Ryan Blaney started the Mobil 1 301 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway on the outside of the front row, led 116 laps, including the final 39 laps, and held off Josh Berry in the closing laps to win by .937 seconds in the opening race of the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs’ Round of 12.
“Probably the hardest 20 laps I drove,” said Blaney. “Was trying to bide my stuff, and he [Berry] really started coming. He started to get super free, and it was all I could do to hold him off. It was good racing. Clean racing, and I appreciate Josh not throwing me the bumper when he could have.”
The Mobil 1 301 at New Hampshire win automatically sends Blaney into the Round of 8 and a big lobster in victory lane.
“I’m looking forward to it and see how it tastes. I’ve wanted a lobster ever since I was a little kid coming to watch these races. I’ve always wanted one of those things, so I’m looking forward to it.” Blaney said.
Berry finished second after recovering from a spin on Lap 21.
“For one, we had a really good car. It was a grind for sure, but we had a really good car and we just chipped away at it. I kind of wish at times maybe we should have stayed out or took two tires. I don’t know, but we just kept putting four on it and kept moving forward and did it the old-fashioned way. It was a lot of fun.” Berry said of his recovery.
William Byron finished third for his career-best NCS finish at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.
“It was a good day overall for this No. 24 Raptor Chevrolet team. I felt like a lot of things that we’ve just kind of been building on for the short-tracks were working for us. I feel like New Hampshire Motor Speedway has been tricky for me in the Cup car. I felt like I was good in the other series, but this place in the Cup car has been tough on us. We’re just trying to build little bits here and there, and I just felt like we could really stack runs together. We had a couple of weak runs in Stage One and the start of Stage Two. But once we got that out of the way, I felt like we were really strong. The Penske guys were super-fast, like they were in another zip code. But I felt like, other than that, we were really competitive. Just really proud of our team. If we can just build on this, I think our short-track program will start coming together.” Byron said.
Polesitter Joey Logano led a race high of 147 laps and finished fourth.
“That last restart, I could have restarted behind him and probably finished third in the race, but I wanted a chance to win and if I was behind the 12, I wasn’t gonna win. I went for it, and it cost us a spot, but, overall, I’m proud of the execution. We obviously got a ton of points today. I think we got a second and a first in the first two stages and a top-four finish, so we did what we needed to do. We’re plus the cut line. I’d rather win. That’s just the greed in me, especially when it’s home.” Logano said.
Chase Elliott started 27th and rounded out the top-5 finishers.
“The day was good for the No. 9 NAPA Chevy team. Just hate we had to not pit for track position because you want to be up there in the mix. But the way it all worked out, we got some stage points there in Stage Two and got a good result with a top-five finish. We’ll go to Kansas (Speedway) and try it again.” Elliott said.
The Mobil 1 301 race featured eight caution flags for 45 laps, and 14 lead changes among seven drivers.
Standings after the Mobil 1 301
After New Hampshire, Ryan Blaney leads the Cup Series standings by two points over William Byron, eight points over Kyle Larson, 20 points over Christopher Bell, 22 points over Denny Hamlin, 25 points over Joey Logano, 35 points over Chase Elliott, and 37 points over Chase Briscoe. Currently, Ross Chastain, Austin Cindric, Tyler Reddick, and Bubba Wallace are below the cutoff line heading into Kansas.
| Pos | Driver | No | Points | Behind | Next | Race Wins | Stage Wins | Playoff Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ryan Blaney (P) | 12 | 3084 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 8 | 33 |
| 2 | William Byron (P) | 24 | 3082 | -2 | 2 | 2 | 7 | 32 |
| 3 | Kyle Larson (P) | 5 | 3076 | -8 | 6 | 3 | 9 | 32 |
| 4 | Christopher Bell (P) | 20 | 3064 | -20 | 12 | 4 | 2 | 28 |
| 5 | Denny Hamlin (P) | 11 | 3062 | -22 | 2 | 5 | 4 | 34 |
| 6 | Joey Logano (P) | 22 | 3059 | -25 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 8 |
| 7 | Chase Elliott (P) | 9 | 3049 | -35 | 10 | 1 | 1 | 13 |
| 8 | Chase Briscoe (P) | 19 | 3047 | -37 | 2 | 2 | 5 | 18 |
| 9 | Ross Chastain (P) | 1 | 3035 | -49 | 12 | 1 | 2 | 7 |
| 10 | Austin Cindric (P) | 2 | 3028 | -56 | 7 | 1 | 3 | 8 |
| 11 | Tyler Reddick (P) | 45 | 3024 | -60 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 6 |
| 12 | Bubba Wallace (P) | 23 | 3020 | -64 | 4 | 1 | 4 | 9 |
Up Next:
The NASCAR Cup Series heads to Kansas Speedway for the Hollywood Casino 400 on Sunday, September 28th at 3:00 pm ET on USA Network.
Race Results
NASCAR Cup Series Race Number 30
Race Results for the Mobil 1 301 – Sunday, September 21, 2025
New Hampshire Motor Speedway – Loudon, NH – 1.058 – Mile Paved
| Pos | St | No | Driver | Team | Laps | S1 | S2 | S3 | Points | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 12 | Ryan Blaney (P) | Menards/Libman Ford | 301 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 57 | Running |
| 2 | 3 | 21 | Josh Berry | Motorcraft/Quick Lane Ford | 301 | 4 | 10 | 0 | 43 | Running |
| 3 | 5 | 24 | William Byron (P) | Raptor Chevrolet | 301 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 50 | Running |
| 4 | 1 | 22 | Joey Logano (P) | Shell Pennzoil Ford | 301 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 52 | Running |
| 5 | 27 | 9 | Chase Elliott (P) | NAPA Auto Parts Chevrolet | 301 | 0 | 7 | 0 | 36 | Running |
| 6 | 19 | 20 | Christopher Bell (P) | Rheem Toyota | 301 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 36 | Running |
| 7 | 16 | 5 | Kyle Larson (P) | HendrickCars.com Chevrolet | 301 | 6 | 2 | 0 | 44 | Running |
| 8 | 11 | 71 | Michael McDowell | Gainbridge Chevrolet | 301 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 30 | Running |
| 9 | 8 | 1 | Ross Chastain (P) | Kubota Chevrolet | 301 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 28 | Running |
| 10 | 18 | 19 | Chase Briscoe (P) | Bass Pro Shops Toyota | 301 | 0 | 9 | 0 | 29 | Running |
| 11 | 6 | 77 | Carson Hocevar | Delaware Life Chevrolet | 301 | 5 | 5 | 0 | 39 | Running |
| 12 | 9 | 11 | Denny Hamlin (P) | Progressive Toyota | 301 | 0 | 8 | 0 | 28 | Running |
| 13 | 28 | 3 | Austin Dillon | Toys for Tots Chevrolet | 301 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 24 | Running |
| 14 | 23 | 60 | Ryan Preece | Mohawk Northeast Inc. Ford | 301 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 23 | Running |
| 15 | 7 | 48 | Alex Bowman | Ally Chevrolet | 301 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 25 | Running |
| 16 | 33 | 4 | * Noah Gragson | Farm Rich Ford | 301 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 21 | Running |
| 17 | 22 | 2 | Austin Cindric (P) | Autotrader Ford | 301 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 20 | Running |
| 18 | 15 | 17 | Chris Buescher | Kroger Health/Flublok Ford | 301 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 19 | Running |
| 19 | 36 | 34 | * Todd Gilliland | Grillo’s Pickles Ford | 301 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 18 | Running |
| 20 | 12 | 16 | AJ Allmendinger | Campers Inn RV Chevrolet | 301 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 17 | Running |
| 21 | 4 | 45 | * Tyler Reddick (P) | SiriusXM Toyota | 301 | 9 | 0 | 0 | 18 | Running |
| 22 | 25 | 35 | * Riley Herbst # | BeatBox Toyota | 301 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 15 | Running |
| 23 | 17 | 6 | Brad Keselowski | BuildSubmarines.com Ford | 301 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 14 | Running |
| 24 | 31 | 41 | Cole Custer | HaasTooling.com Ford | 301 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 13 | Running |
| 25 | 34 | 47 | Ricky Stenhouse Jr. | Hyak Motorsports Chevrolet | 300 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 12 | Running |
| 26 | 14 | 23 | * Bubba Wallace (P) | McDonald’s Toyota | 300 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 11 | Running |
| 27 | 20 | 38 | * Zane Smith | Long John Silver’s Ford | 300 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 10 | Running |
| 28 | 26 | 43 | Erik Jones | Family Dollar Toyota | 300 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 9 | Running |
| 29 | 30 | 10 | Ty Dillon | Sea Best/BJ’s Wholesale Club Chevrolet | 300 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 8 | Running |
| 30 | 24 | 8 | Kyle Busch | Morgan & Morgan Chevrolet | 297 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7 | Running |
| 31 | 35 | 51 | Cody Ware | Parts Plus Ford | 296 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | Running |
| 32 | 10 | 88 | Shane Van Gisbergen # | Jockey Infinite Cool Underwear Chevrolet | 250 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 9 | Running |
| 33 | 21 | 7 | Justin Haley | NationsGuard Chevrolet | 207 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | Running |
| 34 | 29 | 42 | John Hunter Nemechek | Pye Barker Fire & Safety Toyota | 146 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | Accident |
| 35 | 13 | 54 | Ty Gibbs | Monster Energy Toyota | 134 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | Accident |
| 36 | 32 | 99 | Daniel Suarez | Choice Privileges Chevrolet | 117 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | Accident |
