Ryan Blaney capitalizes on late two-tire pit call for second consecutive Cup victory at New Hampshire

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August 23, 2026

LOUDON, NEW HAMPSHIRE - AUGUST 23: Ryan Blaney, driver of the #12 Menards/Dutch Boy Ford, poses with the winner sticker on his car in victory lane after winning the NASCAR Cup Series Dollar Tree 301 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway on August 23, 2026 in Loudon, New Hampshire. (Photo by Meg Oliphant/Getty Images).

Ryan Blaney utilized a late two-tire pit stop strategy that enabled him to muscle his way to win the Dollar Tree 301 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway on Sunday, August 23.

The 2023 NASCAR Cup Series champion from High Point, North Carolina, led twice for a race-high 115 of 301 scheduled laps in an event where he qualified in eighth place and navigated through a bizarre event that started on wet conditions and ended with dry conditions, with an abundance of on-track battles and drama ensuing within.

For Blaney, he settled in sixth place at the conclusion of the first stage period, and he outdueled Josh Berry following a green flag pit stop cycle to win the second stage period. Then, after having issues with his left-front wheel being tightened on pit road that dropped him out of the top-10 mark prior to the start of the final stage period, Blaney managed to withstand two caution periods and intense racing within the pack before he pulled off a two-tire pit call that enabled him to assume the lead prior to a restart with 70 laps remaining.

During the final restart with 63 laps remaining, Blaney retained the lead despite having a tire disadvantage compared to most of the field. Despite being reeled in by Bubba Wallace and having lapped traffic interfere with his steady progress as the laps dwindled, Blaney managed to withstand the pressure, and he proceeded to notch his third victory of the 2026 Cup season and gain additional momentum with the Chase looming.

With on-track qualifying that determined the starting lineup occurring on Saturday, August 22, Tyler Reddick captured the pole position with a pole-winning lap at 131.094 mph in 29.054 seconds. Josh Berry qualified in second place with a lap of 131.026 mph in 29.069 seconds.

Before the event, Ty Dillon and Cody Ware dropped to the rear of the field after unapproved adjustments to their respective entries.

When the green flag waved and the event commenced amid a delay due to rain, pole-sitter Tyler Reddick, who opted to start on the outside lane, managed to maintain the lead through the first two turns and entering the backstretch while the field fanned out and scattered while trying to navigate through the slick conditions with the wet-weathered tires. Then through Turns 3 and 4, Reddick, who went wide, snapped and spun his No. 45 Chumba Casino Toyota Camry XSE entry from the slick conditions. Reddick’s incident, which drew the event’s first caution, caused the field to scatter and both Denny Hamlin and Chris Buescher to make slight contact with Reddick’s entry while trying to reduce pace as William Byron emerged as the leader.

The event’s next restart on the sixth lap featured William Byron and Shane van Gisbergen duking for the top spot through the first two turns until Byron, who restarted on the outside lane, motored ahead and led through the backstretch before he navigated his way through Turns 3 and 4. As Byron led the next lap, van Gisbergen maintained the runner-up spot in front of Christopher Bell, Ty Gibbs and Berry while Kyle Larson, Ryan Blaney, Chase Briscoe, Connor Zilisch and Erik Jones trailed within the top-10 mark, respectively. Amid the battles across the field with various competitors seeking dry grip around the slick surface, Byron led by four-tenths of a second through the Lap 10 mark.

On the 12th lap, Bell made a move towards the inside lane from Turns 3 and 4 as he then tried to slide in front of Byron in an early bid for the lead. Byron, though, fended off Bell from the outside lane entering the frontstretch. Byron then stretched his lead by more than a second on Lap 15 before his lead grew to two seconds just past the Lap 20 mark. With the field of 36 navigating and navigating through the slick tires with the track conditions starting to dry up, Byron had his lead shrink to three-tenths of a second over a hard-charging van Gisbergen at the Lap 25 mark. By then, Bell was back in third place ahead of Gibbs and Berry while Blaney, Larson, Briscoe, Zilisch and Ryan Preece trailed in the top 10, respectively.

At the Lap 26 mark, van Gisbergen overtook Byron for the lead. Van Gisbergen proceeded to stretch his lead by more than four seconds just past the Lap 30 mark while third-place Bell, who was being reeled in by Berry, trailed by more than nine seconds. Berry proceeded to overtake Bell for third place on Lap 32 as Gibbs, Larson and Blaney fiercely battled for fifth place. With Connor Zilisch, Preece and Briscoe occupying the final top-10 spots, van Gisbergen steadily grew his advantage up to nearly seven seconds nearing the Lap 40 mark.

On Lap 40, a competition caution flew and the field jumbled up, with NASCAR giving all teams the option to either pit or not pit non-competitively to remove the wet-weathered tires for dry tires. By then, van Gisbergen was leading by less than six seconds over Byron while Berry, Bell, Larson, Blaney, Gibbs, Zilisch, Preece and Carson Hocevar were in the top 10, respectively. During this caution period, Ross Chastain pitted prior to pit road being accessible for the field due to a mechanical issue. Chastain would eventually take his entry to the garage due to a drivetrain issue, which terminated his event and dwindled his hopes of making the 2026 Chase. Once pit road became accessible, the field led by van Gisbergen pitted for dry tires.

As the event restarted on Lap 49, van Gisbergen received a push from Byron from the outside lane through the frontstretch to motor ahead of Berry, with van Gisbergen leading through the first two turns and the backstretch. With van Gisbergen leading the next lap, Byron retained second over teammate Larson, Berry and Bell while the rest of the field behind fanned out and jostled for spots. The caution then flew on Lap 51 when Ricky Stenhouse Jr. got loose in front of Hamlin and spun backward towards the outside wall in the fourth turn.

With the field restarting on Lap 55, van Gisbergen fended off Byron to retain the lead from the outside lane through the first two turns. As van Gisbergen motored ahead entering the backstretch, Byron was attacked by teammate Larson and Bell for the runner-up spot. Larson would assume the spot and van Gisbergen led the next lap before Larson battled and overtook the latter by the following lap. As Larson proceeded to lead by a second on Lap 60, Bell, Hocevar, Byron, Gibbs, Zilisch and Berry navigated their way from second to seventh on the track while van Gisbergen slipped back to eighth place in front of Blaney, Preece, Bubba Wallace, Briscoe, Austin Cindric, Zane Smith and Michael McDowell, respectively.

When the first stage period concluded on Lap 70, Larson captured his fifth Cup stage victory of the 2026 season by more than a second over Bell. Hocevar, Byron, Berry, Blaney, Gibbs, Preece, van Gisbergen and Briscoe were scored in the top 10, respectively, as 30 of 36 starters were scored on the lead lap. Under the event’s first stage break period, a majority of the field led by Larson pitted while the rest, including Preece, Zane Smith, Chase Elliott, Riley Herbst, Cole Custer and Chris Buescher, remained on the track. During the pit stops, Bell dragged his right-front tire changer out of his pit box while Byron had a wedge wrench stuck on his car, thus leaving both penalized and sent to the tail end of the start of the next restart.

The second stage period started on Lap 78 as Preece and Zane Smith occupied the front row. At the start, the two leaders dueled through the first two turns until Preece motored his No. 60 Mowahk Ford Mustang Dark Horse entry ahead from the inside lane. As Preece led the next lap, Smith pursued Preece while the field behind fanned out and jostled for spots both inside and outside of the top-10 mark. On Lap 83, the caution returned when Hocevar and Zilisch made contact through the frontstretch, which got Hocevar, who spun in the opening pace laps from the slick conditions, spinning backward through the frontstretch. As the field scattered, both Logano and Austin Dillon spun and wrecked against one another as they were trying to cautiously navigate past Hocevar.

As the event restarted on Lap 89, Preece motored ahead of Berry, Zane Smith, Wallace, Blaney and the field through the first two turns just before the field fanned out through the backstretch. The field continued to fan out just past the Lap 90 mark as Berry assumed the lead from Preece. Berry proceeded to extend his advantage by more than a second on Lap 95 before he stabilized it to one-and-a-half seconds at the Lap 100 mark. Behind, Blaney, who overtook Preece for the runner-up spot, trailed by one-and-a-half seconds while Preece maintained third place in front of Wallace, Buescher, Larson, Zane Smith, Brad Keselowski, Cindric and Gibbs, respectively.

Just past the Lap 120 mark, Berry stabilized his lead to within half a second over a hard-charging Blaney while Wallace, Preece and Buescher were scored in the top five. Shortly after, Elliott made a strategic pit stall under green flag as the fuel window for the field opened up while Larson, Keselowski, Gibbs, Hamlin and Briscoe were in the top 10 on the track, respectively. Behind, Zane Smith and Cindric pitted their respective entries before Preece pitted under green on Lap 122.

By the Lap 131 mark, Wallace and Buescher pitted from the top-five mark, along with Hamlin, Bell, Van Gisbergen, Larson, Briscoe, Byron, and Gibbs, who pitted during the next lap. The leader, Berry, along with Blaney, Keselowski, and Reddick pitted on Lap 133. After the pit stops, Berry managed to beat Blaney off of pit road first, and the former reassumed the top spot by Lap 135. Despite having Blaney pressing in from behind, Berry maintained the lead by two-tenths of a second as the event surpassed the Lap 140 mark.

On Lap 147, Blaney seized an opportunity by drag-racing with Berry through the frontstretch before the former motored his No. 12 Menards Ford Mustang Dark Horse entry ahead with the clean air by the next lap. Blaney proceeded to stretch his lead by as high as six-tenths of a second at the event’s halfway mark between Laps 150 and 151, with Berry, Wallace, Preece, Buescher, Keselowski, Larson, Gibbs, Hamlin and Briscoe occupying the top-10 spots ahead of Byron, Cindric, Bell, Daniel Suarez, Zane Smith, Reddick, Austin Hill, van Gisbergen, Alex Bowman and Elliott, respectively.

Through the Lap 160 mark, Blaney stretched his advantage by one-and-a-half seconds over Berry while third-place Wallace trailed by more than three seconds as Preece and Buescher rounded out the top five over Larson, Keselowski, Gibbs, Hamlin and Briscoe. Blaney then had his advantage decrease down to half a second on Lap 170 before he increased it back up to one-and-a-half seconds at the Lap 180 mark.

When the second stage period concluded on Lap 185, Blaney notched his seventh Cup stage victory of the 2026 season. Berry trailed in the runner-up spot by more than a second while Wallace, Preece, Larson, Keselowski, Buescher, Gibbs, Hamlin and Bell were scored in the top 10, respectively. By then, only 15 of 36 starters were scored on the lead lap, with Reddick, Briscoe, Byron, Cindric and van Gisbergen managing to remain on the lead lap.

During the event’s second stage break period, the lead lap field led by Blaney pitted for service. Following the pit stops, Wallace exited pit road first ahead of Berry, Larson, Preece, Keselowski, Buescher, Gibbs, Bell, Briscoe and Reddick while Blaney, who had a slow pit stop due to having a left-front wheel tightened just before he could leave his pit stall, exited in 14th place.

With 108 laps remaining, the final stage period commenced as Wallace and Berry occupied the front row. At the start, the two leaders dueled for a full lap as the field behind fanned out and jostled for late spots, among which included Bell as the latter navigated his way towards the top-five mark. By the next lap, Berry used the inside lane to motor his No. 21 Motorcraft/Quick Lane Ford Mustang Dark Horse entry ahead through the first two turns. This allowed Berry to lead the next lap over Wallace as Preece, Larson and Bell were in the top five in front of a stacked field. Amid the battles, Berry maintained his lead by six-tenths of a second over Wallace with 100 laps remaining.

Then with 98 laps remaining, the caution returned when Hocevar was involved in his third incident of the event, this time through Turns 3 and 4 after he got loose and spun by himself while mired a lap down. Hocevar’s incident occurred seconds after both Blaney and Hamlin bumped and rubbed fenders while battling fiercely for 10th place as Berry maintained a steady lead over Wallace. During this latest caution period, the front-runners led by Berry remained on the track while some that included Bell, Hamlin, Blaney, Briscoe, Byron, van Gisbergen, Zane Smith, Logano, Stenhouse, Bowman and Erik Jones pitted.

During the next restart with 93 laps remaining, Berry received a push from Preece from the outside lane to launch ahead through the frontstretch, but Wallace reeled in and kept the pressure to Berry as he then tried to side-draft and duel through the frontstretch during the next lap. With his move, Wallace motored ahead with the lead through the first two turns. As Wallace led by three-tenths of a second with less than 90 laps remaining, Berry trailed in second ahead of Preece, Larson, Gibbs and Keselowski while Bell, who pitted for fresh tires, was up to seventh place ahead of Reddick, Byron, Briscoe, Blaney and Hamlin.

Down to the final 80 laps, Wallace retained the lead by two-tenths of a second over a hard-charging Berry while third-place Preece trailed by nine-tenths of a second in third place. Then a lap later, Berry bumped and overtook Wallace to resume the lead through Turns 3 and 4. Berry then went as low as possible through the first two turns before Wallace got back beneath Berry and reassumed the lead by the next lap. Wallace’s move to reassume the lead allowed Preece to reel in the two leaders as Larson also slowly crept in from fourth place.

Wallace maintained the lead by a steady margin over Berry, Preece and Larson with 78 laps remaining before the caution returned. The caution was due to Riley Herbst making contact with McDowell, spinning and wrecking hard against the outside wall in Turns 3 and 4 just before Zilisch plowed into Herbst’s wrecked entry. During this caution, the leaders pitted, and the top-five competitors that included Blaney, Byron, Briscoe, Logano and Zane Smith exited pit road first with only two fresh tires, with Blaney leading, before Wallace, Preece, Gibbs, Larson, Bell and Berry followed suit.

The next restart with 70 laps remaining featured the field fanning out and shuffling for spots as Blaney maintained the lead for a full circuit while Briscoe and Wallace moved up to second and third. With 68 laps remaining, the caution returned when Byron, who was in fourth place, had a left-rear wheel detached and he spun his No. 24 Raptor Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 entry backward into the outside wall in Turns 3 and 4.

For the next restart with 63 laps remaining, Blaney was challenged by Briscoe for the lead as they battled dead even in front of Wallace, Preece, Bell and the field beyond a full circuit. After dueling with Briscoe for three laps, Blaney managed to clear the latter through the frontstretch with 60 laps remaining. Behind, Wallace, who had third place in his sole possession, started to reel in Briscoe for the runner-up spot while Berry was mired in eighth place in front of Gibbs and Hamlin. As Blaney stretched his late lead by more than a second over Wallace with 55 laps remaining, Briscoe, Preece and Bell trailed by as far back as two seconds in the top five.

As the event reached its final 50-lap mark, Blaney continued to hold strong on his two fresh tires by leading by more than a second over Wallace, who had four fresh tires, while Preece, Bell and Berry were racing in the top five over Larson, Briscoe, Gibbs, Hamlin and Zane Smith. Behind, Noah Gragson, Reddick, Logano, Keselowski, Bowman, Hocevar, McDowell, van Gisbergen, Suarez and Buescher occupied the top-20 spots over Austin Cindric, Austin Hill, Cole Custer, Elliott and Todd Gilliland. While Erik Jones took his entry to the garage due to a transmission issue, Blaney extended his advantage by nearly two seconds over Wallace with 45 laps remaining before the lead grew to two seconds with 40 laps remaining.

Down to the final 30 laps of the event, Blaney continued to lead by less than two seconds over Wallace as Wallace slowly trimmed Blaney’s advantage while being faster than the latter. Behind, Berry trailed in third place by five seconds while Bell and Preece trailed in the top five ahead of Larson, Gibbs, Hamlin, Zane Smith and Gragson. As Blaney started to catch lapped traffic with 25 laps remaining, Berry trailed the leader by four seconds in third place while Wallace continued to trail Blaney by a second in the runner-up spot. Berry then started to reel in Wallace for the runner-up spot as he trailed the latter by a second while Blaney stretched his lead by nearly two seconds with 20 laps remaining.

With 15 laps remaining, Blaney, who methodically navigated his way through lapped traffic, maintained the lead by less than two seconds over Wallace, and Berry trailed by three seconds in third place. By then, Berry trailed Wallace by a second for the runner-up spot, though Wallace then narrowed his deficit to Blaney, who was trying to reel in and lap Briscoe, by seven-tenths of a second with 10 laps remaining. As Berry tried to reel in with a one-second deficit in third place, Wallace reeled in Blaney, who was mired in more lapped traffic, by four-tenths of a second with five laps remaining.

Then with four laps remaining, Wallace, who narrowed his deficit down to three-tenths of a second, briefly locked up the front tires of his No. 23 Cincoro Tequila Toyota Camry XSE entry while trying to reel in Blaney entering Turn 3. Amid the lock-up, he remained within striking distance of Blaney by trailing by six-tenths of a second during the next lap before he trailed by half a second with two laps remaining.

When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Blaney remained in the lead by six-tenths of a second over Wallace. Amid Wallace’s late charge, Blaney had enough momentum, horsepower and life with his two fresh tires to cycle around New Hampshire with the lead for a final time smoothly as he then claimed the checkered flag with the victory by half a second over Wallace while Berry followed suit by less than two seconds in third place.

With the victory, Blaney notched his 20th NASCAR Cup Series career victory in his 403rd series start, his second in a row at New Hampshire Motor Speedway and his third of the 2026 campaign. Blaney’s victory was also the fifth of this season for both Team Penske and Ford, with Blaney maintaining a 44-point advantage for the runner-up spot in the regular-season standings prior to the 2026 Chase and his pursuit for a second championship.

LOUDON, NEW HAMPSHIRE – AUGUST 23: Ryan Blaney, driver of the #12 Menards/Dutch Boy Ford, celebrates in victory lane after winning the NASCAR Cup Series Dollar Tree 301 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway on August 23, 2026 in Loudon, New Hampshire. (Photo by Meg Oliphant/Getty Images)

“Yeah, [the lapped traffic] made it difficult, but it was a good [pit] call after our issue on pit road,” Blaney said on the frontstretch on USA Network. “We did two [tires] at the end to try and hopefully get the lead, and we did. It was a long run to the end there, the longest run we had. Just trying to manage my stuff and knew those four-tire guys would probably pressure me eventually. Bubba kind of came on pretty hard there. Just trying to manage the lapped traffic while also trying to manage tire and not make a mistake. What a cool race. What a fun day, starting in the rain and it end up being a beautiful day…It’s cool here to win here two in a row. I look forward in getting another lobster.”

Bubba Wallace, who started in 23rd place, navigated his way to tie his highest-finishing result of this season by finishing in second place after leading 22 laps. Meanwhile, Josh Berry, who led the second-most laps of the event at 73, settled in third place for his highest-finishing result through 25 events in 2026.

Amid the disappointment both competitors expressed on falling short of the New Hampshire race victory, they were also left satisfied with their strong rallies and results. For Wallace, his runner-up result enabled him to achieve a 75-point advantage in the regular-season standings as he is within striking distance of securing a 2026 Chase berth. Despite being eliminated from Chase contention, Berry continued his recent hot streak on the track with his fourth consecutive top-10 result as he also continues his pursuit of a ride in 2027.

“That’s the thing I kind of hate about this place,” Wallace said. “The last time we ran good, it’s one of the worst-driving cars, and we finished third. [Today was] The worst driving car I’ve had this year, and we finished second. We fought, man. I had a nice day just by myself, regrouping, got the head right and I knew I had to fight all day, and that’s what it takes. Where it starts is with these people on this No. 23 team. They push me to be the absolute best and I fail on them a lot, but they stick behind me and it’s super cool, so I appreciate that…I picked up a big vibration on the left front [from the lockup], and that was kind of it. [I] Didn’t need to make our great day go to crap and just salvage what we had.”

“That was everything I had, and that’s everything I could do today, and it was pretty good, I’ll say that too,” Berry said. “It was a lot of fun and just great job by these guys. The car was really solid and just to manage the rain and the drying track and all the different conditions we had to stay up front like we did, it was a good day.”

Christopher Bell and Kyle Larson finished in the top five. Ty Gibbs, Denny Hamlin, Tyler Reddick, Ryan Preece and Noah Gragson completed the top 10 in the final running order, respectively.

This event featured 15 lead changes for seven different leaders, and nine cautions for 51 laps. In addition, 18 of 36 starters finished on the lead lap.

Following the 25th event of the 2026 NASCAR Cup Series season, Denny Hamlin has officially clinched the top seed and the 2026 regular-season championship with a 77-point advantage over Ryan Blaney.

Denny Hamlin, Ryan Blaney, Ty Gibbs, Tyler Reddick, Christopher Bell, Chase Briscoe, Kyle Larson, Chase Elliott, Joey Logano, Chris Buescher, Carson Hocevar, William Byron and Daniel Suarez have all clinched berths to the 2026 Chase. Bubba Wallace, Austin Cindric and Shane van Gisbergen occupy the remaining three berths to the Chase, with van Gisbergen being 31 points ahead of Ryan Preece and 66 ahead of Brad Keselowski entering next Saturday’s regular-season finale at Daytona International Speedway.

Results:

Ryan Blaney, 115 laps led, Stage 2 winner
Bubba Wallace, 22 laps led
Josh Berry, 73 laps led
Christopher Bell
Kyle Larson, 18 laps led, Stage 1 winner
Ty Gibbs
Denny Hamlin
Tyler Reddick
Ryan Preece, 17 laps led
Noah Gragson
Brad Keselowski
Austin Cindric
Zane Smith
Joey Logano
Alex Bowman
Michael McDowell
Daniel Suarez
Chris Buescher
Carson Hocevar, one lap down
Shane van Gisbergen, one lap down, 30 laps led
Todd Gilliland, one lap down
Cole Custer, one lap down
AJ Allmendinger, one lap down
Austin Hill, one lap down
Chase Elliott, one lap down
Chase Briscoe, one lap down
Ty Dillon, one lap down
Ricky Stenhouse Jr., one lap down
Cody Ware, one lap down
William Byron, five laps down, 26 laps led
John Hunter Nemechek, five laps down
Austin Dillon, 19 laps down
Erik Jones – OUT, Transaxle
Riley Herbst – OUT, Accident
Connor Zilisch – OUT, Accident
Ross Chastain – OUT, Engine

Next on the 2026 NASCAR Cup Series schedule is the Coke Zero Sugar 400 at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Florida, which also marks the final regular-season event of this season and will officially determine this year’s Chase field. The event is scheduled for next Saturday, August 29, and will air at 7:30 p.m. ET on NBC, MRN Radio, SiriusXM, and HBO Max.

HAGAN, KALITTA AND ANDERSON BATTLE THEIR WAY TO WINS AT NHRA BRAINERD NATIONALS

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Official Release

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August 23, 2026

Hagan moves into FC points lead with win
Kalitta caps off perfect weekend with TF victory
Anderson goes back-to-back in Brainerd

BRAINERD, Minn. (Aug. 23, 2026) – Four-time Funny Car world champion Matt Hagan moved into the points lead, defeating Jordan Vandergriff in the final round in front of another huge crowd on Sunday at Brainerd International Raceway to win the 44th annual NHRA Brainerd Nationals.

Doug Kalitta (Top Fuel) and Greg Anderson (Pro Stock) also won the 13th of 20 races during the 2026 NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series season.

Hagan went 3.946-seconds at 320.13 mph in his 12,000-horsepower American Rebel Light Beer Dodge//SRT Hellcat Funny Car to power past Vandergriff and win for the third time this season for Tony Stewart Racing. It is Hagan’s 58th career win and second at Brainerd, and the triumph in the final round sent him to the top of the loaded Funny Car category.

Hagan was incredibly consistent on raceday, reaching the finals after defeating Jim Campbell, Chad Green and Austin Prock. Hagan went 3.94 in the final three rounds, including the finals when he quickly drove past Vandergriff, who slowed to a 4.038.

The standout started the weekend fifth in points but ended as the points leader in the ultra-competitive Funny Car class. Heading to Indy, Hagan will have a seven-point lead over Vandergriff, with Ron Capps, J.R. Todd and Jack Beckman all close behind. Capps is just 12 points back, with Todd and Beckman 22 and 74 points behind, respectively.

“It’s very humbling because you never know what you’re going to get in a Funny Car. If you think you’re going to go out there and pound on your chest, these things will kick you in the (butt),” Hagan said. “I’m just very grateful that we have such a good group of guys putting a great race car underneath me.

“We definitely could have bracket-raced this car this weekend. It just shows what our team is capable of. Everybody is just working hard and doing what they’re supposed to do. As I was doing the burnout and backing up, it gave me chills, man. The fans were packed in here. NHRA is doing a great job promoting our sport, and our sport is growing every day.”

Vandergriff, who qualified No. 1, reached the finals for the third time this season thanks to victories against Alexis DeJoria and J.R. Todd.

Top Fuel reigning world champion Doug Kalitta finished off an epic and flawless weekend in Brainerd, getting his third straight victory by holding off rookie Maddi Gordon in the championship round with an impressive run of 3.743 at 333.74 in his 12,000-horsepower Mac Tools dragster.

It’s also the second straight Brainerd victory for Kalitta, who moved into the points lead on Saturday and strengthened his grip on the regular season championship on raceday. After qualifying No. 1 – making the quickest run in all four sessions – and winning the Mission #2Fast2Tasty Challenge on Saturday, Kalitta was unbeatable on Sunday, too, rolling past Cam Ferre, Antron Brown and Justin Ashley to reach the final round.

Gordon left first and put up a respectable 3.770 at 328.78, but Kalitta quickly tracked her down to pick up his fourth win this season and the 63rd in his career.

Just like last year, Kalitta has a dominant car at the perfect time as the veteran attempts to win the world championship for the third time in the past four years. First up, Kalitta will try to win the regular season title in Indy, and he’ll have an impressive 67-point lead over teammate Shawn Langdon leading into the world’s biggest drag race.

“It was definitely an interesting day,” Kalitta said. “My guys did a great job throughout the weekend, through qualifying, the Mission Foods deal and then being able to go rounds on Sunday and get to the final and beat Maddi. She’s doing a great job and they’re tough.

“Alan (Johnson, crew chief) and those guys had my car running 3.74 like three times. That was enough, even with a little bit of a cushion. It was what we needed to do to get the job done today. The momentum is really good. We’re all really hungry.

“When you get down to those last six races, every round is so important. Today actually felt that way, too. Getting by those first couple rounds, I was like, ‘What a relief,’ because you don’t want to go out early.”

Gordon reached her second final round in her debut season after getting past Scott Palmer, Tony Stewart and Leah Pruett.

In Pro Stock, the track where Greg Anderson grew up racing continues to be very good to the six-time world champion, as the points leader won for the second straight year in Brainerd, going 6.584 at 208.17 in his HendrickCars.com Chevrolet Camaro to chase down first-time finalist Chris Vang.

It was a massive points day for Anderson after KB Titan Racing teammate and reigning world champion Dallas Glenn fell in the first round after qualifying No. 1. Anderson took advantage in a major way, defeating Mason McGaha, Troy Coughlin Jr. and Greg Stanfield to reach the finals.

Vang left first, but Anderson tracked him down to win for the fourth time this season and the 116th time in his spectacular career. He also opened up a significant 85-point lead over Glenn with one race remaining in the regular season. That gives Anderson a sizeable advantage as he aims to win the regular season championship in Indy. It’s also the fifth career Brainerd victory for Anderson, which is the most in Pro Stock history at the standout facility.

“The world knows this is the place where it all started for me. I wouldn’t be a Pro Stock racer today if it wasn’t for this place and all the people around here,” Anderson said. “My father and John Hagen gave me my start in Pro Stock. It’s been a special place to me since the first time I walked on the grounds.

“It’s pretty cool to win here and apparently have the record for most wins. This place has everything. It’s a great, great event. The prestige of this one never, ever goes away. It’s certainly at the top of my list, and I think it should be at the top of a lot of people’s lists. To come out on top is just an incredible feeling. It never gets old, and I hope it never does. I treat every one like it’s the first because you never know when the last one is going to be the last. They’re all special. I hope this one wasn’t the last, but I’m going to enjoy the hell out of this one tonight.”

Vang reached the final round for the first time in his young career thanks to round wins against Matt Latino, Jeg Coughlin Jr. and rookie Cody Anderson.

The NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series returns to action Sept. 2-7 with the prestigious 72nd annual Cornwell Quality Tools NHRA U.S. Nationals at Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park.

BRAINERD, Minn. — Final finish order (1-16) at the 44th annual NHRA Brainerd Nationals at Brainerd International Raceway. The race is the 13th of 20 events in the NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series.

TOP FUEL:

Doug Kalitta; 2. Maddi Gordon; 3. Leah Pruett; 4. Justin Ashley; 5. Tony Stewart; 6. Antron Brown; 7. Shawn Langdon; 8. Clay Millican; 9. Billy Torrence; 10. Will Smith; 11. Josh Hart; 12. Keith Murt; 13. Cameron Ferre; 14. Scott Palmer; 15. Tony Schumacher; 16. Shawn Reed.

FUNNY CAR:

Matt Hagan; 2. Jordan Vandergriff; 3. Austin Prock; 4. J.R. Todd; 5. Bobby Bode; 6. Alexis DeJoria; 7. Chad Green; 8. Ron Capps; 9. Cruz Pedregon; 10. Dave Richards; 11. Spencer Hyde; 12. Daniel Wilkerson; 13. Jim Campbell; 14. Jack Wyatt; 15. Jack Beckman.

PRO STOCK:

Greg Anderson; 2. Chris Vang; 3. Cody Anderson; 4. Greg Stanfield; 5. Matt Hartford; 6.

Aaron Stanfield; 7. Troy Coughlin Jr.; 8. Jeg Coughlin; 9. Dallas Glenn; 10. Erica Enders; 11. Matt Latino; 12. Eric Latino; 13. Deric Kramer; 14. Kenny Delco; 15. Mason McGaha; 16. Jerry Tucker.

BRAINERD, Minn. — Sunday’s final results from the 44th annual NHRA Brainerd Nationals at Brainerd International Raceway. The race is the 13th of 20 in the NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series:

Top Fuel — Doug Kalitta, 3.743 seconds, 333.74 mph def. Maddi Gordon, 3.770 seconds, 328.78 mph.

Funny Car — Matt Hagan, Dodge Charger, 3.946, 320.13 def. Jordan Vandergriff, Chevy Camaro, 4.038, 266.27.

Pro Stock — Greg Anderson, Chevy Camaro, 6.584, 208.17 def. Chris Vang, Camaro, 6.615, 207.34.

Top Alcohol Dragster — Anthony Troyer, 5.220, 276.63 def. Melanie Johnson, 5.250, 274.00.

Top Alcohol Funny Car — Shane Westerfield, Chevy Camaro, 5.523, 264.49 def. Christine Foster, Camaro, Broke – No Show.

Competition Eliminator — Cody Lane, Bantam, 7.348, 171.01 def. Bruce Schmiedl, Bantam, 7.351, 179.97.

Super Stock — Jack Beutler, Olds Cierra, 10.181, 128.90 def. Mike Graham, Ford Mustang, 10.340, 126.00.

Stock Eliminator — Jamey Picht, Pontiac Grand Sport, 11.140, 99.54 def. Dirk Olson, Chevy Nova, Foul – Red Light.

Super Comp — Jeff Chaney, Dragster, 8.947, 168.26 def. James Glenn, Dragster, 8.961, 166.81.

Super Gas — Greg Maaninga, Chevy Camaro, 9.917, 145.55 def. Dale Evens, Camaro, Foul – Red Light.

Super Street — Rich Hill, Chevy Camaro, 11.225, 105.43 def. Donnie Durenberger, Chevy Nova, Foul – Red Light.

Top Sportsman — Curt Fredrich, Chevy Camaro, 6.587, 209.79 def. Chris Roe, Ford Mustang, Foul – Red Light.

Top Dragster — Kendra Larson, Dragster, 6.929, 191.59 def. Bob Fischer, Dragster, 6.828, 194.97.

Outlaw Street — Scott Taylor, Camaro, 3.709, 202.82 def. Shawn Ellington, Nova, 3.717, 203.46.

Junior Dragster Shootout — Evan Songas, Halfscale, 8.038, 80.53 def. Bodie Carlson, 8.018, 80.94.

Outlaw Snowmobiles — Anthony Mini, HRC4, 4.195, 168.87 def. John Jacklitch, HRC III, 4.522, 154.92.

BRAINERD, Minn. — Final round-by-round results from the 44th annual NHRA Brainerd Nationals at Brainerd International Raceway, the 13th of 20 events in the NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series:

TOP FUEL:

ROUND ONE — Tony Stewart, 3.726, 334.32 def. Josh Hart, 3.789, 330.47; Leah Pruett, 3.702, 341.08 def. Will Smith, 3.726, 330.47; Clay Millican, 3.796, 311.05 def. Billy Torrence, Foul – Red Light; Maddi Gordon, 3.752, 336.32 def. Scott Palmer, 4.363, 196.93; Doug Kalitta, 3.713, 336.23 def. Cameron Ferre, 4.092, 293.73; Shawn Langdon, 3.708, 335.57 def. Keith Murt, 3.953, 316.23; Justin Ashley, 3.750, 331.36 def. Shawn Reed, 4.927, 148.04; Antron Brown, 3.776, 330.63 def. Tony Schumacher, 4.714, 165.01;

QUARTERFINALS — Ashley, 3.793, 335.57 def. Millican, 6.390, 96.30; Gordon, 3.740, 330.72 def. Stewart, 3.751, 338.85; Kalitta, 3.742, 326.56 def. Brown, 3.796, 322.81; Pruett, 4.158, 194.49 def. Langdon, 4.247, 254.66;

SEMIFINALS — Kalitta, 3.747, 329.18 def. Ashley, 3.805, 327.74; Gordon, 3.770, 329.91 def. Pruett, 3.776, 325.14;

FINAL — Kalitta, 3.743, 333.74 def. Gordon, 3.770, 328.78.

FUNNY CAR:

ROUND ONE — Bobby Bode, Ford Mustang, 4.483, 206.99 def. Daniel Wilkerson, Mustang, 7.925, 101.02; J.R. Todd, Toyota GR Supra, 3.898, 333.66 def. Spencer Hyde, Mustang, 7.852, 77.86; Jordan Vandergriff, Chevy Camaro, 6.044, 110.47 was unopposed; Austin Prock, Mustang, 3.947, 327.27 def. Jack Wyatt, Dodge Charger, 12.032, 83.48; Matt Hagan, Charger, 3.897, 326.00 def. Jim Campbell, Mustang, 9.727, 112.27; Chad Green, Mustang, No Time Recorded def. Jack Beckman, Camaro, Foul –

Centerline; Ron Capps, GR Supra, 3.934, 325.14 def. Cruz Pedregon, Charger, 3.919, 319.98; Alexis DeJoria, Camaro, 3.927, 328.14 def. Dave Richards, Mustang, 5.358, 135.63;

QUARTERFINALS — Prock, No Time Recorded def. Capps, Foul – Centerline; Todd, 3.953, 330.63 def. Bode, 3.954, 318.77; Hagan, 3.944, 320.05 def. Green, 4.191, 275.00; Vandergriff, 3.956, 320.13 def. DeJoria, 3.956, 323.97;

SEMIFINALS — Vandergriff, 3.977, 314.46 def. Todd, 5.800, 161.30; Hagan, 3.942, 319.37 def. Prock, 4.764, 237.84;

FINAL — Hagan, 3.946, 320.13 def. Vandergriff, 4.038, 266.27.

PRO STOCK:

ROUND ONE — Chris Vang, Chevy Camaro, 6.561, 207.02 def. Matt Latino, Camaro, 6.572, 207.30; Troy Coughlin Jr., Camaro, 6.600, 207.43 def. Kenny Delco, Camaro, 6.593, 207.62; Aaron Stanfield, Camaro, 6.558, 207.56 def. Jerry Tucker, Camaro, 6.622, 208.26; Cody Anderson, Camaro, 6.540, 207.11 def. Erica Enders, Camaro, 6.564, 209.30; Matt Hartford, Camaro, 6.551, 208.81 def. Deric Kramer, Camaro, 6.576, 207.02; Jeg Coughlin, Camaro, 6.572, 208.94 def. Dallas Glenn, Camaro, 6.555, 208.39; Greg

Anderson, Camaro, 6.546, 207.72 def. Mason McGaha, Camaro, 6.596, 208.62; Greg Stanfield, Camaro, 6.554, 208.07 def. Eric Latino, Camaro, 6.572, 209.20;

QUARTERFINALS — Vang, 6.577, 206.89 def. Coughlin, 7.186, 203.46; G. Stanfield, 6.587, 207.50 def. A. Stanfield, 6.594, 207.15; G. Anderson, 6.572, 207.69 def. Coughlin Jr., 6.844, 166.05; C. Anderson, 6.561, 206.89 def. Hartford, 6.557, 209.07;

SEMIFINALS — G. Anderson, 6.608, 208.46 def. G. Stanfield, 14.159, 60.58; Vang, 6.581, 207.15 def. C. Anderson, 6.594, 207.37;

FINAL — G. Anderson, 6.584, 208.17 def. Vang, 6.615, 207.34.

BRAINERD, Minn. — Point standings (top 10) following the 44th annual NHRA Brainerd Nationals at Brainerd International Raceway, the 13th of 20 events in the NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series –

Top Fuel

Doug Kalitta, 1,232; 2. Shawn Langdon, 1,165; 3. Leah Pruett, 974; 4. Antron Brown, 808; 5. Maddi Gordon, 784; 6. Tony Stewart, 753; 7. Josh Hart, 705; 8. Billy Torrence, 655; 9. Justin Ashley, 609; 10. Clay Millican, 540.

Funny Car

Matt Hagan, 938; 2. Jordan Vandergriff, 931; 3. Ron Capps, 926; 4. J.R. Todd, 916; 5.

Jack Beckman, 864; 6. Austin Prock, 771; 7. Chad Green, 755; 8. Alexis DeJoria, 737; 9. Daniel Wilkerson, 615; 10. Spencer Hyde, 610.

Pro Stock

Greg Anderson, 1,140; 2. Dallas Glenn, 1,055; 3. Greg Stanfield, 942; 4. Matt Hartford, 861; 5. Aaron Stanfield, 735; 6. Erica Enders, 727; 7. Matt Latino, 716; 8. Jeg Coughlin, 649; 9. Troy Coughlin Jr., 596; 10. Cody Anderson, 566.

TOYOTA RACING – NCS New Hampshire Post-Race Report – 08.23.26

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Official Release

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August 23, 2026

WALLACE AND BELL BOTH SECURE TOP FIVE FINISHES FOR TOYOTA AT NEW HAMPSHIRE
Five Toyota’s Finish the Day Inside the Top-10 at the 1.058-mile oval

LOUDON, NH. (August 23, 2026) – Bubba Wallace led the way for Toyota by finishing runner-up in Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series race at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.

Wallace and fellow Toyota driver Christopher Bell (fourth) both posted top-five finishes, while five Toyota Camry XSEs finished inside the top 10. Ty Gibbs (sixth), Denny Hamlin (seventh) and Tyler Reddick (eighth) rounded out the top 10 for Toyota.

Wallace’s second-place finish extended Toyota’s streak to 13 straight second-place finishes – every race since the All-Star Race in Dover in May. Additionally, a Toyota driver has finished first or second in 22 of 24 races this season, with Talladega in April and Watkins Glen in May as the only events where a Toyota Camry XSE was not in the top two finishing positions.

With his 17th top-10 finish of the season, Hamlin has already claimed the No. 1 seed for the Chase, which starts in two weeks at Darlington Raceway.

TOYOTA RACING Post-Race Recap
NASCAR Cup Series (NCS)
New Hampshire Motor Speedway
Race 25 of 36 – 318.46 miles, 301 laps

TOYOTA FINISHING POSITIONS

1st, Ryan Blaney*
2nd, BUBBA WALLACE
3rd, Josh Berry*
4th, CHRISTOPHER BELL
5th, Kyle Larson*
6th, TY GIBBS
7th, DENNY HAMLIN
8th, TYLER REDDICK
26th, CHASE BRISCOE
31st, JOHN HUNTER NEMECHEK
34th, RILEY HERBST
33rd, ERIK JONES
*non-Toyota driver

TOYOTA QUOTES

BUBBA WALLACE, No. 23 Cincoro Tequila Toyota Camry XSE, 23XI Racing

Finishing Position: 2nd

How challenging was it fighting for the win there at the end?

“That’s the thing, I kind of hate about this place. Last time we ran good, one of the worst driving cars we ever started. We had the worst driving car this year and I finished second. Just been saying it all week long, I think I finally know, throw out the field I’m chasing, which is hard to go as a race car driver, searching for the right front, it’s not really ever there. We fought, man. Had a nice day just by myself, regrouping. Got the head right. I knew I had to fight all day. That’s what it takes. Where it starts is with this No. 23 team. Man, they pushed me to be the absolute best. I fail them a lot, but they stick behind me. It’s super cool. I appreciate that. Appreciate Cincoro being on our Toyota Camry. Excited to get home and see Amanda, Becks and Cameron. Have some fun at Daytona.”

Chasing your friend there at the end. The lockup at the end with a few laps to go, did that seal it?

“It did. I picked up a big vibration on the left front. That was kind of it, so… made our great day go to crap and salvaging what we had.”

CHRISTOPHER BELL, No. 20 Rheem Toyota Camry XSE, Joe Gibbs Racing

Finishing Position: 4th

You started on wet-weather tires and transitioned to dry. What was your big takeaway from this race?

“It was another strong performance by our 20 team. Ultimately, we didn’t have enough to compete with the frontrunners. Get out of here with a top-five finish, it was a really good day, good and solid day. We had the mishap on pit road, then the team was able to persevere and finish about where we should have. Really happy with fourth place today. Just lacking a little bit right now.”

With the contact on pit road with your tire changer Blake Houston, for you as a driver, that also is jarring? How do you keep your head in the game when that happens?

“It was certainly tough. My signal to go is the jack dropping. On a two-tire stop, they’re supposed to be gone across the front of the car. Whenever the jack dropped, I saw he was still there, then I saw him kind of flopping around in my rearview camera. I didn’t feel my car jump up in the air, so I knew I didn’t run him over. I hope he didn’t get his fingers stuck in the wheel or anything. It’s alarming and very eye-opening that these guys jumping across pit wall, they’re risking it. I’m super grateful for all the pit crew members, specifically my team. They do a really good job. I’m glad Blake is okay.”

TY GIBBS, No. 54 Monster Energy Toyota Camry XSE, Joe Gibbs Racing

Finishing Position: 6th

Do you feel like you maximized your day today?

“Yeah, my 54 guys did a great job over there. Our 54 Monster Energy Camry was great. We just needed to be a little bit better there, but I need to be a little better too. Obviously, a lot better results than last year and the year before that too. So, we’ll take it and we’ll keep going on. I just want to say thank you to everyone who helps me out, my trainers, JB, Cooper, and everybody, Monster Energy, SAIA and Toyota. We’ll just keep going for it and look forward to the playoffs.”

DENNY HAMLIN, No. 11 National Debt Relief Toyota Camry XSE, Joe Gibbs Racing

Finishing Position: 7th

What was it like to have to work your way through the field twice?

“It was tough, we were just pedestrian today. We just didn’t quite have it, but obviously we had that in the beginning where we lost track position early. On the pit stop thing, just miscommunication there, but ultimately a decent crawl back. I live week to week, and I focused on this track and I’m just like we got to get better here for sure, we haven’t had it over the last couple.”

Is the No. 11 team in Championship form right now?

“These are our bad days, bad-ish. But I feel good about where our team is right now, everyone is kind of clicking well and we don’t have a whole lot of weaknesses. We’re just not as strong as the Penske cars on these types of racetracks, but Martinsville we are good, Phoenix we’ve been good, just over the last few years this has not been as strong as those guys. And when I say strong, I mean top five, top seven, so it’s something we can work with. The mile and-a-half’s are certainly something that’s been our strength for a couple of years now. I look forward to getting the Chase started and seeing where it goes.”

About Toyota

Toyota (NYSE:TM) has been a part of the cultural fabric in North America for nearly 70 years, and is committed to advancing sustainable, next-generation mobility through our Toyota and Lexus brands, plus our more than 1,800 dealerships.

Toyota directly employs nearly 64,000 people in North America who have contributed to the design, engineering, and assembly of over 50 million cars and trucks at our 14 manufacturing plants. In 2025, Toyota’s plant in North Carolina began to assemble automotive batteries for electrified vehicles.

For more information about Toyota, visit www.ToyotaNewsroom.com.

Rick Ware Racing: Dollar Tree 301 from New Hampshire

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Official Release

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August 23, 2026

RICK WARE RACING
Dollar Tree 301
Date: Aug. 23, 2026
Event: Dollar Tree 301 (Round 25 of 36)
Series: NASCAR Cup Series
Location: New Hampshire Motor Speedway in Loudon (1.058-mile oval)
Format: 301 laps, broken into three stages (70 laps/115 laps/116 laps)

Race Winner: Ryan Blaney of Team Penske (Ford)
Stage 1 Winner: Kyle Larson of Hendrick Motorsports (Chevrolet)
Stage 2 Winner: Ryan Blaney of Team Penske (Ford)

RWR Finish:

● Cody Ware (Started 36th, Finished 29th / Running, completed 300 of 301 laps)

RWR Points:

● Cody Ware (35th with 199 points)

Race Notes:

● Ryan Blaney won the Dollar Tree 301 to score his 20th career NASCAR Cup Series victory, his third of the season and his second at New Hampshire. His margin over second-place Bubba Wallace was .586 of a second.

● There were nine caution periods for a total of 51 laps.

● Only 18 of the 36 drivers in the race finished on the lead lap.

● Denny Hamlin remains the championship leader after New Hampshire with a 77-point advantage over second-place Blaney.

Next Up:

The next event on the NASCAR Cup Series schedule is the Coke Zero Sugar 400 on Saturday, Aug. 29 at Daytona (Fla.) International Speedway. The race begins at 7:30 p.m. EDT with live coverage provided by NBC and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.

Ford Stays Hot as Blaney Repeats Cup Victory at New Hampshire Motor Speedway

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Official Release

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August 23, 2026

Ford Racing Notes and Quotes
NASCAR Cup Series
Dollar Tree 301 — New Hampshire Motor Speedway
Sunday, August 23, 2026

RYAN BLANEY WINS NEW HAMPSHIRE CUP RACE FOR SECOND STRAIGHT YEAR

Ryan Blaney won his third race of 2026 and the 20th Cup race of his career today.
Blaney has now won back-to-back Cup races at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.
Ford has won four of the last six Cup races: Joey Logano and Ryan Blaney (2 each).
Ford has won six of the last nine NHMS Cup races.
It also marks Team Penske’s 112th series win with Ford.
Today’s win is the 753rd all-time in NASCAR Cup Series competition.

RYAN BLANEY, No. 12 Menards/Dutch Boy Ford Mustang Dark Horse – VICTORY LANE INTERVIEW – WHAT DOES IT SAY ABOUT THIS TEAM BEING ABLE TO GET IT DONE DESPITE ADVERSITY? “Yeah, it’s just staying in the game and fast cars. That definitely helped that. The opportunity came to throw two on it when we came before and did four and try to get the lead and see if we could hang on. Fortunately, we were able to – just barely. Just sticking with it all race and bringing really fast race cars and getting better through the race as well. It’s pretty awesome to finish it out.”

HOW MUCH TIRES DID THOSE LEFT SIDES HAVE BECAUSE YOU HAD A LOT OF LAPS ON THEM? “I didn’t have much left, honestly. I tried to manage early. I tried to build a gap, but then manage and then Bubba got to second on four tires. I knew he was gonna eventually be creeping in, so I tried to keep the tire management in mind, but then he started closing a little bit, so you’ve got to pick the pace up and use more tire. And then lap traffic, you never know how it’s gonna go. Fortunately, we were able to pick our way through that just enough to stay in front of him, but I was hanging on for sure.”

HOW BIG IS IT TO BE HOT RIGHT NOW AND TO BE WINNING AT THIS TIME OF YEAR? “The momentum that Team Penske has on their side is great, and Ford. Team Penske in general has been a pretty good tear the last couple of months and it’s been fun to work through it with everybody and try to get better and better. We’ll just keep going. I’m a big believer in momentum and things like that we just have to keep working at it and hopefully we make a run at it.”

Ford Finishing Results:

1st – Ryan Blaney
3rd – Josh Berry
9th – Ryan Preece
10th – Noah Gragson
11th – Brad Keselowski
12th – Austin Cindric
13th – Zane Smith
14th – Joey Logano
18th – Chris Buescher
21st – Todd Gilliland

JOSH BERRY, No. 21 Motorcraft/Quick Lane Ford Mustang Dark Horse – “It was a lot of fun. Our car was really good. The guys did a great job. We had a solid weekend from start to finish and led a lot of laps. We were in control there for a little while, but that one caution fell and it just felt like that was one of them that was gonna bite us at some point and ultimately it did. I slid a little long and we didn’t have a great pit stop and lost a little track position, but I fought hard there. I was surprised we were able to get back to third and get as close as we could to those guys. I don’t know, we just needed to start a little closer.”

WHAT IS IT ABOUT THIS PLACE YOU LIKE SO MUCH? “I don’t know. For one, we’ve had really good cars. I mean, especially the last two years we’ve had really good cars. I’ve said this the last couple of weeks, but we’re on four top 10s in a row. It should be five. I’m not doing anything different. I’m not racing any different. The cars are better.”

WALK US THROUGH THE BATTLE WITH BLANEY FOR ABOUT 50 LAPS IN THE MIDDLE OF THE RACE? “Honestly, I thought he was a good bit better and I tried to help hold him off for a little bit and then we kind of leveled out and I was surprised we were able to stay in front of him as long as we did. After we pitted, we weren’t quite as good firing off there and then finally I had to yield it to him. I felt like I had been holding him off for 50 laps or something, so I yielded to him and kind of rode out and then we made some good adjustments and got back in the game.”

DID YOU LOSE TIME ON YOUR LIGHTS COMING DOWN PIT ROAD? “Yeah. They weren’t great. I don’t know why. Our pit road run on the rain tires wasn’t great, but it’s a different stagger tire, so we were kind of thrown off a little bit. But that last one I was running my lights and Kyle was hitting me and knocking me past my lights, and then I’m not sure. Obviously, I don’t want to speed in that situation either, so I tried to get a little too much getting in the box. I slid a little long. The pit stop wasn’t great either and that’s all she wrote.”

WHAT DID YOU PROVE TO THE NASCAR COMMUNITY TODAY? “I don’t know. I mean, it’s like I’ve said the last few weeks. I’m not doing anything different. Maybe I was a little rougher today than normal. I don’t necessarily like racing like that, but these guys know what I’m up against right now. I think most of them have a lot of respect for me, so I think they understand. Knocking everybody out of the way as soon as you get to them is not something that’s sustainable over the course of a Cup season, but I think in this scenario you’re just fighting for everything you can. Like I said, I’m not doing anything different. I’m not prepping any different. I’m not studying any different. I’m doing the same things I’ve always done and we’ve just had better cars and, honestly, better luck. It feels nice to capitalize on it. I have four top 10s in a row and it really would be five if it wasn’t for getting wrecked at Wilkesboro.”

RYAN PREECE, No. 60 Mohawk Northeast Ford Mustang Dark Horse – “We did a really good job. I felt like the race, the majority of it went our way. We had a really good car and before that last caution came out it looked like we were gonna go around the 23. We just got by the 21, so for whatever reason that last set of tires was just loose and that’s what killed us because I felt like on restarts, navigating through traffic and doing all of those things, we did everything right.” YOU DO THE SAME THING NEXT WEEK AND HOPE IT’S ENOUGH, RIGHT? “I’m on offense. I’m not playing defense, so we’ll go into Daytona swinging and we’ll keep digging.”

NOAH GRAGSON, No. 4 MillerTech Batteries Ford Mustang Dark Horse – “It was a great day for our MillerTech Front Row Motorsports team. It didn’t look good there in the rain. I think we were like the last car on the racetrack, but we continued to fight all day and came home with a top 10. I’m really happy about that and really thankful for all the guys on the MillerTech group. It’s a fun race. I used to hate this place and now I’ve really enjoyed it the last couple of years, so I had a lot of fun today.” YOU GUYS HAVE GAINED SOME MOMENTUM. “Grant is a first year crew chief and I think it’s no secret that it took a little bit of time, but I feel like we’re really meshing and jiving right now. I’m really proud of where we’re at as a team and I want to just keep on making steps and progress and keep it going.”

CHEVROLET NCS AT NEW HAMPSHIRE MOTOR SPEEDWAY: Post-Race Report

By

Official Release

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August 23, 2026

NASCAR Cup Series
New Hampshire Motor Speedway
Dollar Tree 301
Team Chevy Post-Race Report
August 23, 2026

Larson Leads Chevrolet with Top-Five Finish at New Hampshire Motor Speedway

In an eventful afternoon at “The Magic Mile”, Kyle Larson and the No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet team put together a strong points run en route to a top-five finish in the penultimate race of the 2026 NASCAR Cup Series season. The result – his fourth consecutive top-seven finish at New Hampshire Motor Speedway – in combination with an already triple-digit points cushion saw Larson make an early clinch into the Chase and the chance to compete for back-to-back championship titles.

Despite enduring a challenging day at the New England region oval, Team Chevy’s Carson Hocevar, William Byron and Daniel Suarez also punched their tickets into the Chase to give the manufacturer five guaranteed spots in the title hunt heading into the series’ regular season finale. Shane van Gisbergen will head to Daytona International Speedway in the final provisional points position with a 31-point cushion over the cutline.

RACE RECAP:

Stage One:

For the second consecutive weekend, it was William Byron and the No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet team that led the Bowtie Brigade in qualifying – earning a third-place starting position for the Dollar General 301 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. Battling lingering precipitation throughout much of the early afternoon, the field took the green flag for the opening stage on wet weather tires. The green flag conditions were short-lived when the damp track proved to be a challenge for the polesitter, Tyler Reddick, when he looped his car coming out of Turn Four on Lap 1. Benefitting from the caution was Byron, who made his way to the top of the leaderboard to pace the field to the restart. With the majority of the field quickly migrating to the top lane as the track began to dry, it was his Team Chevy teammate, Shane van Gisbergen, that took advantage of the conditions – making the pass on Byron for the lead and quickly building to a near six-second gap within just a handful of laps. The New Zealand native continued to set an impressive pace en route to the competition caution on Lap 40. A round of non-competitive stops were on the horizon as the field hit pit road to make the switch to slick tires. On the final restart of the stage, it was Kyle Larson that capped off his progressive climb through the top-10 with a pass for the lead that ended with the Stage One win. The eventful opening stage saw four Team Chevy drivers execute points-earning performances, including Carson Hocevar, who drove his No. 77 Chevrolet from a 22nd starting position to a collection of third-place points.

Stage Two:

Under the stage break, there was a mix of strategies all throughout pit road. Chase Elliott was among the seven teams that opted to stay out, with his Hendrick Motorsports teammate, Larson, leading the cars on the two-tire strategy. The fresh right-side tires paid dividends for the reigning champion as he quickly returned as the top Chevrolet driver as he settled into the sixth position for what turned into a long green flag run en route to a pit cycle near the halfway mark of the stage. With a report of a loose-handling Chevrolet from behind the wheel, crew chief Cliff Daniels called his driver to pit road on Lap 133 for four tires, fuel and a chassis adjustment to help with his balance. Upon completion of the green flag pit cycle, Larson found himself in the seventh position with 35 laps left to go in the stage. Continuing caution-free, Larson found his footing through lap traffic to drive his way back into the top-five and lead the Bowtie brigade to the second green-white checkered flag.

Final Stage:

A two-position gain in the race off pit road for the No. 5 team put Larson in the third position to take the green flag for the final stage. On the restart, the outside lane proved to be a challenge for the California native, but the driver managed to only slip one position and settle into fourth. With a pair of cautions early in the final stage, Byron was on an alternate strategy that saw the North Carolina native inherit a position on the front row for the restart on Lap 231. But the strategy gave way to a loose left-rear tire that saw the No. 24 Chevrolet bring out the caution just three laps later. With a four-tire call by Daniels under the caution, Larson restarted in the ninth position but gradually chipped away back up the leaderboard – reaching the sixth position with 48 laps remaining. With another caution-free stint to the checkered flag, Larson was able to climb back into the top-five to take the checkered flag of the penultimate race of the 2026 NASCAR Cup Series season.

Team Chevy Unofficial Top-20 Results

Pos. Driver
5th – Kyle Larson
15th – Alex Bowman
16th – Michael McDowell
17th – Daniel Suarez
19th – Carson Hocevar
20th – Shane van Gisbergen

Chevrolet’s season statistics with 25 NASCAR Cup Series races complete:

Wins: 6
Poles: 5
Top-Fives: 40
Top 10s: 83
Stage Wins: 17

The 2026 NASCAR Cup Series regular season will conclude at Daytona International Speedway with the Coke Zero Sugar 400 on Saturday, August 29, at 7:30 p.m. ET. Live coverage can be found on the NBC, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Channel 90.

Post-Race Driver Quotes:

Ross Chastain, No. 1 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet

Sidelined by a mechanical failure in Stage One.

Finished: 36th

“There was an issue internally in the engine. There was oil coming out of the exhaust pipe. I felt the No. 1 Kubota Chevy losing power and just rode it out during the caution, but unfortunately, we couldn’t continue. It’s just an unfortunate end to our run towards the Chase. The speed has gotten better, so we’ll hopefully keep moving forward on that. That’s the important part. With the things in our control, we were able to make them better through the summer. I’ve learned that’s really tough to do in the NASCAR Cup Series. We did get better, but we’ve got a ways to go.”

Austin Dillon, No. 3 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet

Finished: 32nd

“We didn’t get to show what I thought the No. 3 BREZTRI AEROSPHERE® (budesonide, glycopyrrolate, and formoterol fumarate) Chevrolet was capable of here today at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. We fought hard to stay on the lead lap in Stage 1 and were making the adjustments needed to help combat the tightness I was experiencing in the center, but I had great drive and my entry was dialed. I was driving forward, but unfortunately, we got caught up in on track contact at the start of Stage 2 and sustained left rear damage that sent us to pit road to replace a tow link among other things, putting us several laps down. The team never gave up and we fought until the end, continuing to work on the car’s alignment issues and improving the looseness I was experiencing. We’ll take what we can from this experience and look to rebound next week in Daytona.”

Kyle Larson, No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet

Finished: 5th

“I thought the balance of our No. 5 HENDRICKCARS.COM Chevrolet in dry conditions were pretty similar all race. I feel like our best run was after the green flag stop, and then even after that last run, it wasn’t bad until the very end. I think fourth-place on back were really struggling. Overall, it was a great day for this team. We got the Stage One win, a fifth-place in Stage Two and a fifth-place finish at the end. It was a lot better overall weekend than we’ve had in a while. We scored a lot of points, which is good way to head into the regular season finale.”

Austin Hill, No. 33 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet

Finished: 24th

“Up and down day for our zone Sweet Coffee x Cumberland Farms Chevrolet. When it was raining before the race, I was actually excited to see what we could do on the wet weather tires. Our car was good on the initial fire off. The entry was secure and we rolled to the center pretty well. We ended up gaining 13 spots and drove all the way to the top-15 in the first stage. The balance stayed consistent through the first two stages, but when we got to the second half of the race, the right rear started burning off it and our car would slide on top of the rubber. It was loose with the rears and then create a four wheel slide until the car settled down. The guys kept working on it and we came home 24th. It could have been better, but proud of the effort overall. We’ll keep fighting.”

Michael McDowell, No. 71 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet

Finished: 16th

“Such a chaotic day here in New Hampshire, we had good pace in our Delaware Life Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 and were working toward the top 10, then we started to fight a pretty significant vibration on the right rear. Once we recovered from that we had an equipment interference penalty that almost made our bed for the day. Thankfully, we caught a caution at the right time to get back on the lead lap and fight for a decent finish. It isn’t where we want to be, but we showed promise and some good fight.”

Shane van Gisbergen, No. 97 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet

Finished: 20th

“It was a tough day for what we needed. Being that fast on wet weather tires and falling that fast shows that we were missing something to have grip on the slick tires. Hopefully there are some learnings on that because Connor (Zilisch) and I just went backwards as fast as we could when the track dried. It’s just a disappointing way to end the day. We would love to have more of a cushion heading into Daytona (International Speedway), but the No. 60 (Ryan Preece) did a great job today. I don’t think the No. 2 (Austin Cindric) gained much on us, but we would love to have more heading into a big unknown race next weekend.”

About General Motors

General Motors (NYSE:GM) is driving the future of transportation, leveraging advanced technology to build safer, smarter, and lower emission cars, trucks, and SUVs. GM’s Buick, Cadillac, Chevrolet, and GMC brands offer a broad portfolio of innovative gasoline-powered vehicles and the industry’s widest range of EVs, as we move to an all-electric future.

GM Motorsports, including the Cadillac Formula 1® Team develops and proves advanced technologies in the most demanding environments, accelerating innovation in performance, safety, efficiency, and electrification for its production vehicles. Cadillac Racing is one of the leading manufacturers in the IMSA and FIA World Endurance Championships (WEC). Chevrolet competes in single seaters in the US IndyCar series, and in NASCAR with multiple team partners and drivers. Corvette customer teams compete in GT series across the globe including IMSA and WEC. Learn more at GM.com.

Kirkwood Dominates for Historic, Star-Spangled Victory in D.C.

By

Official Release

-

August 23, 2026

WASHINGTON (Sunday, Aug. 23, 2026) – Kyle Kirkwood made history Sunday by winning the Freedom 250 Grand Prix of Washington, D.C., the first-ever motor race around the National Mall and the iconic monuments and buildings of the nation’s capital city.

And after a disastrous day for NTT INDYCAR SERIES points leader Alex Palou, can Kirkwood make even more history by catching Palou in the final three races of the season for a championship?

Florida native Kirkwood drove his No. 27 Sam’s Club Honda to a 3.0906-second victory over the No. 7 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet of Christian Lundgaard, leading three Andretti Global drivers in the top four. That margin of victory was deceptive due to a late caution that bunched the field for a restart on the seven-turn, 1.7-mile temporary street circuit, as Kirkwood led by upward of 16 seconds at some points during the 250-mile race.

“You can’t even put it into words – this is incredible,” Kirkwood said. “I’m almost in tears here. This is a big moment for us, a big moment for America here with the 250.”

Said Lundgaard: “I feel that it’s fitting that an American won, right? We gave it our best shot.”

Kirkwood earned his second victory of the season in crushing fashion, leading 128 of 147 laps after starting second. He also won the inaugural street race in March at Arlington, Texas, as six of his seven career victories have come on temporary circuits.

“It felt good to dominate out there; I’m not going to lie,” Kirkwood said. “That was a really good moment. What an incredible place to do it. If you can’t win the (Indianapolis) 500, this is definitely the place to win. I don’t know if we’re ever going to get a chance to do it again – I hope we do. This was awesome. What a dream come true.”

Andretti Global took the next two spots, with Will Power finishing third in the No. 26 TWG AI Honda and Marcus Ericsson fourth in the No. 28 Acura Honda in this race that was the capping event of the celebration of America’s 250th birthday.

Kyffin Simpson rounded out the top five in the No. 8 Sunoco Chip Ganassi Racing Honda.

Kirkwood trailed Palou by 133 points entering this historic event, but the gap is down to 91 with three races remaining after Palou finished 20th in the No. 10 OpenAI Chip Ganassi Racing Honda.

While Kirkwood was dreaming at the checkered flag, Palou endured a nightmare on Pennsylvania Avenue.

Palou, aiming for his record-tying fourth consecutive title and fifth overall, suffered through an uncommon string of mistakes ranging from hitting a rival’s tire during a pit stop and incurring a drive-through penalty, a slow pit stop due to a loose wheel and then a crash in Turn 4 on Lap 123 due to a broken toe link from earlier wall contact.

“It hurts, man,” Palou said. “I wanted to get that win. It kind of hurts a lot that we had this bad of a day. It’s OK; things happen.”

History still is very much on Palou’s side. Since the sport reunified in 2008, the largest gap any driver has overcome with four races left to win a title is 59 points by Dario Franchitti in 2010. Palou still could clinch his fifth Astor Challenge Cup in the doubleheader Aug. 29-30 at the Milwaukee Mile.

Kirkwood left no doubt about his intent and the strength of his car right from the waving of the green flag by President Donald J. Trump. He dueled with Palou through Turn 1 before taking the lead in Turn 2 on the opening lap of the second-longest temporary street race in INDYCAR SERIES history.

From there, Kirkwood only trailed during pit stop sequences. No alternate tire or fuel strategies from rivals could touch him on his day of days.

Kirkwood shed perhaps the only rival who could challenge him early in the race before a huge crowd – the two-day weekend attendance was 215,000 – when Palou hit the wheel laying in the pit box of the No. 47 Vanda Honda of Mick Schumacher on Lap 39 during his first pit stop. That violation resulted in a drive-through penalty that Palou served on Lap 43, dropping him to 20th place.

From that point, caution periods were the only thing that blunted Kirkwood’s charge toward history. He led by 16 seconds when he made his final pit stop at the end of Lap 112.

There were two restarts between Laps 128 and 134, bunching the field and offering hope to Kirkwood’s rivals.

Scott McLaughlin dove under Kirkwood in Turn 1 to take the lead for a split-second on Lap 129 after a restart, but he carried too much speed into the corner and was eliminated from the race when the right side of his No. 3 PPG Team Penske Chevrolet clipped a tire barrier.

Kirkwood left no doubt on the final restart of the race on Lap 134, rocketing away from the field. He cruised to the checkered flag waved by U.S. Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy and then celebrated in front of numerous government dignitaries in a suite above Turn 1, including President Trump and First Lady Melania Trump.

Up next is a doubleheader at the Milwaukee Mile, the last oval event of the season. The Snap-on Makers and Fixers 250 is set for Saturday, Aug. 29 on the historic, 1-mile track, with the Snap-on Milwaukee Mile 250 on Sunday, Aug. 30.

The 2026 NTT INDYCAR SERIES season concludes with the INDYCAR Grand Prix of Monterey on Sunday, Sept. 6 at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca in Monterey, California.

Kyle Kirkwood keeps title hopes alive with dominant drive in Washington

By

Tucker White

-

August 23, 2026

Freedom 250 on the streets of Washington DC. — WASHINGTON - AUGUST 23: Kyle Kirkwood, driver of the #27 Andretti Global Honda, celebrates victory in the NTT IndyCar Series Freedom 250 Grand Prix on Aug. 23, 2026, in Washington. Photo: Joe Skibinski/Penske Entertainment

Kyle Kirkwood entered the Freedom 250 Grand Prix trailing Alex Palou by 133 points. Palou winning the pole bumped it up to 134. He needed the race of a lifetime to keep his title hopes alive.

Kirkwood took that as a challenge and delivered.

The driver of the No. 27 Andretti Global Honda led a race high 128 laps and fended off two challengers on late restarts to win on the streets of Washington.

“That was huge, right? After last weekend, my mistakes there, kind of flipped a switch where I was like these mistakes feel terrible,” Kirkwood said. “I hadn’t had one of those in a very long time.

“Sometimes those are actually good for me because all this week I feel like I’ve worked harder than I ever have in preparation for this event. I think those preparations paid off this weekend.

“Yeah, it was a great feeling to rebound after last weekend, to get here, to see all the fans, 100,000 people on both days is absolutely incredible. The whole place there’s people, rows of five in the pace laps, all the way around the track, 1.6 miles. Super cool to see.

“To be able to win in what will be considered probably my home race, right, being the Freedom 250 as an American, is something very special. I’ll cherish this moment for a very long time.”

It’s his seventh career win in 83 career NTT INDYCAR SERIES starts and second of the 2026 season. More importantly, he cut the gap to Palou down to 91 points, with three races left.

“I’m just going to go out there and try and win every single race and see where it goes from there,” he said. “It’s starting to pan out.

“I can’t control what Palou does. Maybe in very small circumstances you can. In the sense of where he finished today or where he was going to finish today, there is no controlling that because you’re in the lead. We just had a very fortunate day in the points championship.”

Christian Lundgaard made a run at Kirkwood in the closing laps. He even cut the gap to under a second. Then he hit the wall in Turn 7 with eight laps to go and didn’t make another challenge for the lead. As he brought his No. 7 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet home to a runner-up finish.

“Yeah, I feel like I had just a couple of laps where I was faster than him,” Lundgaard said, “and then I know the 12 laps where he was faster than me, so…

“Yeah, what an experience all weekend. The best background I’ve ever had on a racetrack obviously. Just being a part of it, seeing where the series is going, being a part of it.

“Obviously the race was long. I think we got a better result than we expected. We got three more races to go. I think I’m just happy to see Alex not win for once (smiling). I hear you all laughing, so you agree with me, which is great.”

Will Power rounded out the podium.

“Yeah, that first yellow kind of hurt us,” Power said. “Man, even at that point you have so many laps to go, you’re still over a hundred laps to go, we can certainly make a lot work from here. I saved a lot of fuel. I probably would have gone three laps longer than the guys around me.

“Yeah, a lot of on-track passes, to be honest, to move up. Good strategy. Good stops. It’s just becoming normal for us to do this. We’re starting to eliminate all the weaknesses and be strong everywhere and have a chance to win everywhere.

“Team’s made huge progression over this season, and you can see it now. It’s all coming online. I think the expectation now every weekend is to be on the podium, challenge for a win.

“I think next year we’ll be wanting to be all top five in the championship type stuff.”

Marcus Ericsson and Kyffin Simpson rounded out the top-five.

Nolan Siegel, Scott Dixon, Josef Newgarden, Caio Collet and Romain Grosjean rounded out the top-10.

Kyle Kirkwood keeps title hopes alive with dominant drive in Washington

Race summary

Palou led the field to green at 1:18 p.m. ET. Kirkwood pulled to Palou’s outside, out-braked him into Turn 2 and exited Turn 3 with the race lead. Caution flew on the first lap for debris in Turn 4, which came from contact between Marcus Armstrong and Christian Rasmussen. Graham Rahal was the only driver to hit pit lane under the caution.

Back to green on Lap 5, the race settled into a green flag rhythm. Caution flew on Lap 18 for debris in Turn 3. David Malukas pitted from seventh under the caution. As did Sting Ray Robb and Santino Ferrucci (who changed his steering wheel and dealt with electric issues).

Back to green on Lap 23, the field again settled into a green flag rhythm. Just laps away from a cycle of green flag stops, Malukas ran wide in Turn 7 and pounded the outside wall. Robb, with no time to evade, t-boned him. This brought out a caution on Lap 37. Rahal, along with Rinus VeeKay, Simpson and Grosjean, stayed out to take the race lead.

Back to green on Lap 44, Rahal hit the wall coming to the line. Armstrong braked hard into Turn 3 and turned Rasmussen, who collected VeeKay in the process. This brought out a caution and IndyCar handed Armstrong a stop and hold penalty for avoidable contact.

Back to green on Lap 51, Kirkwood drove from third to the race lead with an overtake of Rahal in Turn 3. A cycle of green flag stops kicked off on Lap 65. Kirkwood pitted from the lead on Lap 80, as did second-place Scott McLaughlin. Power pitted from the lead on Lap 82 and Kirkwood cycled back to the front of the field.

By Lap 87, Kirkwood, with an eight-second lead over McLaughlin, caught the tail-end of the field. After one lap, Kirkwood lost a full second of his gap to McLaughlin. He passed Rasmussen by Lap 89 and Pato O’Ward on Lap 90. By then, his lead shrank to 5.5 seconds. On Lap 92, Kirkwood cleared Louis Foster into Turn 2, and stretched his lead back out. Kirkwood stretched the lead to 7.7 seconds on Lap 96, as he reeled in points leader, Palou, the last car on the lead lap. Even as he backed off to not waste his remaining push-to-pass, he pulled out to a 14-second lead with 41 laps to go. Marcus Ericsson kicked off the last cycle of green flag stops with 37 to go. Kirkwood pitted from the lead with 36 to go. McLaughlin pitted from the lead with 33 to go. Power pitted from the lead with 31 to go and Kirkwood cycled back to the lead.

With 30 to go, Kirkwood held a 10.7 second advantage over McLaughlin. That gap vanished with 25 to go, when Palou clipped the inside wall of Turn 4, spun around and broke the front wing of his car against the outside wall.

Back to green with 19 to go, McLaughlin got the jump on Kirkwood and dive-bombed into Turn 1 for the lead, but pounded the wall on exit. Felix Rosenqvist went over a bump, got loose and spun out in the same area and caution flew.

Back to green with 13 laps to go, Kirkwood got the better restart and pulled out to a 1.5 second lead. With eight to go, however, Lundgaard cut the lead down to under a second, but lost ground to him when he got loose in Turn 7 and lost that ground he made up. With six to go, Kirkwood pulled out to a two-second lead and drove away to victory.

Kyle Kirkwood keeps title hopes alive with dominant drive in Washington

What else happened

Exiting his pit box, Palou struck a tire in Mick Schumacher’s pit box. For this, INDYCAR handed him a drive-through penalty.

DRIVE-THROUGH PENALTY FOR ALEX PALOU 🫢

The No. 10 served the penalty on the Lap 43 restart. pic.twitter.com/4FX40Z9TJ3
— NTT INDYCAR SERIES (@IndyCar) August 23, 2026

Palou pitted from 17th on Lap 67, but stopped the car just as he pulled out for a loose left-front wheel and went a lap down.

Issues are compounding for Alex Palou 😧 pic.twitter.com/i7qvEueF1W
— NTT INDYCAR SERIES (@IndyCar) August 23, 2026

On Lap 79, O’Ward carried too much speed into Turn 6, pulled into the runoff, spun his car around and rejoined the race.

Kyle Kirkwood keeps title hopes alive with dominant drive in Washington

Nuts and bolts

The race lasted two hours, 40 minutes and 42 seconds, at an average speed of 93.295 mph. There were seven lead changes among four different drivers, and six cautions for 29 laps.

Palou leaves Washington with a 91-point lead over Kirkwood.

The NTT IndyCar Series returns to action, Saturday, with the Snap-on Makers and Fixers 250. The first race of a double-header weekend at the Milwaukee Mile.

ARCA Menards Series at the Illinois State Fairgrounds: Calypso 100 Post-race Notes

By

Official Release

-

August 23, 2026

ARCA Menards Series at the Illinois State Fairgrounds
Calypso 100 Post-race Notes

Max Reaves (No. 18 Cook Out Toyota) scored his third ARCA Menards Series win of the season in Sunday afternoon’s Calypso 100 at the Illinois State Fairgrounds. Reaves started from the Sioux Chief PowerPEX Pole and led 98 of the race’s 100 laps to earn his first career win on dirt.
Reaves traded the lead with Isaac Kitzmiller (No. 79 A.L.L. Construction / Carter CAT Chevrolet) through lapped traffic, with Kitzmiller leading for a lap on lap xx before Reaves was able to return the favor in turn three the very next lap. Kiztmiller held on to finish second, his career best ARCA Menards Series finish.
Gavan Boschele (No. 25 American Land Toyota) was the third driver to lead, snatching the lead from Reaves at lap 97. Reaves made contact with the rear bumper of Boschele’s car entering turn one and Boschele slid out of control into the inside retaining wall, but his half spin did not draw a caution flag. Despite the damage, Boschele would hold on to finish fifth.
Thomas Annunziata (No. 70 JBL Toyota) finished third and unofficially chopped three points off Jake Bollman’s lead in the ARCA Menards Series championship standings. Bollman (No. 20 Nitro Motorsports Toyota) finished sixth; his unofficial lead is four points with five races remaining. It was the first career race of any kind on dirt for both drivers.
Taylor Reimer (No. 77 Buzzballz Chevrolet) ran as high as second but was penalized for a restart violation following the third caution flag of the day, necessitating a drive-thru penalty. After the race’s midway break, she restarted 13th and patiently worked her way through the field to finish fourth.
Springfield native Kelly Kovski (No. 16 Brandt Ag / Schluckebeir Farm Chevrolet) finished seventh in his 20th career start at the Illinois State Fairgrounds. It was his 14th career top-ten finish at his home track, which accounts for half of his 28 career top-ten finishes.
Isabella Robusto (No. 55 Mobil 1 Toyota) raced in and among the top five throughout the first hald of the race, but two consecutive restarts in the outside lane cost her valuable track position over the second half of the race, leaving her eighth at the finish.
Tim Monroe (No. 10 Mark Rumbold Farms / Illinois Deer Hunters Ford) finished ninth, his third career top-ten result at the Illinois State Fairgrounds.
Jason Kitzmiller (No. 97 A.L.L. Construction / Carter CAT Chevrolet) in tenth and Shawn Allen, Jr. (No. 91 Sandlan Iron & Metal / Maples Motorsports Chevrolet) in eleventh, in his ARCA Menards Series debut, were the final cars on the lead lap.
Nineteen of the race’s 24 starters were running at the finish.
There were four lead changes among three drivers.
There were five cautions for a total of 23 laps. The first caution was for a turn one crash involving Trenton Masters (No. 06 Jake’s Lettering Toyota) on lap 8; the second at lap 32 was for a crash on the front stretch involving Alex Clubb (No. 03 CRI0386.com Ford) and Brad Smith (No. 48 Hillman Family of Companies Ford); the third was for a turn four spin by Tony Cosentino (No. 11 Fast Track Racing / Universal Technical Institute Chevrolet) and the final caution for cause was at lap 82 for a turn two spin by Sean Corr (No. 8 Nesco Bus Sales / The Trans Group / It’s a Boy Chevrolet).
The next race for the ARCA Menards Series Atlas 200 at Madison International Speedway on Friday, August 28. The race, set to begin at 9 pm ET / 8 pm CT, will be televised live on FS1. ARCARacing.com will have live timing & scoring data throughout all on-track activity and live race audio. Follow @ARCA_Racing on X (formerly Twitter) for up-to-the-minute updates.

About ARCA 
The Automobile Racing Club of America (ARCA), founded in 1953 by John and Mildred Marcum in Toledo, Ohio, and acquired by NASCAR in April 2018, is the leading grassroots stock car sanctioning body in the United States. Bridging the gap between NASCAR’s top three national touring series and weekly and regional tour racing all across the country, the organization to sanctions over 100 races per year in the ARCA Menards Series, ARCA Menards Series East, ARCA Menards Series West, ASA STARS National Tour, ASA CRA Super Series, ASA Midwest Tour, ASA Southern Super Series plus weekly racing at Toledo and Flat Rock Speedways. For more information about ARCA visit , or follow ARCA on Facebook (@ARCARacing) and Twitter (@ARCA_Racing). 

About Menards
A family-owned and run company started in 1958, Menards is recognized as the retail home center leader of the Midwest with 236 stores in 15 states.  Menards is truly a one-stop shop for all of your home improvement needs featuring a full-service lumberyard and everything you need to plan a renovation or build a home, garage, cabin, shed, deck, fence or post frame building.  You’ll find a large selection of lumber, roofing, siding, construction blocks, trusses, doors and windows, plus cabinets, appliances, countertops, flooring, lighting, paint, plumbing supplies and more.  To complete the job, Menards has quality hand tools, power tools, fasteners, electrical tools plus storage options and supplies for everyone from the weekend warrior to the pro!
 
Menards has what you need to complete your outdoor projects and keep your yard in tip-top shape including mowers, trimmers, blowers, pressure washers and more, plus a beautiful garden center stocked with plants, shrubs, trees, landscaping tools, grass seed, fertilizer options, outdoor décor and patio furniture.  Menards also has everyday essentials like health & beauty products, housewares, pet and wildlife supplies, automotive items and even groceries.  And at Christmas, an Enchanted Forest display area with impressive trees, lighting, decorations, ornaments, inflatables and more. 

Menards is known for friendly Customer Service and as the place to “Save Big Money” with low prices every day, and sales too!  For more information, please visit Menards.com to learn about our store locations, offerings and services.

Front Row Motorsports: NHIS NCTS Race Report- Layne Riggs / Chandler Smith

By

Official Release

-

August 23, 2026

Layne Riggs | Chandler Smith
New Hampshire Motor Speedway NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series Race Report
New Hampshire Motor Speedway 175
Date: Saturday, August 22, 2026
Event: Race 18 of 25
Series: NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series
Location: New Hampshire Motor Speedway (1.058 mile)
Length of Race: 189 laps over two hours, 18 minutes, 59 seconds

FRM Finish:

Layne Riggs (Started 1st, Finished 1st / Running, completed 189 of 189 laps)
Chandler Smith (Started 12th, Finished 2nd / Running, completed 189 of 189 laps)

FRM Points Standings:

Layne Riggs (1st)
Chandler Smith (3rd)

Layne Riggs Key Takeaways

Stage One: 2nd / Stage Two: 3rd / Race Result: 1st

Riggs enters The Chase for the NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series in the first seed, and with a 25-point lead above TRICON Garage’s Kaden Honeycutt.

“Thank you to everybody that’s here. I love this racetrack,” said Riggs. “We had a good crowd today. I thought I was in trouble there for a little while. I got back to third or fourth-place and just really couldn’t do anything with the truck. I was just really, really tight, and we just couldn’t get the right adjustment, but that last adjustment that my crew chief and engineer made – Dylan Cappello and Jonathan Coates – was excellent all the way to the end. Thank you to Chandler Smith for running me really clean. It’s in the name – Front Row Motorsports – one-two. It’s really awesome to finish one-two with Chandler. They bring us great trucks. Thank you to Ford Racing for all their help. We’ve got Bare Knuckle Boxing on the truck. We got them another win. I think that’s three with them now, so I’m just super, super excited. This is awesome. I love this racetrack, love the fans here, the atmosphere. This is one I had circled on the calendar that I feel like I missed myself and we missed on setup last year. We came back swinging and no mercy.”

Chandler Smith Key Takeaways

Stage One: 4th / Stage Two: 2nd / Race Result: 2nd

Smith enters The Chase for the NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series in the third seed, 35 points behind teammate Layne Riggs.

“Our No. 38 Pete Store Ford F-150 was good today,” said Smith. “It was really good, just that last stop it felt like we went the wrong direction on our change. Between me not executing on pit road and maybe not making the right adjustment just put us back in the swamp. It wasn’t in the Lord’s Will for us to win this one. We’ll learn from it and move on.”

ABOUT FRONT ROW MOTORSPORTS

Front Row Motorsports (FRM) is a winning organization competing in the NASCAR Cup Series and the NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series. Founded in 2004 by entrepreneur Bob Jenkins, FRM has earned top honors including a 2021 Daytona 500 victory and the 2022 CRAFTSMAN Truck Series championship. Based in Mooresville, N.C., FRM fields the No. 4, No. 34, and No. 38 entries in the NASCAR Cup Series, along with the No. 34 and No. 38 teams in the CRAFTSMAN Truck Series. For more information, visit FrontRowMotorsports.com and follow Front Row Motorsports on social media — X: @Team_FRM, Instagram: @teamfrm, Tik Tok: @Team_FRM, YouTube: @FrontRowNASCAR, and Facebook: facebook.com/FrontRowMotorsports.

SpeedwayMedia.comOnline Resource for Motorsports Information

SpeedwayMedia.comOnline Resource for Motorsports Information

Ryan Blaney capitalizes on late two-tire pit call for second consecutive Cup victory at New Hampshire

Results:

HAGAN, KALITTA AND ANDERSON BATTLE THEIR WAY TO WINS AT NHRA BRAINERD NATIONALS

TOYOTA RACING – NCS New Hampshire Post-Race Report – 08.23.26

Rick Ware Racing: Dollar Tree 301 from New Hampshire

Ford Stays Hot as Blaney Repeats Cup Victory at New Hampshire Motor Speedway

CHEVROLET NCS AT NEW HAMPSHIRE MOTOR SPEEDWAY: Post-Race Report

Kirkwood Dominates for Historic, Star-Spangled Victory in D.C.

Kyle Kirkwood keeps title hopes alive with dominant drive in Washington

Kyle Kirkwood keeps title hopes alive with dominant drive in Washington

Race summary

Kyle Kirkwood keeps title hopes alive with dominant drive in Washington

What else happened

Kyle Kirkwood keeps title hopes alive with dominant drive in Washington

Nuts and bolts

ARCA Menards Series at the Illinois State Fairgrounds: Calypso 100 Post-race Notes

Front Row Motorsports: NHIS NCTS Race Report- Layne Riggs / Chandler Smith

SpeedwayMedia.comOnline Resource for Motorsports Information

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