Rain first, then a Penske Ford out front
Nobody was certain there would be a race at all.
Loudon spent Sunday under rain. NASCAR had already moved the start of the Dollar Tree 301 forward by an hour on Friday, guessing at the forecast, and then the weather made that call look pointless. All 36 cars rolled off pit road on Goodyear wet-weather tires. Carson Hocevar spun out of Turn 4 during the pace laps and officials parked the field on pit road to dry the track again. The green flag eventually fell close to its originally scheduled time.
Ryan Blaney won it. He held off Bubba Wallace by 0.586 seconds, led 115 of the 301 laps, and took the No. 12 Team Penske Ford to the 20th Cup Series victory of his career.
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Second year running at the Magic Mile
Blaney won at Loudon last season too. Only two drivers had put together consecutive New Hampshire wins before him, Jeff Burton and Kevin Harvick. That is the company this result puts him in. It was also his third win of 2026.
Wallace ran second in the No. 23 Toyota, led 22 laps, and collected his 11th top-10 finish of the year. Josh Berry took third in the No. 21 Ford after leading 73 laps of his own. Christopher Bell finished fourth and Kyle Larson fifth, Larson having won Stage 1 by leading 14 of the opening 70 laps for his fifth stage win of the season.
Denny Hamlin did not win and still got what he needed. The points leader locked up the top seed for the Chase.
Chastain’s season ends in the garage
Tyler Reddick started on pole and spun from Turn 4 on the opening lap, throwing the first caution and cutting across the paths of Hamlin and Chris Buescher. John Hunter Nemechek scraped the wall on his own on lap 22 and carried on.
Ross Chastain did not. Drivetrain trouble sent the No. 1 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet to the garage after 41 laps. He finished last, and his remaining postseason hopes went with it.
One race left in the regular season. The Coke Zero Sugar 400 at Daytona runs Saturday at 7:30 p.m. ET, and the 16-driver Chase field gets locked in when the flag drops on it.
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