Ryan Blaney was back in New Hampshire victory lane with lobster in hand.
Blaney won the Dollar Tree 301 NASCAR Cup Series race on Aug. 23 at New Hampshire, claiming the win at the 1.058-mile oval for the second year in a row.
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He held off Bubba Wallace and Josh Berry late while darting around lapped traffic.
The driver of the No. 12 Team Penske Ford enters the regular-season finale next week at Daytona with the inside track on the No. 2 seed in the Chase.
At the other end of the standings, Ryan Preece cut into the margin in pursuit of Shane van Gisbergen for the final Chase spot.
Here are the winners and losers from the NASCAR New Hampshire race:
CUP POINTS: NASCAR points standings: Cup Series points update after New Hampshire race, Chase picture
NASCAR New Hampshire winners and losers
Winner: Josh Berry
Josh Berry had a legitimate chance to win at New Hampshire, but a slow pit stop late and a hectic restart kept him from being a true factor in the final laps.
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Berry, along with the rest of the lead-lap cars, made his final stop with 74 laps to go under caution. Berry said post-race to USA Network that he stopped a little too far in his pit stall on the last stop, which started a slower stop that pushed him behind Bubba Wallace and others after entering pit road inside the top three.
Berry had to restart outside the top 10, and only started making time up as the final run went longer. By the time Berry reached third with 30 laps to go, he was more than five seconds behind Blaney.
The No. 21 erased nearly four seconds of that deficit, but it was only good enough for a strong third-place finish.
“We gave up too much track position early (in the run) and fought hard to get back through there,” Berry said to USA Network. “That was everything I had and everything I could do today.”
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Berry’s last four race finishes are now seventh, fourth, eighth and third. And to underline just how poor the No. 21’s performance was earlier in the season, Berry has only moved up from 33rd to 29th in the points standings.
But given that Berry does not have a 2027 ride as of now, this has been a great month-long job audition.
Winner: Ryan Preece’s Chase chances
Ryan Preece had a much-needed good day at New Hampshire.
Preece earned 10 points across the two stages, then held on to a ninth-place finish despite struggling late in the final run.
Preece will go into the Daytona regular-season finale in 17th in points, 31 points behind Shane van Gisbergen for the final Chase spot.
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Preece can also catch Austin Cindric (+44 to 17th) next week, but he has a real shot at a track that produces chaos at the same rate as Florida does humidity.
Loser: Chase Elliott’s pre-Chase points position
Chase Elliott’s top-five finish last week only served as a summer blip on an otherwise bleak stretch for the No. 9 team.
Elliott never was on pace with his Hendrick teammates throughout the weekend at New Hampshire, qualifying 29th and languishing in the 20s throughout the event before finishing in 25th.
Chevrolet hasn’t won at New Hampshire in 14 years, and only Kyle Larson and Alex Bowman finished in the top 15 among Chevys on Aug. 23. But Elliott was behind nine other Chevrolets by race’s end, dropping from sixth in points to eighth. He now sits 25 points ahead of ninth-place Joey Logano and 31 ahead of 10th-place Chris Buescher.
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Loser: Ross Chastain’s Chase chances
Ross Chastain came into New Hampshire with a recent uptick in results, leaving his Chase chances slightly ajar with two races to go.
But Chastain had an apparent engine issue during the end of the first stage, and rode out the final laps of Stage 1 with smoke coming out of the right-front wheel well.
The No. 1 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet went to the garage after the stage end, and was out of the race.
Chastain is now eliminated from Chase contention, cementing what has been a disappointing season for Trackhouse’s top team.
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: NASCAR New Hampshire winners, losers as Ryan Preece cuts into Chase deficit
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