Bobby Travis · NASCAR/IndyCar Correspondent
On a wet New Hampshire Motor Speedway, Ryan Blaney fought through spins, cautions, and a costly pit stop to secure victory, while Ross Chastain's playoff hopes suffered an early blow.
Ryan Blaney won the Dollar Tree 301 in Loudon on Sunday in a race marked by rain, multiple cautions, and two major crashes. The No. 12 driver crossed the finish line after 3:22:59 ahead of Bubba Wallace and Josh Berry, recovering from a 19-second pit stop following Stage 2. Rookie Connor Zilisch and Ross Chastain both finished with DNFs that could prove costly with just one regular-season race remaining before the playoff cutoff, while polesetter Tyler Reddick managed to claw back to eighth after his early-race spin in Turn 1.
Wet Start, Reddick's Spin, and van Gisbergen's Early Lead
Rain delayed the green-flag start and forced all 36 cars onto Goodyear's wet-weather tires. Carson Hocevar spun during the pace laps, necessitating another track dry-down before the official start. Then, in Lap 1, polesetter Tyler Reddick lost his car without any outside contact while leading and collected points leader Denny Hamlin and Chris Buescher in the process, a bitter start for the driver who had posted the quickest qualifying time just the day before at 29.054 seconds.
Shane van Gisbergen emerged from the early chaos and built a lead of roughly nine seconds on the wet surface before a competition caution in Lap 40 brought the field in for slick tires. Kyle Larson secured Stage 1 in the subsequent action, a statement moment for the Hendrick driver, who would finish fifth.
Pit-Road Drama: Bell's Dangerous Exit and Byron's Lost Wedge Tool
During the tire change under the competition caution, Christopher Bell exited his pit box before tire changer Blake Houston had fully cleared the area. Houston was dragged a distance and went down hard, with Bell audibly expressing concern over the radio about his welfare. The team later confirmed Houston was shaken but uninjured. NASCAR penalized the infraction as a safety violation and sent Bell around pit road again, costing him significant track position before he recovered to fourth by race's end.
In the same stop cycle, the No. 24 Chevrolet's crew left a wedge adjustment tool at the rear window, a mistake that ultimately cost William Byron five laps and dropped him to 30th. As Stage 2 began, Ryan Preece took the lead by staying on track during the stage-break caution, before Blaney claimed the Stage 2 win and signaled early that his car had the pace for the afternoon.
Chastain's Exit and the Hocevar-Zilisch Double Wreck
Ross Chastain's day was effectively over by Lap 41. A powertrain failure forced the Trackhouse driver to the garage early, a DNF that threatens to further weaken his already precarious position at the playoff cutline heading into the final regular-season race.
Contact between Carson Hocevar and Connor Zilisch in Lap 84, midway through Stage 2, triggered the next major incident. Hocevar spun into traffic and collected Joey Logano and Austin Dillon, venting his frustration audibly over the radio. For Logano, the wreck brought additional steering damage and a pit stop that shuffled him out of the front running.
Things turned truly bitter for Zilisch in Lap 225. Riley Herbst made contact with Michael McDowell in Turns 3 and 4 and crashed hard into the wall, his car left disabled on the racing surface. Zilisch, whose view was blocked by Austin Dillon's car ahead, had virtually no time to react as Dillon moved left, and he hit Herbst's stationary vehicle without braking. Both drivers were officially out by Lap 244, marking Zilisch's ninth DNF as a rookie and another setback for Herbst in a season already defined by his impending departure from 23XI Racing at year's end.
Blaney's Comeback Despite the Deficit and the Playoff Picture
That Blaney wound up leading at the finish owed everything to his own charge through the field. A 19-second pit stop after Stage 2 had buried him deep, but over the remaining laps he picked his way past Wallace, Berry, and the rest of the lead pack, crossing the line 0.586 seconds ahead of Wallace and 1.964 seconds clear of Berry. Bell completed the top five as fourth-place finisher with 7.645 seconds back, just ahead of Larson, who rounded out the top five at 9.618 seconds down, while Hamlin, despite his Lap 1 brush with the wall, climbed to seventh.
For the championship picture, Sunday's race reshuffles the playoff-cutline conversation heading into the final regular-season race. Chastain's DNF figures to hurt his positioning, while Blaney's win and Stage 2 bonus points give his team additional breathing room. How close the cutline ultimately becomes will be decided next week when the last chance for an automatic playoff spot comes to the fore.
