Christopher Bell Tastes Victory in New Hampshire

Joe Gibbs Racing

LOUDON, N.H  - RIS - Christopher Bell won the USA Today 301 at the New Hampshire Motor Speedway Sunday, after the race was delayed for two hours due to weather. The win was Bell’s third this NASCAR Cup Series season

Rounding out the top three were Chase Briscoe and Josh Berry.

The race was the first of the year for the series on an oval track and the second for points using the Goodyear wet weather tires, which were required by NASCAR on all cars when the race resumed for its third and final stage.

Bell won his third Cup race of the season and swept the weekend at New Hampshire following Saturday’s win in the Xfinity Series. 

 “I love adverse conditions,” Bell said. “It felt like the normal Loudon groove was really, really slippery.”

With darkness falling at New Hampshire, Bell cruised past Josh Berry and Briscoe and remained the driver to beat at New Hampshire. He has four wins in the Xfinity Series at Loudon and won a Cup race at the track for a second time.

Tyler Reddick, who won Talladega this season, held the lead when the race was red-flagged because of rain with 82 laps left in the scheduled 301-lap race.

Fans fled the grandstands and drivers went back to their motorhomes with seemingly no chance of a return as the gloomy weather worsened. New Hampshire and NASCAR waited out a tornado watch, nearby lightning strikes and a severe thunderstorm warning before it could resume the race after a delay of more than 2 hours — and after crew members swept standing water off pit road — and cars all hit the 1.058-mile track on new tires.

NASCAR let teams use wet-weather tires for the only second time in a points race this season. Teams had a maximum of four sets of wet-weather tires to race on the damp oval track. Teams had to take rain tires during pit stops and their position could not be affect

During the race, several drivers appeared to have cars able to win, but Bell survived.  His biggest threats came from Ryan Blaney, Kyle Larson, and Josh Berry.  In the end, Blaney tangled with Michael McDowell in the latter stages, Larson suffered tire wear with the rain tires, and Berry couldn't quite catch him when the green-white-checkers ended the race

Next week, the Cup Series heads to Nashville for the Ally 400 at Nashville Superspeedway in Nashville, Tennessee for a 300-lap race.

Unofficial Results: USA TODAY 301, June 23, 2024 - New Hampshire Motor Speedway
Fin, Str, Driver, Car, Laps, St1, St2, Tms Led, Laps Led, Playoff Pts, Pts, Status
1) 4, Christopher Bell, No. 20 Rheem Toyota, 305, 1, 4, 3, 149, 6, 57, Running
2) 23, Chase Briscoe, No. 14 Zep Ford, 305, , , , , , 35, Running
3) 10, Josh Berry #, No. 4 Miner DOCKS DOORS AND MORE Ford, 305, 5, 8, , , , 43, Running
4) 19, Kyle Larson, No. 5 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet, 305, , 7, , , , 37, Running
5) 15, Chris Buescher, No. 17 Fastenal Ford, 305, , , , , , 32, Running
6) 12, Tyler Reddick, No. 45 SiriusXM Toyota, 305, 9, , 1, 53, , 33, Running
7) 13, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., No. 47 Kroger/Kleenex 100 Years Chevrolet, 305, , , , , , 30, Running
8) 28, John Hunter Nemechek, No. 42 Family Dollar Toyota, 305, , , , , , 29, Running
9) 7, Martin Truex Jr., No. 19 Reser's Fine Foods Toyota, 305, 6, 2, , , , 42, Running
10) 8, Ross Chastain, No. 1 Kubota Chevrolet, 305, 8, 10, , , , 31, Running
11) 31, Ryan Preece, No. 41 Mohawk Northeast Ford, 305, , , , , , 26, Running
12) 16, Todd Gilliland, No. 38 Grillo's Pickles Ford, 305, , 6, 1, 19, , 30, Running
13) 32, Erik Jones, No. 43 Dollar Tree Toyota, 305, , , , , , 24, Running
14) 27, Harrison Burton, No. 21 Motorcraft/Quick Lane Ford, 305, , , , , , 23, Running
15) 25, Michael McDowell, No. 34 Long John Silver's Ford, 305, , , , , , 22, Running
16) 18, Ty Gibbs, No. 54 Monster Energy Toyota, 305, , , , , , 21, Running
17) 20, Carson Hocevar #, No. 77 Delaware Life Chevrolet, 305, , , , , , 20, Running
18) 1, Chase Elliott, No. 9 NAPA Auto Parts Chevrolet, 305, 3, 9, 1, 41, , 29, Running
19) 29, Austin Cindric, No. 2 Autotrader Ford, 305, , , , , , 18, Running
20) 36, Ty Dillon(i), No. 16 Car Bravo Chevrolet, 305, , , , , , 0, Running
21) 11, Daniel Suarez, No. 99 Choice Privileges Chevrolet, 305, , , , , , 16, Running
22) 35, Kaz Grala #, No. 15 MEAT N' BONE Ford, 305, , , , , , 15, Running
23) 26, Corey LaJoie, No. 7 Schluter Systems Chevrolet, 305, , , , , , 14, Running
24) 14, Denny Hamlin, No. 11 Yahoo! Toyota, 305, 7, 1, 1, 43, 1, 27, Running
25) 2, Ryan Blaney, No. 12 Menards/Dutch Boy Ford, 305, 4, 5, , , , 25, Running
26) 3, William Byron, No. 24 Valvoline Chevrolet, 305, , , , , , 11, Running
27) 21, Noah Gragson, No. 10 Overstock.com Ford, 305, , , , , , 10, Running
28) 9, Brad Keselowski, No. 6 BuildSubmarines.com Ford, 305, , , , , , 9, Running
29) 24, Justin Haley, No. 51 Fraternal Order of Eagles Ford, 305, , , , , , 8, Running
30) 34, Zane Smith #, No. 71 Focused Health Chevrolet, 304, , , , , , 7, Running
31) 33, Daniel Hemric, No. 31 Poppy Bank Chevrolet, 303, , , , , , 6, Running
32) 6, Joey Logano, No. 22 Hunt Brothers Pizza Ford, 302, 2, 3, , , , 22, Running
33) 22, Austin Dillon, No. 3 Bass Pro Shops Chevrolet, 268, , , , , , 4, Accident
34) 17, Bubba Wallace, No. 23 DraftKings Toyota, 265, , , , , , 3, Accident
35) 30, Kyle Busch, No. 8 FICO Chevrolet, 222, , , , , , 2, Accident
36) 5, Alex Bowman, No. 48 Ally Chevrolet, 142, 10, , , , , 2, Engine
(i) Ineligible for driver points in this series, (#) Rookie 

Total Race Length: 305 Laps, 322.69 Miles
Time of Race: 3 Hrs, 48 Mins, 14 Secs.
Average Speed: 84.832 MPH
Margin of Victory: 1.104 Seconds

Stage 1 Top 10: 20, 22, 9, 12, 4, 19, 11, 1, 45, 48
Stage 2 Top 10: 11, 19, 22, 20, 12, 38, 5, 4, 9, 1

Comments: Christopher Bell has won the USA Today 301 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, his ninth career victory in the NASCAR Cup Series.

Cautions: 14 for 85 laps;
Laps: 72-77 (Stage 1 Conclusion [2]);
143-148 (No. 31 Spin Turn 2 [43]);
155-159 (No. 8, 10 Incident Turn 2 [3]);
187-193 (Stage 2 Conclusion [8]);
195-199 (No. 9, 22, Incident Turn 2 [15]);
202-205 (No. 7 Spin Backstretch [16]);
211-214 (No. 19 Incident Turn 4 [7]);
217-228 (No. 8 Incident Backstretch [Red Flag for Weather: 02:14:49] [42]);
236-241 (No. 1 Spin Turn 4 [42]);
257-262 (No. 7 Spin Turn 2 [99]);
266-274 (No. 3, 10, 2, 23, 43 Incident Turn 1 [7]);
285-292 (No. 77 Spin Turn 3 [99]);
294-297 (No. 34, 12 Incident Turn 2 [10]);
301-303 (No. 6 Spins Turn 2 [71]).

Lead Changes: 6 among 5 drivers;
C. Elliott 1-41;
C. Bell 42-125;
T. Gilliland 126-144;
D. Hamlin 145-187;
C. Bell 188;
T. Reddick 189-241;
C. Bell 242-305.

Driver Points Report: USA TODAY 301, New Hampshire Motor Speedway
Rank, Driver, Car, Starts, GL, Points, Ldr, Nxt, Race Wins, Stage Wins, Playoff Pts
1) Kyle Larson, 5, 17, 1, 620, 0, 0, 3, 8, 23
2) Chase Elliott, 9, 18, -1, 620, 0, 0, 1, 1, 6
3) Denny Hamlin, 11, 18, 0, 580, -40, 40, 3, 4, 19
4) Martin Truex Jr, 19, 18, 1, 572, -48, 8, 0, 2, 2
5) Tyler Reddick, 45, 18, 1, 560, -60, 12, 1, 3, 8
6) Christopher Bell, 20, 18, 2, 555, -65, 5, 3, 7, 22
7) William Byron, 24, 18, -3, 548, -72, 7, 3, 1, 16
8) Ryan Blaney, 12, 18, -1, 526, -94, 22, 1, 2, 7
9) Ross Chastain, 1, 18, 1, 510, -110, 16, 0, 1, 1
10) Brad Keselowski, 6, 18, -1, 507, -113, 3, 1, 0, 5
11) Ty Gibbs, 54, 18, 0, 499, -121, 8, 0, 2, 2
12) Alex Bowman, 48, 18, 0, 476, -144, 23, 0, 0, 0
13) Chris Buescher, 17, 18, 0, 467, -153, 9, 0, 2, 2
14) Joey Logano, 22, 18, 1, 430, -190, 37, 0, 1, 1
15) Bubba Wallace, 23, 18, -1, 417, -203, 13, 0, 0, 0
16) Chase Briscoe, 14, 18, 1, 405, -215, 12, 0, 0, 0
17) Kyle Busch, 8, 18, -1, 385, -235, 20, 0, 0, 0
18) Daniel Suarez, 99, 18, 0, 368, -252, 17, 1, 0, 5
19) Josh Berry #, 4, 18, 2, 357, -263, 11, 0, 0, 0
20) Todd Gilliland, 38, 18, 0, 347, -273, 10, 0, 0, 0
21) Austin Cindric, 2, 18, -2, 345, -275, 2, 1, 2, 7
22) Michael McDowell, 34, 18, 0, 331, -289, 14, 0, 1, 1
23) Carson Hocevar #, 77, 18, 0, 322, -298, 9, 0, 0, 0
24) Ricky Stenhouse Jr, 47, 18, 1, 298, -322, 24, 0, 0, 0
25) Noah Gragson, 10, 18, -1, 297, -323, 1, 0, 0, 0
26) Erik Jones, 43, 16, 0, 279, -341, 18, 0, 0, 0
27) John Hunter Nemechek, 42, 18, 1, 276, -344, 3, 0, 0, 0
28) Ryan Preece, 41, 18, -1, 275, -345, 1, 0, 0, 0
29) Corey LaJoie, 7, 18, 0, 256, -364, 19, 0, 0, 0
30) Justin Haley, 51, 18, 0, 242, -378, 14, 0, 0, 0
31) Daniel Hemric, 31, 18, 0, 240, -380, 2, 0, 0, 0
32) Austin Dillon, 3, 18, 0, 233, -387, 7, 0, 0, 0
33) Harrison Burton, 21, 18, 0, 208, -412, 25, 0, 0, 0
34) Zane Smith #, 71, 18, 0, 165, -455, 43, 0, 0, 0
35) Kaz Grala #, 15, 15, 0, 155, -465, 10, 0, 0, 0
36) Jimmie Johnson, , 5, 0, 35, -585, 120, 0, 0, 0
37) Derek Kraus, , 5, 0, 32, -588, 3, 0, 0, 0
38) David Ragan, , 1, 0, 17, -603, 15, 0, 0, 0
39) Cody Ware, , 2, 0, 17, -603, 0, 0, 0, 0
40) Kamui Kobayashi, , 1, 0, 8, -612, 9, 0, 0, 0
41) Will Brown, , 1, 0, 6, -614, 2, 0, 0, 0
42) Cam Waters, , 1, 0, 2, -618, 4, 0, 0, 0
43) AJ Allmendinger(i), , 6, 0, 0, -620, 2, 0, 0, 0
44) Anthony Alfredo(i), , 2, 0, 0, -620, 0, 0, 0, 0
45) Justin Allgaier(i), , 1, 0, 0, -620, 0, 0, 0, 0
46) Ty Dillon(i), 16, 4, 0, 0, -620, 0, 0, 0, 0
47) Shane Van Gisbergen(i), , 3, 0, 0, -620, 0, 0, 0, 0
48) Corey Heim(i), , 2, 0, 0, -620, 0, 0, 0, 0
49) BJ Mcleod(i), , 3, 0, 0, -620, 0, 0, 0, 0
50) Riley Herbst(i), , 2, 0, 0, -620, 0, 0, 0, 0
51) Josh Williams(i), , 2, 0, 0, -620, 0, 0, 0, 0
52) Austin Hill(i), , 2, 0, 0, -620, 0, 0, 0, 0
53) JJ Yeley(i), , 2, 0, 0, -620, 0, 0, 0, 0
54) Timmy Hill(i), , 1, 0, 0, -620, 0, 0, 0, 0
55) David Starr(i), , 1, 0, 0, -620, 0, 0, 0, 0
 -Ldr/-Nxt = Points behind Leader/Next higher, (i) Ineligible for driver points in this series