Ryan Blaney punched his ticket to the next round of the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs with a dominant victory at New Hampshire Motor Speedway on Sunday.
The win marks a major shift in momentum, as Ford drivers locked in three of the top five spots after Toyota’s clean sweep of the first playoff round.
Blaney’s No. 12 Team Penske Ford was quick all weekend, starting on the front row and leading for 116 of the 301 laps. He held off a hard-charging Josh Berry, who rallied back after an early spin to finish a close second. The final laps were a test of endurance for Blaney.
“Probably the hardest 20 laps I drove,” Blaney said of the race’s closing moments. “Was trying to bide my stuff, and he [Berry] really started coming. It was all I could do to hold him off.”
This victory automatically secures Blaney’s spot in the Round of 8 as he chases his second Cup Series title.
Team Penske Fords were the class of the field, with Blaney and his teammate, Joey Logano, combining to lead 263 laps. Logano, the pole-sitter, led a race-high 147 laps and finished fourth. He conceded that Blaney simply had the faster car.
“We ran well, we just weren’t the fastest car,” Logano said. “The 12 [Blaney] was fastest in practice and he showed that again in the race. Our only chance to beat him was on pit road.”
The strong performance from Ford came as a welcome surprise after Toyota’s recent dominance. The top Toyota driver, Christopher Bell, finished sixth, a stark contrast to his win the previous week.
Blaney’s win puts him in the driver’s seat for the rest of the playoffs. Other playoff contenders also had a good day, with William Byron finishing third and Chase Elliott making an impressive charge from 27th to fifth.
However, it was a frustrating day for Denny Hamlin, who dropped to fifth in the standings after a 12th-place finish. He was involved in a mid-race incident with his teammate Ty Gibbs, which took Gibbs out of the race.
Hamlin had no comment on the contact.
With two races left in the Round of 12, the battle for the final spots is beginning to heat up. Drivers on the bubble include Austin Cindric, Tyler Reddick and Bubba Wallace, who all finished outside the Top 15.
The series now heads to Kansas Speedway for the Hollywood Casino 400 before heading back to Charlotte the next following week for the ROVAL race at Charlotte Motor Speedway and the cutoff point for the Round of 8, heading into the final weeks of the season.
Mobil 1 301
New Hampshire Motor Speedway
Loudon, New Hampshire
Sunday, September 21, 2025
- (2) Ryan Blaney (P), Ford, 301.
- (3) Josh Berry, Ford, 301.
- (5) William Byron (P), Chevrolet, 301.
- (1) Joey Logano (P), Ford, 301.
- (27) Chase Elliott (P), Chevrolet, 301.
- (19) Christopher Bell (P), Toyota, 301.
- (16) Kyle Larson (P), Chevrolet, 301.
- (11) Michael McDowell, Chevrolet, 301.
- (8) Ross Chastain (P), Chevrolet, 301.
- (18) Chase Briscoe (P), Toyota, 301.
- (6) Carson Hocevar, Chevrolet, 301.
- (9) Denny Hamlin (P), Toyota, 301.
- (28) Austin Dillon, Chevrolet, 301.
- (23) Ryan Preece, Ford, 301.
- (7) Alex Bowman, Chevrolet, 301.
- (33) Noah Gragson, Ford, 301.
- (22) Austin Cindric (P), Ford, 301.
- (15) Chris Buescher, Ford, 301.
- (36) Todd Gilliland, Ford, 301.
- (12) AJ Allmendinger, Chevrolet, 301.
- (4) Tyler Reddick (P), Toyota, 301.
- (25) Riley Herbst #, Toyota, 301.
- (17) Brad Keselowski, Ford, 301.
- (31) Cole Custer, Ford, 301.
- (34) Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Chevrolet, 300.
- (14) Bubba Wallace (P), Toyota, 300.
- (20) Zane Smith, Ford, 300.
- (26) Erik Jones, Toyota, 300.
- (30) Ty Dillon, Chevrolet, 300.
- (24) Kyle Busch, Chevrolet, 297.
- (35) Cody Ware, Ford, 296.
- (10) Shane Van Gisbergen #, Chevrolet, 250.
- (21) Justin Haley, Chevrolet, 207.
- (29) John Hunter Nemechek, Toyota, Accident, 146.
- (13) Ty Gibbs, Toyota, Accident, 134.
- (32) Daniel Suarez, Chevrolet, Accident, 117.
Average Speed of Race Winner: 101.699 mph.
Time of Race: 3 Hrs, 7 Mins, 53 Secs.
Margin of Victory: .937 Seconds.
Caution Flags: 8 for 45 laps.
Lead Changes: 14 among 7 drivers.
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