After some struggles to start the year, Team Penske is finding its footing as the NASCAR Cup Series approaches The Chase for the Championship in 2026, winning four of the last six events between drivers Ryan Blaney and Joey Logano.
Sunday at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, Blaney led a race-high 115 laps on the way to his third NASCAR Cup Series victory of the season, and the 20th of his career at NASCAR’s top-level, after holding off his best friend, Bubba Wallace, and pseudo teammate, Josh Berry.
“You always want to continue momentum,” Blaney said. “Team Penske has been on a heck of a tear the last couple months. Props to everybody at Team Penske who is keeping their head down, working hard.”
Blaney, driving the No. 12 Menards Ford Mustang Dark Horse, jetted off to a quick lead on the final restart of the race after winning the battle against Chase Briscoe. The 2023 NASCAR Cup Series champion then held a significant advantage over both Wallace and Berry until the closing laps of the event.
Both the No. 23 Toyota Camry XSE, driven by Wallace, and the No. 21 Ford Mustang Dark Horse, driven by Berry, were rapidly closing on the race leader, as Blaney had to deal with multiple packs of lapped traffic in the closing stages of the race, which at times gave him fits.
Wallace had one major opportunity at making it to the race-lead late but locked up the brakes heading into Turn 3 within the final 10 laps of the race, costing him ground to Blaney, and ultimately costing him the race.
“It was a long, long run to the end, longest run we had. Just tried to manage my stuff,” he added. “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.”
Blaney, at the checkered flag, beat Wallace to the start-finish line by 0.586 seconds. Josh Berry finished in the third position, less than two seconds behind the race-winner, after reeling in his “teammate” from more than five seconds back within the final 20 laps.
Berry was one of the strongest vehicles all race and looked to be in contention for the victory until a slow pit stop on the final cycle dropped him outside the top-10 – between the slow stop and the alternate strategies that some other teams played – but the Hendersonville, Tennessee-native rebounded to collect yet another solid top-10 result.
Christopher Bell, a perennial favorite for the victory at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, finished in the fourth position, with Kyle Larson rounding out the top five. Ty Gibbs, Denny Hamlin, polesitter Tyler Reddick, Ryan Preece, and Noah Gragson rounded out the top-10.
Austin Cindric and Shane Van Gisbergen, both drivers hovering around the bubble to make the NASCAR Cup Series Chase for the Championship, finished 12th and 20th, respectively. Van Gisbergen started inside the top-five and led laps at one point during the first stage, but faded once the field went onto slicks after 40 laps.
Denny Hamlin, by virtue of a seventh-place finish and a 77-point lead, clinched the top seed in the NASCAR Cup Series Chase, and will start the 10-race post-season with 2100 points. The regular-season finale will take place next weekend at Daytona International Speedway. Coverage will begin Saturday, August 28 at 7:30 PM ET on NBC.
