LOUDON, N.H. — Ryan Blaney and his crew wound up making the most of a major mistake Sunday at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.
The driver of the Team Penske No. 12 Ford just needed a moment to vent on his team radio about a pit crew blunder before charging from 17th to first and winning the Cup Series race at New Hampshire for the second year in a row.
“Whenever I say those things after something bad happens, it’s my relief valve,” Blaney said about scolding his team with an expletive. “I have to get it out in the open, or I’ll be stewing over it a while. That’s how I have to get over things. I wish I wasn’t that way, but I’d rather it be that way than have it be in the back of my mind the rest of the race, not thinking of the main goal. It takes me five or 10 seconds to move on.”
After shaking it off, Blaney recovered to lead the final 74 laps on the 1.058-mile oval, with the 2023 Cup Series champion fending off race runner-up Bubba Wallace’s 23XI Racing No. 23 Toyota by less than a second (0.586).
Josh Berry, who is trying to find a ride for the 2027 season, finished a season-best third, the fourth consecutive top 10 for the current driver of the Wood Brothers Racing No. 21 Ford.
Christopher Bell was fourth in a Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota. Kyle Larson, who won his second Cup Series title last season, was fifth for Hendrick Motorsports, the best finish for Chevrolet driver.
RFK Racing’s Ryan Preece finished ninth and kept his hopes alive of making the 16-driver field for the postseason Chase by gaining 19 points on Trackhouse Racing’s Shane van Gisbergen, who finished 20th and remains in the final spot for the 10-race title run that begins in two weeks with the Southern 500 at South Carolina’s Darlington Raceway.
The regular season closes Saturday night at Florida’s Daytona International Speedway.
Sunday’s victory was the 20th Cup Series career checkered flag and third this season for Blaney, who led a race-high 115 of 301 laps. He had cruised to a big lead when a lugnut fell off the left front tire of his Ford during a pit stop under caution with 111 laps remaining.
He had to pick his way through traffic but was back up to seventh when the yellow flag flew on the 226th lap for a three-car crash. Crew chief Jonathan Hassler made an aggressive strategy call for two right-side tires, and Blaney gained six spots in the pits to regain first place.
After the race, Hassler called the error “maybe was a little bit of a blessing in disguise” because Blaney emerged several spots ahead of the contenders who took four tires. Of the top 12 finishers, Blaney was the only one who took two tires on his last stop.
His crew struggled often on stops earlier this season, losing 128 spots in the pits, but has been better with three top-five finishes in the past six races.
“It’s really competitive on pit road, and if you’re going to have any speed, you’re going to have these sort of miscues,” Hassler said. “With the speed we’ve had, our goal has certainly been to eliminate those, even if we give up a little bit of speed to do that. But it’s still going to happen to each of the best teams. We’re fortunate that we’re fast enough and up front enough that people take notice when that’s going to happen.”
Points leader Denny Hamlin also rebounded from a pit stop miscue that dropped the Joe Gibbs Racing driver outside the top 15 with less than 100 laps remaining. Hamlin rallied for a seventh place that clinched the top seed for the Chase.
“We were just pedestrian today,” Hamlin said. “We just didn’t quite have it, but ultimately a decent crawl back.”
A last-place finish extinguished the dim Chase hopes for Ross Chastain, whose Trackhouse Racing No. 1 Chevrolet suffered a mechanical problem after only 40 laps.
“The speed has gotten better, so we’ll hopefully keep moving forward on that,” Chastain said. “That’s the important part. With the things in our control, we were able to make them better through the summer. I’ve learned that’s really tough to do in the NASCAR Cup Series. We did get better, but we’ve got a ways to go.”