Roy J. Akers — www.skyviewsports.net
NASCAR continues the Cup Series and Truck Series Playoffs in their annual visit to New Hampshire Motor Speedway this weekend. Saturday marks the cutoff race for the Truck Series’ Round of 10, while Sunday is the beginning of the Cup Series’ Round of 12. The ARCA Menards Series remains in action at Salem Speedway in southeast Indiana on Saturday. NHRA continues its Countdown to the Championship at zMAX Dragway outside of Charlotte in another four-wide national event.
NASCAR National Series – NCS/NCTS
Toyota Camry XSEs begin Round of 12 … All five Playoff drivers from Team Toyota advanced to the Cup Series Round of 12 and continue their chase for a championship at New Hampshire Motor Speedway this weekend. Denny Hamlin leads the Camry XSE contingent, and the point standings as well, beginning the round 26 points above the cutline. He’s followed by Christopher Bell, who sits fourth and is coming off his win at Bristol and is 20 points above the cut – then Chase Briscoe in sixth (+10 points to the cutline) and Bubba Wallace in eighth (+1 point to the cutline). Tyler Reddick enters the round 12th in the standings, three points below the cutline.
Toyota’s dominant start to the Playoffs … Bell’s triumph at Bristol last Saturday night completed a Toyota Camry XSE sweep of the opening round of the Cup Series Playoffs, following wins by Briscoe in the Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway and Hamlin at World Wide Technology Raceway (Gateway). Toyota drivers led nearly 79 percent of the laps in the opening round and now have 12 wins in the Cup Series season, tied for the most in the series, with the help of Hamlin (five wins), Bell (four wins), Briscoe (two wins) and Wallace (one win).
Bell seeks New Hampshire repeat … This weekend, Bell returns to one of his favorite tracks on the NASCAR circuit at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. The Joe Gibbs Racing (JGR) driver will look to repeat on Sunday, having won twice at the 1.058-mile oval in his Cup Series career, in 2022 and 2024. Bell also holds a perfect record in his Xfinity Series career at New Hampshire, going four-for-four, including a sweep last year.
NASCAR Cup Series
New Hampshire Storylines and Insights:
· This weekend marks the 58th running of a NASCAR Cup Series race at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.
· New Hampshire hosted one race annually between 1993-96, then two races per year between 1997-2017 before returning to one race in 2018.
· This is the 15th time New Hampshire hosted a Playoff race, but it is the first time since 2017.
· The track hosted the opening round of the Playoffs between 2004-2010 and was the second race in the Round of 16 between 2014-2017.
· New Hampshire Motor Speedway is one of eight different tracks to host the fourth race of the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs, alongside Talladega Superspeedway (2006, 2007, 2008, 2012), Auto Club Speedway (2009, 2010), Charlotte Motor Speedway (2015, 2016, 2017), Dover Motor Speedway (2018, 2019), Las Vegas Motor Speedway (2020, 2021), Texas Motor Speedway (2022-2023) and Kansas Speedway (2004, 2005, 2011, 2013, 2014 and 2024).
· A total of 17 different drivers have won the fourth race in the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs.
· NASCAR Hall of Famer Jimmie Johnson leads the series in victories in the fourth race of the Playoffs with three postseason wins (2009, 2011, 2016). Joey Logano leads all active drivers with two wins (2014, 2015).
· Ten different drivers have won the last 10 Playoff Round of 12 openers (2015-2024).
· Four times a non-Playoff driver has won the fourth race in the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs: 2004 (Joe Nemechek, Kansas), 2006 (Brian Vickers, Talladega), 2022 (Tyler Reddick, Texas), 2024 (Ross Chastain, Kansas).
· Christopher Bell won this race last after NASCAR decided to wait out a 2:14:49 red flag for rain to go back racing with wet weather tires, Bell led the final 64 laps and won the race that ended at 8:10 after he was 9th on the last lap on slicks (the fastest lap on slicks was 30.032 seconds by Chase Elliott on Lap 3, fastest on wets was 31.565 seconds by Josh Berry on Lap 299)
· Four of the last nine New Hampshire winners got their first win of the season.
· In the Next Gen era, Toyota won all three races, all six stages and led 83% of the laps at New Hampshire.
· Last year’s New Hampshire race had the track’s first overtime finish since September 2014 (12 races between).
· Five drivers earned their first Cup win at New Hampshire, most recently Joey Logano in June 2009.
· The driver starting first won once in the last 20 New Hampshire Cup races (Kyle Busch – September 2017).
· Chevrolet leads all makes with 19 wins at New Hampshire but won only one of the last 18 races there.
· New Hampshire is the only track where William Byron doesn’t have a top-10 finish (best finish in seven starts is 11th twice, most recently 07/22).
· Christopher Bell won two of the last three New Hampshire races.
· Only five entered drivers are New Hampshire Cup winners: Kyle Busch-3, Denny Hamlin-3, Joey Logano-2, Brad Keselowski-2 and Christopher Bell-2.
· Joe Gibbs Racing had at least one car finish in the top-2 in the last 13 races at New Hampshire, the longest streak by a team ever at any track in Cup.
· The last eight races of 2025 were won by eight different drivers.
· Chase Briscoe, Ryan Blaney and Denny Hamlin lead all drivers in 2025 with 12 top-five finishes.
· Ryan Blaney, Kyle Larson and Christopher Bell lead all drivers in 2025 with 16 top-10 finishes.
· The driver leading the most laps won five of the last seven races of 2025.
· Toyota led 78% of the laps in the 2025 Playoffs and won all three races.
· Chevrolet only has two top fives in the 2025 Playoffs.
· All 12 drivers to advance to the Round of 12 have made it to the Round of 12 prior, nine of the 12 have raced in the Championship 4.
· All four Championship 4 drivers from 2024 are still Playoff eligible: Blaney, Byron, Logano and Reddick.
· Austin Cindric advanced to the Round of 12 with 2,066 points, the lowest total ever to move on from the Round of 16.
· Chase Briscoe was the only Playoff driver to finish inside the top-10 in all three Playoff races, the first time a single driver was the only one to do so in the first round.
· Joe Gibbs Racing is the first team to sweep all three races in the first round of the Playoffs and the first team since 2015 to sweep all three races in a round.
· Two drivers overcame a deficit in the first round – Tyler Reddick (-1 to start Round of 16) and Joey Logano (-3 after race 1).
· Only one driver missed the Round of 12 from above the cutline – Shane van Gisbergen – the fewest ever in the first round.
· Playoff drivers averaged 25 points per race in the first round, the lowest of any round in Playoff history.
· There were 31 cautions in the first round, the most ever.
· The first round had 75 lead changes among 33 different leaders, both first round records.
· The most points a driver has started above the cutline and failed to move on to the Round of 8 is Kyle Larson in 2017, +26.
· The most points a driver has started below the cutline and moved on to the Round of 8 is Aric Almirola in 2018, -12.
· The average total points for the last advancer from the Round of 12 since 2017 is 3,105.
· Both drivers making their first Cup Playoff appearances were eliminated following Bristol (Shane van Gisbergen, Josh Berry).
· Three of the drivers that rank in the top-six in average finish in the first three races of the 2025 Playoffs are non-Playoff drivers.
· Chase Briscoe’s 451 laps led in the 2025 playoffs is the third most all-time through three playoff races behind Harvick with 581 in 2015 and Larson with 462 in 2024.
NCS Clinch Scenarios for New Hampshire Motor Speedway (Playoff Race #4):
Already Clinched
· No drivers have clinched a spot in the 8-driver field of the next round.
Can Clinch Via Win
· The following drivers would clinch on their win alone: Denny Hamlin, Kyle Larson, William Byron, Christopher Bell, Ryan Blaney, Chase Briscoe, Chase Elliott, Bubba Wallace, Austin Cindric, Joey Logano, Ross Chastain, Tyler Reddick.
