By Roy J. Akers — www.skyviewsports.net
JGR Racing drivers swept the first three races in the Round of 16 and non-playoff driver Ty Gibbs led the most laps at Bristol.
Key Moments in Stage 1 (Lap 1-70) Top 8
Logano leads more laps at New Hampshire than he led in the first three races of the playoffs. The 22 led 52 of 70 S1 laps.
Josh Berry runs most of Stage One in second place after finishing last in each of the three races of the playoffs. SVG is the biggest surprise finishing 6th in the Stage
After Ryan Blaney loses positions (2nd to 7th) at the start of the race, he is slowly passing back into the Top 5 to third and is challenging Josh Berry for second. He goes on to lead 20 laps in the Stage and takes ten first position pts.
Key Moments in Stage 2 (Lap 71- 185) Top 8 S2
Josh Berry and SVG tangle bringing out the third caution of the race. Berry pits and his Top 5 start brings him back to 33rd of 36 drivers. By the end of S2, Berry is running inside the Top 10.
Kyle Larson continues to move up in the race. His long-term speed brings him to 4th, only one spot behind fellow Chevy driver Carson Hocevar. (Lap 130)
Denny Hamlin, frustrated with Ty Gibbs racing him hard, finally dumps Gibbs after being frustrated with a non-playoff driver racing him hard.
Chase Briscoe and Kyle Larson dual for the lead and Larson finally runs him down midway through the Stage with 52 laps to go in S2.
Biggest Surprise: Hocevar is running 4th as a non-playoff driver. Berry is running inside the Top 10 after being spun out by SVG and running 36th and working his way back.
Key Moments in Final Stage (185 to Finish)
The caution flag is out at Loudon with 113 laps remaining. Joey Logano leads the field after starting from the pole position. This race has seen five different leaders and five lead changes, with seven cautions consuming 36 laps. Logano has dominated, leading 103 laps while maintaining an impressive 1.62 average running position. The Team Penske driver has spent all 188 laps in the top five and has made four pit stops, with his most recent just one lap ago.
Logano has the strongest resume at NH and Blaney has had the fastest machine the entire weekend. They run 1-2 with the 22 leading.
Taking the Checkered Flag
Ryan Blaney has 9 top ten finishes in his last ten races. Blaney breaks the streak of JGR Racing and a Ford Racing car turned the tide to the Final 8. Blaney had the fastest ride all weekend and he drove a nearly flawless race. Only a wobble in the final ten laps kept fellow Ford driver Josh Berry from a potential dramatic finish.
They Said It
Ryan Blaney — winner: “Yeah, probably the hardest 20 laps that I drove. I was trying to kind of bide my stuff and kind of pull Josh a little bit. And then he really started coming. I started to get super free. And it was all I could do to hold him off and try new lanes. And that was good racing and clean racing. Appreciate Josh for not throwing me the bumper when he could have. But what a cool day. What a cool weekend. Super fast car all weekend. So I can’t believe the 12 boys. They’re unbelievable.
Josh Berry — second: “It was definitely an awesome day. Had a really good car. Hats off to Ryan at the end. All of our cars were really strong, and Ryan did a great job there.
I was honestly surprised. I was a little worried when he got around me as quick as he did, but it seemed like it leveled out, and I was able to keep him honest at least at the end. All in all, (crew chief) Miles (Stanley), this whole team done a great job. We were down a set of tires after the spin. So I think it kind of forced our hand. We didn’t want to take our last rites at least that early with that many laps left. We still made the most of it. Hats off to everybody at Wood Brothers and Team Penske.
Fantasy Results
The New Hampshire lineup is filled with top qualifiers. The original lineup had Bell, Logano, and Reddick in there. Denny Hamlin and Kyle Larson were not. An overuse of them sidelined them for the race. Chase Briscoe was dropped for Josh Berry who finished third in this race last year and qualified third in 2025. Byron also qualified well and has four of five playoff starts left.
The race…. Where I went right… where I went wrong. 268 points is a lot of right. 238 on driver performance and 30 more in driver vs driver competitions. Josh Berry was brought off the bench early and Tyler Reddick was benched before the end of the second stage. This is my third highest point performance of the season Unlike Talladega in April, no one was DQ’d. Usually, qualifying is only good for so much. Today, it was everything and staying with it is the reason for the great performance.
Tale of the Tape
How they finished << Click Here for official results
What’s Next
NASCAR goes to Kansas for the second of three races in the Round of eight. Hollywood Casino 400.
