Bubba Wallace got within half a second of race leader Ryan Blaney in the closing laps, but a left-front lock-up going into turn 3 with a handful of laps to go proved to be a deciding blow, as Blaney won Sunday’s Dollar Tree 301 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway for his third win of the 2026 NASCAR Cup Series season.
Blaney, racing on only two fresh right-side tires on the final run as opposed to Wallace’s four, expertly carved through lapped traffic in the closing laps and hung on for his second consecutive New Hampshire win.
The race started in wet conditions after an afternoon rain shower, though teams put slick tires on at a Lap 40 competition caution.
After a slow stop early in the race that set him back to 14th, crew chief Jonathan Hassler gave Blaney two tires to get him back to the lead.
“Good call after our issue on pit road,” Blaney told USA Network. “We took two on the end to hopefully get the lead, and we did. Just trying to manage my stuff. I knew those four tire guys would pressure me eventually. Bubba came on pretty hard there. What a fun day, starting in the rain.”
The victory is the 20th of Blaney’s Cup Series career.
Wallace finished runner-up, but it was third-place finishers Josh Berry, who had a slow pit stop that forced him to make a late charge, who gained the most on Blaney over the final run. However, Berry got caught up in lapped traffic, which prohibited him from making a run at Wallace for second.
Wallace, Berry, Christopher Bell and Kyle Larson rounded out the top five, with Ty Gibbs, series points leader Denny Hamlin, polesitter Tyler Reddick, Ryan Preece and Noah Gragson completing the top 10.
Notable results
Other notable finishers include Brad Keselowski in 11th, Joey Logano in 14th, Carson Hocevar in 19th, Shane van Gisbergen in 20th and Chase Elliott in 25th.
Van Gisbergen holds a 31-point advantage over Preece for the 16th and final Chase spot going into the Aug. 29 regular season finale at Daytona. Denny Hamlin clinched the No. 1 seed in the Chase, holding a 77-point lead over Blaney going into Daytona.
