Ryan Blaney enters Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series race at New Hampshire as the defending winner at the 1.0-mile track. The driver of the No. 12 paced the field for 116 of 301 laps and fended off a hard-charging Josh Berry for his third of four wins in the 2025 season.
This Sunday at New Hampshire, Blaney will be aiming for a repeat performance and score his second straight win at “The Magic Mile,” as well as Team Penske’s second straight Cup win in 2026.
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Joey Logano is coming off winning last Saturday’s Cook Out 400 at the Richmond Raceway.
Ryan Blaney, Team Penske dominated New Hampshire last year
Blaney took the checkered flag in last year’s Mobil 1 301 at New Hampshire, but the 2023 Cup Series champion was not the one leading the field to green. His Penske teammate, Logano, started on the pole.
Blaney started alongside Logano in second and the Penske duo proceeded to be the class of the field. While Blaney led 116 laps, Logano led a race-high 147 circuits, which meant Team Penske led all but 38 laps of the 301-lap event.
Blaney earned the stage one win, while Logano took stage two. The final lead change of the race occured on lap 263, when Blaney overtook Berry for the top spot. Berry finished second, followed by William Byron third, Logano fourth, and Chase Elliott rounded out the top five.
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There were eight cautions in the race with two being for stage breaks. The average green flag run was 28.4 laps.
One of the cautions was for a multi-car incident on lap 119 involving Shane van Gisbergen, Brad Keselowski, Daniel Suarez, Kyle Busch, Christopher Bell, Justin Haley, Austin Cindric, and Berry.
Will Team Penske dominate New Hampshire again?
Team Penske will seek to replicate their dominant stranglehold on New Hampshire Motor Speedway again in Sunday’s Dollar Tree 301. Based on recent performances, expect Blaney and Logano to be two contenders on “The Magic Mile” again.
Logano has turned his 2026 campaign around in a hurry, winning two of the last four races after a slow start.
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Blaney, meanwhile, started on the pole in Saturday’s race and earned the win in Stage 1. The North Carolina native most recently was the victor at EchoPark Speedway last month.
Team Penske’s third car, Austin Cindric, is coming off a third-place run at Richmond, the driver of the No. 2’s best finish since his 2025 Talladega win.
Team Penske has proven to be strongest on the shorter tracks, such as New Hampshire, Gateway, and Phoenix. If last year’s New Hampshire race is any indicator, the Penske drivers are going to be tough to beat on Sunday.
