Bell Sweeps Loudon
Christopher Bell dominated the NASCAR Cup Series’ inaugural race to feature cars on wet weather tires, emerging victorious after a 2-hour and 15-minute weather delay. He outpaced the competition and beat the fading daylight to win Sunday at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.
This victory marked Bell’s third Cup win of the season and completed his sweep of the New Hampshire weekend, following his Xfinity Series win on Saturday. Bell has previously won four times in the Xfinity Series at Loudon and now has a second Cup win at the track.
Despite starting the race 30 minutes earlier, chaos ensued right from the green flag. Multiple wrecks over the course of the race eliminated some drivers. This included Kyle Busch, who was collected by Noah Gragson and subsequently hit the wall, causing him to run 24th. And his day ended unexpectedly when his car snapped loose and hit the wall again. Kyle came to a stop on the track and immediately exited the car, leaving it to be towed away. Unfortunately, this was another tough day for the two-time champion, who is currently on a 39-race winless streak, the longest of his career.
Alex Bowman also faced issues as his No. 48 Chevrolet started smoking and was pushed to the garage for repairs, finishing 36th. Joey Logano locked up his tire and crashed into Chase Elliott on lap 194, while Martin Truex Jr. spun into the wall after contact with Brad Keselowski with 91 laps left. After the rain delay, Bubba Wallace was knocked out of the race by Noah Gragson and briefly parked in front of Gragson’s car on pit road as a show of displeasure.
Tyler Reddick, a winner at Talladega this season, had been leading when the race was red-flagged due to rain, with 82 laps remaining in the scheduled 301-lap race.
Spectators left the stands, and drivers retreated to their motorhomes as the weather worsened. New Hampshire and NASCAR faced a tornado watch, lightning, and a severe thunderstorm warning before the race could resume more than two hours later. After crews cleared standing water from pit road, cars returned to the 1.058-mile track on wet weather tires, with a maximum of four sets available for the damp oval track. Mandatory, non-competitive pit stops then came into play, during which time NASCAR insisted teams remain on the wet weather tire. This was despite that the track was drying in some areas, particularly the main groove. The situation caused drivers to search for moisture to stop tires from overheating, some running their cars through the grass or through puddles that had formed against the inside track wall. In the end, and in spite of multiple restarts, Bell remained in control.
He celebrated his weekend sweep by standing on his car and raising a broom over his head before holding the traditional victory lobster in New Hampshire’s victory lane.
Briscoe finished second, Berry third, with Kyle Larson and Chris Buescher rounding out the top five.
