Ryan Blaney advances in NASCAR Cup playoffs with New Hampshire win
LOUDON, N.H. — Ryan Blaney is on to the next round of the NASCAR Cup Series playoffs after a win in Sunday’s race at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.
Blaney pulled off his third win of the 2025 season by a 0.937-second margin of victory over quasi-teammate Josh Berry. Despite having four tires that were all 14 laps older than Blaney, Berry closed to his bumper in the final laps. However, a slide in turn three with less than 10 laps to go handed the win to Blaney.
Blaney led four times for 116 laps, including the final 39, after taking the lead from Berry on the final restart.
“That was probably the hardest 20 laps I drove. I was trying to bide by stuff and holding him off, then I saw him coming up. I appreciate Josh for not throwing me the bumper when he could have,” Blaney said.
Blaney started second after being fastest on the 10-lap average and sixth-fastest overall in practice. He fought woes with track position and strategy to get his 16th career win in the Cup Series. After the New Hampshire win, he is 56th on the all-time wins list. No other driver has 16 career wins.
Berry, who entered the all-time wins list earlier this season at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, came up short of his second Sunday.
However, finishing second is about like a win for Berry who entered the day with three-consecutive last-place finishes that eliminated him from the playoffs.
“Ryan did a great job there. I was a little surprised, worried when he got around us as quickly as he did but I was able to keep him honest, at least at the end,” Berry said. “Stinks to finish second but compared to the last couple of weeks, it feels really good.”
TOP-10 (LAP 301): Ryan Blaney, Josh Berry, William Byron, Joey Logano, Chase Elliott, Christopher Bell, Kyle Larson, Michael McDowell, Ross Chastain, Chase Briscoe.
Logano finished fourth after leading four times for a race-high 147 laps.
“When you’re home, you just want to win but when you look at our playoff run, we’re +24, that’s great. That makes up for our playoff point deficit so you gotta be happy about that. You wanna win but I’m happy about our run. We just gotta get faster, the 12’s a little bit faster,” Logano said.
Playoff drivers finishing outside of the top 10 were Denny Hamlin (12th), Austin Cindric (17th), Tyler Reddick (21st) and Bubba Wallace (26th).
Hamlin had an incident with non-playoff teammate Ty Gibbs that landed Gibbs in the garage and Hamlin in a contentious talk with team owner Joe Gibbs after the race.
MORE: Joe Gibbs Racing teammates clash at New Hampshire
STAGE ONE TOP-10 (LAP 70): Ryan Blaney, Joey Logano, William Byron, Josh Berry, Carson Hocevar, Kyle Larson, Shane van Gisbergen, Alex Bowman, Tyler Reddick, Michael McDowell
STAGE TWO TOP-10 (LAP 185): Joey Logano, Kyle Larson, William Byron, Ryan Blaney, Carson Hocevar, Christopher Bell, Chase Elliott, Denny Hamlin, Chase Briscoe, Josh Berry.
NASCAR Cup Series playoff standings and comments after New Hampshire
- Ryan Blaney WIN
- William Byron 2082 (+47)
- “It’s no breathing room. You’ve got to go out and execute every week.”
- Kyle Larson 2076 (+41)
- “It’s our best run of the playoffs so far.”
- Christopher Bell 2064 (+29)
- “We walked out of here with a lot of points, so I think it was a successful day.”
- Denny Hamlin 2062 (+27)
- “Gotta get a little faster, gotta get the car handling better and I’ve certainly gotta do a better job.”
- Joey Logano 2059 (+24)
- Chase Elliott 2049 (+14)
- “We need to stack points. The only way you do that is stage points.”
- Chase Briscoe 2047 (+12)
- “The positive thing is we’re above the cutline. That was the goal of today and we were able to do that.”
- Ross Chastain 2035 (-12)
- “We spent most of the race trying to get it to turn better. We’ll take a top-10 finish and go back to work to get ready for Kansas.”
- Austin Cindric 2028 (-19)
- “You’ve got to expect to want to run in the top 10 and get stage points to advance out of this round, so not everything we needed, but we’re still in the game.”
- Tyler Reddick 2024 (-23)
- “We need something special to happen. I’m hoping we find the answer.”
- Bubba Wallace 2020 (-27)
- “As much of a gut punch as this one is, we’ll move on. This is what we’ve got to do.”
Here is an archive of the live race updates on the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series playoff race at New Hampshire Motor Speedway:
FINAL STAGE
8 TO GO: Berry slips and lets Blaney get away.
20 TO GO: Berry for the lead on Blaney. Byron, Logano, Elliott, Bell, Larson, Chastain, McDowell, Hocevar round out the top 10.
Josh Berry is closing for the lead, now three tenths back, 24 to go.
LAP 262: Ryan Blaney to the lead over Josh Berry. William Byron now challenges for second on Berry.
LAP 260: Berry goes out to the lead but here comes Blaney!
LAP 255: Blaney, Logano, Byron, Hamlin, Larson, Hocevar, Chastain exit pit road in that order, all with two fresh tires. They’ll restart third through ninth behind Josh Berry and Chase Elliott. This comes after Cody Ware wrecked in turn two while trying to get payback on Austin Dillon for an incident earlier in the race.
After stops (LAP 246): Blaney, Logano, Berry, Byron, Larson, Hamlin, Bell, Hocevar, Chastain, Briscoe.
Before, it was Blaney, Logano, Berry, Larson, Byron, Hamlin, Elliott, Bell, Chastain, Hocevar. Logano has six-lap fresher tires than Blaney. Berry has nine-lap fresher tires.
LAP 230: Ryan Blaney pits from the lead.
LAP 228: Ryan Blaney to the lead over Joey Logano and Josh Berry to third over Kyle Larson.
LAP 217: Kyle Larson to third over William Byron. Ryan Blaney has closed to Joey Logano’s bumper for the lead.
LAP 210: Ryan Blaney to second over William Byron, now 1.5 seconds behind leader Joey Logano. Josh Berry takes sixth from Chase Elliott.
LAP 204: Ryan Blaney to third by Kyle Larson. He is 1.79 seconds behind leader Joey Logano. Teammate Austin Cindric loses seventh and now eighth. He is back to ninth on only two fresh tires.
TOP 10 (LAP 202): Logano, Byron, Larson, Blaney, Hamlin, Elliott, Cindric, Chastain, Berry, Bell.
Off pit road: 22 2 24 5 11 9 12 20 21. Cindric in the 2 took 2 tires.
The final stage will go from lap 185 to lap 301, the finish of the race.
- William Byron 2048 (+39)
- Kyle Larson 2046 (+37)
- Ryan Blaney, 2044 (+35)
- Denny Hamlin 2037 (+28)
- Christopher Bell 2033 (+24)
- Joey Logano 2026 (+17)
- Chase Briscoe 2020 (+11)
- Chase Elliott 2017 (+8)
- Bubba Wallace 2009 (-8)
- Austin Cindric 2008 (-9)
- Tyler Reddick 2008 (-9)
- Ross Chastain 2007 (-10)
STAGE TWO Winner: Joey Logano
STAGE TWO TOP-10 (LAP 185): Joey Logano, Kyle Larson, William Byron, Ryan Blaney, Carson Hocevar, Christopher Bell, Chase Elliott, Denny Hamlin, Chase Briscoe, Josh Berry.
Other playoff drivers: Ross Chastain (13th), Tyler Reddick (14th), Austin Cindric (17th), Bubba Wallace (25th).
LAP 181: Ryan Blaney passes Carson Hocevar for fourth. Four tires paid off for him.
LAP 171: Ryan Blaney to sixth. Here is the top 10: Joey Logano, Kyle Larson, William Byron, Carson Hocevar, Christopher Bell, Ryan Blaney, Chase Elliott, Alex Bowman, Denny Hamlin, Chase Briscoe. Josh Berry is in 11th after spinning earlier in the race. Blaney to fourth now. He has four seconds to make up on Logano with 11 to go in the stage. He could catch Hocevar, who is under a second ahead of him.
John Hunter Nemechek said he “is all good” after crashing turn three. He said the car snapped and he was “along for the ride”.
LAP 157: Blaney has four tires on but is 12th while Hocevar on four is up to 5th.
Off pit road, all with two tires: 22 5 24 71 20 11 48 9 45.
Great stop for McDowell in the 71 but rough stop for Blaney in the 12… He dropped from 2nd to 14th.
LAP 148: John Hunter Nemechek crashes hard in turn three. Major damage to the right side of the car.
LAP 144: Ryan Blaney takes second from Kyle Larson. Briscoe is still hanging on to his position — now fourth.
LAP 138: Joey Logano to the lead over Kyle Larson. Briscoe hangs on to third for now over Ryan Blaney.
Christopher Bell is up to seventh after a slower start.
LAP 135: Kyle Larson takes the lead from Chase Briscoe. Briscoe has two fresh tires compared to Larson and Joey Logano, who takes second behind Larson.
LAP 125 TOP-10: Chase Briscoe, Kyle Larson, Carson Hocevar, Joey Logano, Ryan Blaney, Tyler Reddick, Chris Buescher, William Byron, Michael McDowell, Christopher Bell.
LAP 118: Brad Keselowski spins Shane van Gisbergen. They have damage, along with Daniel Suarez and Kyle Busch. Keselowski smacked the inside wall right when he hit SVG. Suarez ramped off Justin Haley. Christopher Bell and Ross Chastain narrowly missed that too.
Off pit road (Lap 114): 19 22 12 77 5 17 45 24 48 11 71 4 88 9 6 20 21 1 2 16 60 23. 19 and 17 took two tires.
LAP 111: OH Denny Hamlin spins his teammate Ty Gibbs! He was frustrated on the radio about the way Gibbs had been racing with the playoff implications.
LAP 99: Kyle Larson to fourth. Hendrick has three cars in the top six with William Byron in fifth and Alex Bowman in sixth.
TOP-10 (LAP 93): Ryan Blaney, Joey Logano, Carson Hocevar, William Byron, Kyle Larson, Alex Bowman, Shane van Gisbergen, Tyler Reddick, Michael McDowell and…. ? Gibbs and Gragson rub fenders as they continue three-wide with Christopher Bell for 10th. Gragson finally takes it on lap 94.
LAP 89: Ty Gibbs up to 8th with a great 4-wide pass on Bowman, Hamlin and Bell! Noah Gragson has cracked the top 10 and is passing Gibbs for 10th now after Bowman passed Gibbs.
LAP 82: Josh Berry’s snake-bitten luck continues at the hands of Shane van Gisbergen who got into Berry exiting turn two. Berry spun as a result. Somehow playoff drivers Tyler Reddick and Kyle Larson didn’t clip Berry.
SVG: “I didn’t mean to spin him, he just pinched me when I got in there.”
Berry has finished 39th, 36th and 38th — all last — in the last three races. Combined with a 35th-place finish at Watkins Glen and he has four finishes of 35th or worse in the last six races.
The second stage is 115 laps, ending on lap 185 in the 301-lap race. Here is the points standings heading into the stage:
- William Byron 2040 (+31)
- Kyle Larson 2037 (+28)
- Ryan Blaney, 2037 (+28)
- Denny Hamlin 2034 (+25)
- Christopher Bell 2028 (+19)
- Chase Briscoe 2018 (+9)
- Joey Logano 2016 (+7)
- Chase Elliott 2013 (+4)
- Bubba Wallace 2009 (-4)
- Austin Cindric 2008 (-5)
- Tyler Reddick 2008 (-5)
- Ross Chastain 2007 (-6)
STAGE ONE WINNER: Ryan Blaney
STAGE ONE TOP-10 (LAP 70): Ryan Blaney, Joey Logano, William Byron, Josh Berry, Carson Hocevar, Kyle Larson, Shane van Gisbergen, Alex Bowman, Tyler Reddick, Michael McDowell
Off pit road: 12 21 22 24 77 88 5 45 48
LAP 62: Austin Dillon spun Cody Ware right in front of Ryan Blaney who had to lock up his tires. Blaney will likely have to pit but everyone else likely will too. Ryan Preece, free pass.
12 22 21 24 88 77 45 5 48 71, top 10 at lap 61.
LAP 56: Shane van Gisbergen has passed Carson Hocevar for 5th. Stellar, stellar start to the race for SVG.
LAP 53: Ryan Blaney gets by Joey Logano for the lead after a fun battle. Josh Berry is still hanging out in third.
LAP 44: Blaney to second. He has Logano in his cross hairs. 26 to go in the stage.
LAP 42: Lap times are really starting to fall off as Josh Berry is really attacking Joey Logano for the lead. Ryan Blaney has closed from 2.5 seconds to be right on Berry’s bumper.
Top 10: Logano, Berry, Blaney, Byron, Hocevar, SVG, Reddick, Bowman, Larson, McDowell.
Hamlin is 12th, best of the Gibbs cars. Gibbs, Bell and Briscoe run 14th, 15th and 16th respectively.
LAP 32: Most drivers are running lap times about 7-8 tenths off of their fastest laps of the race.
LAP 28: Kyle Larson takes 10th with a unique high-to-low diamond line that people are taking notice of. Ross Chastain drops to 11th.
LAP 21: Ryan Blaney to third. Carson Hocevar is back to fourth, with William Byron dogging him and now passing him.
LAP 12: Ryan Blaney to fifth. LAP 16: Blaney to fourth.
Joey Logano jumps to the lead while Carson Hocevar goes to third and Shane van Gisbergen goes to sixth. Ryan Blaney has dropped from second to seventh.
LAP 9: Meanwhile, Kyle Busch has had a dismal start. He has dropped from 24th to 35th already.
The first stage is 70 laps. Overall, the race is 301 laps. Here is what else to know about the race.
MORE: Team Penske sweeps front row in New Hampshire qualifying
- Mobil 1 301
- Broadcast: USA, PRN, and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio
- Distance: 301 laps / 318.46 miles
- Stages: 70 / 185 / 301
- Average time of race: 3:10:25
- Pit road speed: 45 mph
- Caution car speed: 50 mph
- Fuel Window: 100 laps
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Jonathan Fjeld View All
Jonathan Fjeld is the co-owner of the The Racing Experts, LLC. He has been with TRE since 2010.
A Twin Valley, MN, native, Fjeld became a motorsports fan at just three years old (first race was the 2002 Pennsylvania 500). He worked as a contributor and writer for TRE from 2010-18. Since then, he has stepped up and covered 24 NASCAR race weekends and taken on a larger role with TRE. He became the co-owner and managing editor in 2023 and has guided the site to massive growth in that time.
Fjeld has covered a wide array of stories and moments over the years, including Kevin Harvick's final Cup Series season, the first NASCAR national series disqualification in over 50 years, Shane van Gisbergen's stunning win in Chicago and the first Cup Series race at Road America in 66 years – as well as up-and-coming drivers' stories and stories from inside the sport, like the tech it takes for Hendrick Motorsports to remain a top-tier team.
Currently, he resides in Albuquerque, N.M., where he works for KOB 4, an NBC station. He works as a digital producer and does on-air reports. He loves spending time with friends and family, playing and listening to music, exploring new places, being outdoors, reading books and writing among other activities. You can email him at fjeldjonathan@gmail.com