Ryan Blaney wanted momentum in preparation for the final race of the regular season next weekend.
He got that on Sunday in the Granite State.
The 2023 NASCAR Cup Series champion used a quick pit stop during his final service and overcame an earlier mishap by his No. 12 crew to repeat in the Dollar Tree 301 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway in Loudon, N.H.
The Team Penske driver was one of five to take two tires on their final stop, and he topped Bubba Wallace, who took four, by 0.586 seconds to win again at Loudon and for the third time in 2026.
“The run at the end was the longest one we had,” Blaney said after his 20th career Cup win. “I just tried to manage my stuff. I knew those four-tire guys would push me eventually, and Bubba came on pretty hard there.
“You always want to continue momentum, and Team Penske has been on a heck of a tear the last couple of months.”
Wallace said it was surprising the way it played out for him in Loudon.
“The last time I ran good (here) was one of the worst-driving cars and we finished third,” said the 23XI Racing driver, who is 14th in points going to Daytona. “And here we had the worst-driving car I’ve had all year and we finished second.”
Josh Berry finished third and led 73 laps in Wood Brothers Racing’s iconic No. 21 Ford. Christopher Bell and Kyle Larson rounded out the top five.
A Ford won at The Magic Mile for the sixth time in the past nine races.
Points leader Denny Hamlin ended up seventh and won the regular-season championship with a 77-point lead over Blaney.
The regular-season finale, race No. 26 of 36, is Saturday night on the high banks of Daytona International Speedway.
Polesitter Tyler Reddick spun on the first lap but rallied to finish eighth.
With the drivers on wet-condition tires in Stage 1 and starting more than an hour after the rescheduled start time, Reddick succumbed to the wet surface when he spun by himself on Lap 1, trying to control his No. 45 Toyota in the same spot Carson Hocevar looped his No. 77 Chevrolet under slower pace laps before the race ever went green.
Following a competition caution on Lap 40, leader Shane van Gisbergen topped the field at the restart after he took the lead earlier with a hard charge past William Byron on Lap 26.
With the whole field changing to dry tires with 15 laps left in the first segment, Larson’s No. 5 Chevrolet came to life and helped the two-time Cup champion win the stage over Bell, Hocevar, Byron and Berry. However, Byron and Bell had problems during pit service and went to the field’s rear.
Blaney took the top spot, stretched his lead to almost two seconds and easily beat Berry, Wallace, Ryan Preece and Larson to end Stage 2, but the yellow No. 12 Ford had a left-front tire lug nut issue on the pit stop and restarted 14th with Wallace at the point.
Riley Herbst’s hard crash on Lap 225 and Byron’s crash with 69 circuits left set up the final run to the finish.
–Field Level Media
