NASCAR News: Blaney wins Round of 12 Playoff opener at New Hampshire

Ryan Blaney dominated the Mobil 1 301 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, leading 116 of 301 laps to claim a 0.937-second victory over fellow Ford driver Josh Berry in the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs’ Round of 12 opener.

–by Mark Cipolloni–

The win secured Blaney’s spot in the Round of 8, bolstering his pursuit of a second championship title.

Team Penske’s Fords set the pace all weekend, with Blaney’s No. 12 Ford and teammate Joey Logano, the pole-sitter, leading a combined 263 laps. Logano, who led 147 laps, finished fourth, while Berry’s Wood Brothers Racing No. 21 Ford recovered from an early spin on Lap 21 to challenge Blaney in the closing stages.

“Those last 20 laps were the hardest I drove,” said Blaney, 31. “Josh was coming on strong, but it was clean racing, and I appreciate him not bumping me out of the way.”

The race marked a shift in the playoff landscape after Toyota’s sweep of the opening round. Three Fords finished in the top five, with Hendrick Motorsports’ William Byron (third) and Chase Elliott (fifth, from a 27th-place start) joining Berry.

Chevrolet drivers Kyle Larson (seventh) and Michael McDowell (eighth) also cracked the top eight, while Toyota’s top finisher, defending race winner Christopher Bell, took sixth.

Logano acknowledged Blaney’s edge: “The 12 was the fastest car all weekend. Our only shot was beating him on pit road, but he regained track position.” Byron, earning his first career top-10 at New Hampshire, noted, “The Penske cars were in another zip code, but this gives us momentum for Kansas.”

Playoff standings shifted significantly. Denny Hamlin, who led the points entering the race, fell to fifth after a 12th-place finish marred by mid-race contact with teammate Ty Gibbs, who crashed out.

Blaney now leads, with Byron (+47 points), Larson (+41), and Bell (+29) comfortably above the cutoff. Hamlin (+24), Logano (+24), Elliott (+14), and Chase Briscoe (+12) hold the final transfer spots, while Ross Chastain, Austin Cindric (-19), Tyler Reddick (-23), and Bubba Wallace (-23) sit below the elimination line.

The Cup Series heads to Kansas Speedway for the Hollywood Casino 400 (Sunday, 3 p.m. ET, USA Network, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio), where Chastain is the defending winner. With two races remaining in the Round of 12, the battle for the final eight playoff spots intensifies.

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