faded back after losing the lead to Kyle Larson on lap 57. Shane finished the opening stage 9th, getting a two crucial stage points, but was never in the mix again. Van Gisbergen finished 20th, +31 points above Ryan Preece heading into the final race of the regular season.

As for the outcome of stage one, Kyle Larson earned the stage win with ease. But strategy mixed the #5 team up as the day went on, and Larson never found himself in the mix for the win again despite finishing 5th.

Instead, stage two started with Ryan Preece leading the way as he needed to gain big points on the cutline to give himself a fighting chance. Preece found himself a mainstay in the top five most of the day, but simply never had a car truly in the mix for the win.

On lap 91 Preece gave up the lead to Josh Berry and Preece finished the second stage in 5th.

As for Josh Berry, he did not win the second stage either, but was a mainstay talking point in the battle for the win. Berry, who is trying to earn a job in 2027, led the race 4 different times over the stretch of the day, and was constantly up front in the mix all day long.

Though Berry did not win the 2nd stage, as Ryan Blaney showed very strong strength and took the victory, Berry with a chance to control the race was arguably all he needed to perhaps earn the race win.

Unfortunately for Berry, he got gifted an opportunity to capitalize, but never truly got a chance to capitalize on that scenario.

The scenario you ask? During the stage break Ryan Blaney's team for the 9th time in 2026, had a crucial error on pit road, causing the #12 to restart outside the top 10.

Blaney constantly had to dig and claw through the field, but needed strategy to give himself a chance to win the race.

As for Berry, he was unable to capitalize due to an intense battle with Bubba Wallace. Both drivers duked it out from lap 189 to lap 223 with the two trading the lead for a total of six times. It was a great show of hard racing, but strategy was not on their side under the lap 225 yellow.

In pit road, Ryan Blaney took 2 tires, ultimately coming out with the lead. The result, the best car of the day found itself in control of the race.

Wallace and Berry tried their best early, but Blaney pulled a 2 second gap over the 23 for most of the run. It wouldn't be a race without it coming down to the wire though, as in the closing laps both Wallace and Berry started picking up significant time, with Wallace closing the gap to under a half a second.

It was who can get around lapped traffic though that decided the race in the closing two laps, as Blaney was much better than Wallace. Blaney won the race unchallenged with his best friend finishing second and Berry, who at one point was over five seconds behind, just behind in 3rd.

OTHER NOTES:

It was a big day for Front Row Motorsports driver Noah Gragson, as he put together arguably his strongest race of the 2026 season. Gragson finished 10th, earning his second top ten of the year. While Gragson didn't earn stage points, he found himself in the shuffle of the top 15 throughout the day and showed promise towards some growth and momentum.

Gragson looks to make it back-to-back top ten efforts next weekend as he looks to improve upon his 11th place finish at Daytona back in February.

Chase hopes dwindled away for two drivers after trouble during the day. During the wet conditions, Ross Chastain suffered an engine issue prior to the caution on lap 40. Chastain finished 36th, -81 points outside the cutline, eliminating him from contention.

The other driver eliminated came also via a mechanical failure, and that was Erik Jones. In the third stage, the #43 Dollar Tree Toyota suffered a transmission failure causing his day to end early. Jones finished 33rd and found himself leaving New Hampshire 20th in points, -96 points behind Van Gisbergen.

That means only two drivers outside the cutline have a mathematical chance at Daytona but simply need a miracle. As mentioned, Ryan Preece is -31 to Van Gisbergen, while his team owner Brad Keselowski is -66 points, in a must win situation, along with needing Van Gisbergen to likely crash out early to have a chance.

UP NEXT:

The NASCAR Cup Series heads south to Daytona Beach for the Coca-Cola Zero Sugar 400 at Daytona International Speedway, Saturday, Aug 29. Green flag is slated for 7:30 P.M. ET and the race will be featured on NBC as well as MRN. Last year it was Ryan Blaney getting the win in dramatic fashion in the closing feet. He looks to defend his crown and make it a momentum building back-to-back wins to head into The Chase!