JGR’s Christopher Bell collects his third win on the year in a literally storming race at the New Hampshire motor speedway. The Oklahoma native survived a late race slew of changing conditions to continue his dominance in New England, completing a weekend sweep after winning Saturday’s Xfinity series event.
In a moment of foreshadowing for the main event, Saturday’s qualifying was rained out, and the metric decided that Chase Elliott would be lining up on the pole, with defending champ Ryan Blaney alongside.
With weather an issue all day, the race managed to commence on time. Elliott led the race for the opening laps until Christopher Bell’s #20 car wrestled the lead away from him. Bell led for the remainder of an uneventful first stage and scored the stage win.
Stage One Results:
1. #20 Bell
2. #22 Logano
3. #9 Elliott
4. #12 Blaney
5. #4 Berry
6. #19 Truex Jr
7. #11 Hamlin
8. #1 Chastain
9. #45 Reddick
10. #48 Bowman
The #20 and #22 led the field back to green for stage 2. Bell easily reclaimed the lead while Logano fell into the clutches of Josh Berry in the #4.
The first cycle of green flag stops began on lap 125, with the leaders pitting one lap later. Todd Gilliland held the lead on an attempted short pit strategy, while Bell managed to stay in front of reigning New Hampshire winner Martin Truex Jr. The lead wouldn’t last long as on lap 137, MTJ closed in on the #20 and took over from his JGR teammate.
Lap 142 saw the first caution for cause of the day, as Daniel Hemric spun his #31 Kaulig Racing Chevrolet on the exit of turn two. Under the caution flag, the #11 of Denny Hamlin took the lead as the #19 and #22 opted for pit stops.
Hamlin led the field to green on lap 149, but the stint didn’t last long as another caution would be brought out as the #10 of Noah Gragson and the #8 of Kyle Busch collided in turn one.
The field took another attempt at the restart on lap 160 and this time it was a lot calmer. Hamlin led the way while the rest of the pack brawled for position behind him. The #11 would run away with the #19 for the win of stage 2.
Stage Two Results:
1. #11 Hamlin
2. #19 Truex Jr.
3. #22 Logano
4. #20 Bell
5. #12 Blaney
6. #38 Gilliland
7. #5 Larson
8. #4 Berry
9. #9 Elliott
10. #1 Chastain
The #45 of Reddick usurped his boss for the top spot during the pit cycle, as crew chief Billy Scott elected to stay out. Reddick and McDowell would lead the restart on the strategy of staying out, with Larson behind on two tires. MTJ suffered a slow pit stop due to a loose lugnut which relegated him down the order.
The final stage began on lap 194, and this is where the chaos began to unfold. The caution flag would immediately fly once again as the #22 got into the #9 in turn 1 due to a lockup and sent the 2020 Champion backwards.
The next restart would be only slightly better, as the field was able to run one full lap before the caution flew again, this time for the #7 of LaJoie spinning on the backstretch.
The following restart was calmer once more, as a complete four laps were ran before another caution came out. Martin Truex Jr was spun into the front stretch wall after being caught in a four-wide situation with Brad Keselowski, ending his day.
The restart took place on lap 214 with Reddick lining up beside Hamlin, but the caution came out once more on lap 216. Kyle Busch’s day went from bad to worse as he spun into the backstretch inside wall, compounding an awful stretch of races for Rowdy.
Under this caution, the rain began to fall and the heavens opened. Cars were brought down pit road and covered up.
After a lengthy delay, the cars were finally uncovered and switched over to rain tires. Under the warm-up laps, Kyle Busch hit the wall a final time and climbed out of his #8 chevy. Corey LaJoie also span during warm ups.
The race finally resumed on lap 229 with Reddick back leading the way on wets. Green flag racing wouldn’t last long, as Ross Chastain’s #1 spun in turn 4.
After an 8 lap caution period, Reddick and Bell led the field back to green once more. Bell finally reclaimed the lead of the race by jumping Reddick on the restart.
With 45 to go in the race, LaJoie spins once again in turn 2 and brings out the yellow flag again.
With 39 laps left to go, the green flag flew and Bell once again jumped out to the lead. It wouldn’t last long, however, as a big wreck in turn 1 brought out the caution once more. The #10 of Gragson spun on the inside of Bubba Wallace, collecting the #23, #3, #2 and #43. Wallace would be relegated to below the playoff cutline after this incident.
A 10 lap caution period ended with 27 to go and Bell once again resumed his spot at the head of the field. Bell ran away with the lead, leaving those behind him to scrap for position. Drivers throughout the field began to struggle for grip on the wet tires, which resulted in the #77 of Carson Hocevar spinning around in turn 2, drawing another caution.
NASCAR decided to extend the caution period in order to allow teams to come down pit road to change to a fresh set of rain tires. The race resumed with nine laps left, Bell and McDowell lining up together on the front row. It wouldn’t last long though, as McDowell got into the #12 of Blaney, spinning both of them into the wall in turn 1.
With four left to go, Bell lined up next to the man who he leaked would be joining JGR next year, Chase Briscoe. Bell gets a jump on Briscoe while Berry capitalized for second place. But, as is expected, a caution came out with two laps left. Brad Keselowski spun around in turn 2, sending the race into overtime.
With the sun lowering and the radar looking worse, it was clear this would be the final restart of the day. Bell lined up again alongside Briscoe, with Berry in the slot behind Bell, looking for an opportunity. Bell jumped ahead and left the two SHR cars to fight amongst themselves. Bell took the white flag and collected his third win of the year, and continued his stranglehold over the New Hampshire race track.
Briscoe wound up second, with Berry taking the third spot. Kyle Larson secured fourth and Chris Buescher rounded out the top-five in fifth place.
Larson jumps Hendrick teammate Chase Elliott for the season points lead as the series rolls into the Nashville Superspeedway next weekend.
Featured Image Credits: JoeGibbsRacing on Twitter/X
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