In a race dominated by Fords at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, Ryan Blaney took the victory in the first race of the second round of the NASCAR Cup Series playoffs. Blaney, driving his number 12 Mustang, led 116 laps, including the last 39, and had to defend himself from the fierce attack of Josh Berry, who finished in second place. Blaney secured his third win of the season and the sixteenth of his career, with a lead of 0.937 seconds.
Blaney, who is seeking to reach the championship final for the third consecutive year, became the first driver to advance to one of the eight available positions in the third round of the playoffs.“Those were probably the last 20 toughest laps I’ve driven,” Blaney commented. “I was trying to maintain my pace and stretch Josh a bit, but then he started closing in. I had to give it my all to keep him at bay, trying different lines. It was a good, clean race. I thank Josh for not using the bumper when he could. It was an incredible day and weekend. The car was very fast. We’ve been strong during the playoffs. It’s great to get a win in the first race of the round.”
Ryan Blaney
“It was an incredible day,” said Berry, who led 10 laps. “Congratulations to Ryan at the end. All of our cars were very strong, and Ryan did a great job. Honestly, I was surprised to be able to hold him off at the end. It’s a shame to finish second, but after the last few weeks, it feels good. This is definitely what we are capable of, and I hope we can keep it up.”
Josh BerryThe Fords showed their speed from Saturday’s qualifying, where Penske star Joey Logano took pole position, completing a dominance with Blaney and Berry. William Byron, was the highest-ranked Chevrolet driver, finishing third.Logano finished fourth after leading 147 laps in the No. 22 Ford. Chase Elliott, after qualifying 27th, achieved fifth place. Christopher Bell finished sixth, being the best Toyota, followed by Kyle Larson in seventh place. The race was also marked by an incident between teammates from Joe Gibbs Racing on lap 110, when Denny Hamlin spun Ty Gibbs off the track.“It was a good day overall,” said Byron.
William Byron“Does Ty know we’re racing for a championship?”, Hamlin said on the radio to his team shortly before the contact. “What the (expletive) is he doing?”
Denny HamlinGibbs briefly returned to the track before retiring due to damage to his Camry and finished 34th. Hamlin, after finishing 12th, had a conversation with Joe Gibbs and Chris Gabehart.“It’s very unfortunate that he got taken out, and obviously the contact came from us,” Hamlin said. “I have no comment other than that. We’ll sort it out, but we’ll see how it goes. But honestly, it’s unfortunate that the contact happened.”
Denny HamlinThe second race of the second round of the NASCAR Cup Series playoffs is on Sunday at Kansas Speedway.
