Even after a lifetime of visiting the “Magic Mile”, the drive into New Hampshire Motor Speedway never gets old. The aura of “Cup Weekend” at NHMS is truly unique as New Hampshire alone isn’t the only region represented.
As the sole race in New England, fans come from far and wide, whether that be from New Hampshire, Maine, Massachusetts, Vermont, Connecticut, New York, Rhode Island and our Northern neighbor, Canada.
NASCAR coming to town isn’t just about one race – it’s a weeklong event. Campers are allowed to enter the grounds as early as the Saturday prior and once the first camper enters, the endless line of RV’s follow – thousands upon thousands strewn about the track grounds.
The late Kyle Busch, who was honored throughout the weekend via fan tributes, a large banner outside the main grandstands and a tribute on the infield grass in turn 1, was widely known for racing at local short tracks during Cup weekend, whether that be at Thunder Road, Oxford Plains Speedway or the neighboring Lee USA Speedway.
Connecticut native Ryan Preece took the reins this year, following in Kyle’s footsteps. He had quite the busy week, competing in the Governor’s Cup at Thunder Road on Wednesday in the #60bh DJ Shaw Machine. Rumor is, his fellow competitor and team owner Brad Keselowski even came out to support. He finished 19th in the 25-car field and turned right around to throw out the first pitch in the Red Sox game alongside his teammate and longtime friend, Chris Buescher.
The RFK drivers weren’t the only ones to make their rounds at New England sporting events during the week, as Front Row Motorsports teammates Noah Tragson and Todd Gilliland attended the New England Patriots preseason game at Gillette Stadium on Saturday night, Gragson rocking an “Ochocinco” jersey as he and Gilliland greeted North Carolina native Drake Maye, who grew up in NASCAR country.
NASCAR great Mark Martin even made his rounds throughout the week, popping into Bentley’s Saloon in Arundel, Maine on Tuesday to meet with fans, hang out with Bentley Warren, display his brand-new Newell Motorcoach, and sign copies of his book, “Never Lift”. Martin went on to make various appearances at the track over the course of the weekend, even joining the USA team in the broadcast booth on Sunday.
Multi-time race winner and 2026 Daytona 500 champion Tyler Reddick, earned the pole position for Sunday’s Dollar Tree with the top lap of 29.054 seconds, beating out Josh Berry by a miniscule .015 seconds. He also participated in the “Track Walk” on Saturday evening, joining fans for a stroll around the track which benefited Speedway Children’s Charities.
The racing portion of the weekend kicked off on Friday night with the “Dirt Duels” on The Flat Track, a 1/4 mile dirt track located outside of the track’s South entrance. Wiscasset Speedway’s own Nick Huff was an announcer for the event, which featured the Sprint Cars of New England, Granite State Micro Sprints and the Xtreme Dirt Midget Association.
The main highlight of Saturday was the return of the Craftsman Truck Series and the Whelen Modified Tour, which is always a staple on the weekend. Layne Riggs, one of the top competitors in the Truck Series, put on another clinic on Saturday, claiming his sixth victory of the season. An extended rain delay plagued the Modified Tour race, but knowing how detrimental the race is to fans across New England, the tour refused to throw in the towel and successfully dried the track, getting the full race in. It was truly a photo finish, with a 3-way battle for the lead to end the race. Jon McKennedy claimed the top spot just two turns away from the finish line, beating out Tommy Catalano and Ryan Preece for the win.
“Local Celebrity” Todd Angilly, who sings the National Anthem at every Boston Bruins home game, returned to do the Anthem at the track again this year and knocked it out of the park. Former Dale Earnhardt Incorporated driver and Whelen Modified Tour great Steve Park also served as the pace car driver for the Dollar Tree 301. Park, who earned 16 Whelen Modified Tour victories, 56 top 5 finishes and 86 top 10 finishes, reminisced about racing at Riverside Speedway while he was on the tour and called the Whelen Modified Tour race at New Hampshire the equivalent to the “Daytona 500” for the touring series.
Rain plagued pre-race on Sunday, and covers were put on every car prior to the start of driver introductions on the frontstretch, where nearly every driver donned an umbrella on the walk back to their car. Prior to the start of the race, NASCAR called an audible and decided to do minimal track drying before the drop of the green flag, making the call to start the race on treaded tires. Carson Hocevar, who was initially excited to start the race on treaded tires, took a spin in turn 4 before the race even started, prompting a short delay to help track crews get the standing water off of the race surface.
Road course king Shane Van Gisbergen fared the best on treaded tires, putting a clinic on the field before the competition caution on lap 40 to switch over to slicks. He struggled following the change, quickly dropping outside of the top five. Kyle Larson took hold of the lead and won stage 1 of the race, but it was a Josh Berry and Ryan Blaney show from there. The two drivers were in a league of their own for the remainder of the race, with Blaney winning stage 2. A pit stop mishap just before halfway set Blaney back, forcing him to restart outside of the top 10 as Josh Berry took control of the field. Fortunately, pit strategy (4 fresh tires and fuel) with just under 100 laps to go put Blaney right where he needed to be – at the top of the leaderboard. Although lap traffic came into play in the closing laps of the race, Blaney was able to fend off his longtime friend and competitor Bubba Wallace for his second consecutive win at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.
After crossing the finish line, Blaney did a long victory celebration, doing a full lap around the track the standard way, followed by another lap going in the opposite direction. He then burned it down on the frontstretch, giving the fans a show before climbing out of the car and handing the checkered flag to a young fan. After pulling into Victory Lane, Blaney was greeted at his window by his teammate and New England native Joey Logano, congratulating him on the win. He hopped out of his car and hoisted “Loudon the Lobster” – a 17-pound “gift” that Cup drivers receive every year after winning the race in New Hampshire. When he was asked where he would put this year’s lobster in his post-race press conference, simply put, he said “Hang it up next to the first one”, noting that he received last year’s lobster on a plaque this weekend and plans to hang it up behind his bar at home, but there’s plenty room for more.
In true New England fashion, the fans showed out for this year’s NASCAR race weekend, making it a weeklong spectacle that race fans will remember for years to come. Many are already planning and longing for next year’s event, where the NASCAR Cup Series race (Sunday, September 26th) will be a part of the “Chase” to the championship once again.
