What Happened?
On a day that was dominated by Toyota, Christopher Bell finally broke through and won the Ambetter 301 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway on Sunday (July 17).
Bell continues to show his strength at the track. He has won three times in just as many NASCAR Xfinity Series races he has competed in there. He was also the runner-up in last year’s event, finishing second to Aric Almirola in a darkness-shortened race.
The win is also just the second career NASCAR Cup Series victory for Bell in his near three-year endeavor. His first came at the Daytona International Speedway road course in 2021.
Chase Elliott continues his hot streak with a second-place finish, his fourth top-two result in the last four races. Behind him, Bubba Wallace came home third, followed by Martin Truex Jr., the dominant car of the day (as well as the stage one and two winner). Kevin Harvick finished fifth to gather a much-needed top five in a season where his average result is the worst it’s been since 2014.
How Did It Happen?
Bell was having a relatively quiet day until the final stage, when his crew had some fantastic pit stops and launched him into the top five for most of the second half of the race. Still, he wasn’t the favorite as that last stage began.
That honor went to Truex, who led all 70 laps en route to a stage one win before backing that up with a stage two victory. The driver of the No. 19 was the clear favorite for the win at his home track once stage three went green, but one pit call changed everything.
A two-tire call turned out to be the wrong one, and on the restart, Truex got put three-wide. As has been the case this season, the once-dominant car didn’t handle as well in traffic, and Truex spent the rest of the race fighting for a shot that he never got. The fourth-place finish was just his third top five this season and his first since a fifth-place run at Talladega Superspeedway 10 races ago.
With Truex all but out of contention, the door opened for drivers who took four tires such as Bell, Elliott and Wallace to take advantage. After the drivers who just didn’t stop under the caution pitted, Elliott cycled to the lead, but Bell was right there. With 42 laps to go, Bell took the lead from Elliott and held onto it until he took the checkered flag more than five seconds ahead.
Who Stood Out?
While a playoff run might be out of the question at this point, it isn’t stopping Brad Keselowski from fighting for good performances.
The No. 6 team had an early run-in with Austin Dillon after the latter was upset with how he was being raced by Keselowski. Following a caution for a Kyle Busch spin, Dillon ran into Keselowski’s door to express his displeasure, to which Keselowski responded by dooring Dillon all the way down the backstretch and nearly spinning the No. 3 under caution.
THEY'RE FIGHTING WITH THEIR CARS!
Brad Keselowski and Austin Dillon are wrecking each other down the backstretch! #NASCAR
đź“ş : @USA_Network pic.twitter.com/qU1LM2tZgZ
— NASCAR on NBC (@NASCARonNBC) July 17, 2022
Keselowski later had a run-in with Ross Chastain (then again, who hasn’t at this point?) and ran him low on the track just past the start-finish line. But when the dust settled, it was a solid top 10 for Keselowski, whose season has been nothing but bad luck ever since his 100-point body modification penalty after the first race at Atlanta Motor Speedway.
Who Fell Flat?
Alex Bowman left New England as quickly as he got there.
Just four laps into the race, contact between Justin Haley and Ty Dillon sent the latter head on into the outside wall, collecting innocent bystanders Bowman, BJ McLeod and Josh Bilicki.
"He's looking for a ride and he drives like an idiot."
Alex Bowman's radio communication was addressed to Ty Dillon after a crash takes both of them out early at @NHMS. #NASCAR
đź“ş : @USA_Network pic.twitter.com/kJEVPeBGKJ
— NASCAR on NBC (@NASCARonNBC) July 17, 2022
Bowman expressed frustration with the driver of the No. 42 on his radio.
⚠️ Early caution. @Alex_Bowman in it, @joshbilicki and @tydillon too.
đź’ "God damn, motherf*cker gets fired, he's looking for a ride and he drives like an idiot." – No. 48 radio on the No. 42 of Ty Dillon
— Davey Segal (@DaveyCenter) July 17, 2022
It’s certainly not the day anyone wants. Crashing less than 10 percent of the way into the race leaves teams feeling like it was a waste of time and resources journeying to the track. Bowman, while in the wrong place at the wrong time, probably wishes he had this race back.
What Did This Race Prove?
16 winners is possible. Very possible. More possible than it ever has been.
I know, I know, it gets discussed every year at the beginning of the season. But when we get to the year’s midway point, it’s usually determined that it won’t happen. But with six races to go, there’s still several drivers who probably could or should have won by now that haven’t (i.e.: Truex, Harvick, Ryan Blaney, to name a few). 2022 is the first year since the expansion of the playoffs from 12 to 16 that no one could point their way in or a driver with a win does not make the playoffs because we would surpass 16 winners.
Bell’s victory also shows that no winless driver is safe in the playoffs, no matter what position they are in in the regular season standings. Blaney and Truex are running third and fourth, for example, but are the lone two drivers currently in the playoffs on points. Two more winners and they’re out, despite being top five in the standings.
Seriously, think about this. Blaney is P3 in points and Truex is P4 and they have to be legit concerned about missing the playoffs! And only eight drivers in the series have more points than Harvick but it's looking like he'll miss without a win. Willllllllllllllllllllllllld. https://t.co/PeGL5plg2R
— Jeff Gluck (@jeff_gluck) July 17, 2022
It just shows how important the “win and you’re in” format is, especially in situations like this year.
Shifting gears to the on-track product, New Hampshire seemed like the first race for the Next Gen car on a flat track where passing was possible, where drivers had to rely more on their handling than speed to get them around the 1.058-mile track. One of the big weaknesses for the Next Gen car has been flat-track racing, which has been a lot of “follow the guy in front of you and rely on pit strategy” type racing, but New Hampshire didn’t seem to follow that pattern.
Did NASCAR do something different from the last flat track the series went to (Road America)? While it was a one manufacturer domination-fest, there were still battles around the track, including a great one for the lead between Elliott, Bell and even Kurt Busch at one point toward the end of the race.
Tires went away and drivers were trying really hard not to wreck at the finish as grip was practically nonexistent on the track for anyone once Bell took the checkered flag.
It’s a step in the right direction for NASCAR in its areas to be improved with the Next Gen car.
Better Than Last Time?
This year, NASCAR did a lot better with judging the rain in the area. Instead of doing what it did in 2021 and starting the race despite the weather, it waited and let the rain pass before starting the event.
Rain began to fall six laps into last year's race at New Hampshire, taking out race leader Kyle Busch, Martin Truex Jr., Alex Bowman and Denny Hamlin.
Luckily the weather's looking great for this weekend's #NASCAR action in the Granite State. pic.twitter.com/7eyhHV7Kr9
— NASCAR on NBC (@NASCARonNBC) July 13, 2022
Darkness was not an issue this year, so the full 301 laps were completed. That’s something I’m sure Bell is happy about, as he most likely feels he could have passed Almirola for the win last year had the final eight laps not been cut due to darkness.
But both races had a driver who was on the verge of being bumped from the playoffs take the lead late in the race and get a clutch win to lock themselves in.
While the 2021 and 2022 races mirrored each other in several ways, the 2022 race flow was just better all around.
Paint Scheme of the Race
Well, the Toyota drivers probably confused all their spotters this week.
There were several paint schemes within the Toyota camp that were run by different drivers than normal at Loudon. Kyle Busch carried Bell’s DeWalt colors while his brother Kurt sported the black and blue SiriusXM colors, another Bell sponsor.
But the best one of them all has to be the electric green of the Interstate Batteries car, driven by Bus… sorry, Truex.
Martin Truex Jr. has a new look this week with a familiar JGR sponsor: pic.twitter.com/9zZHBwIksk
— Bob Pockrass (@bobpockrass) July 12, 2022
This scheme is awesome when Kyle Busch runs it, but to see it on a car other than the No. 18 makes it very unique.
Well done, Toyota graphic designers. Now please, for the sake of your spotters, never do something large-scale like this project again.
What’s Next?
The mountains are calling.
The NASCAR Cup Series heads to Pocono Raceway for its lone visit to Long Pond. Qualifying begins at approximately 3:20 p.m. ET on Saturday, July 23 before coverage for the M&M’s Fan Appreciation 400 begins on Sunday, July 24 at 3 p.m. ET on USA Network.
About the author
Anthony Damcott joined Frontstretch in March 2022. Currently, he is an editor and co-authors Fire on Fridays (Fridays); he is also the primary Truck Series reporter/writer and secondary short track writer. He also serves as an at-track reporter and assists with social media when he can. A proud West Virginia Wesleyan College alum from Akron, Ohio, Anthony is now a grad student. He is a theatre actor and fight-choreographer-in-training in his free time.
You can keep up with Anthony by following @AnthonyDamcott on X.
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Lots of story lines now, but to me, one of the biggest is Kyle Busch. The coach, & Toyota want to keep him. But he was so bad at times yesterday that he spun twice & was lucky he didn’t get T-boned. He did manage a decent finish.
Yes, he’s won a race & is in the playoffs, but that win was handed to him on a silver platter, rather than earned.
No idea what the problem is, but at this point his past looks brighter than his future.
The fire just doesnt seem to be there with this crew chief as it was with Steven’s.
OK, so since I bitch a lot in this forum, I want to offer some praise for both the race and the broadcast yesterday. The good drivers and teams were all in the thick of it, rather than “surprising near upsets” from typical backmarkers like we see every plate race. There were some great storylines, pit gambles that worked for some (Kurt Busch) and not for others (Joey Logano), and passing was difficult but not impossible.
Furthermore, the broadcast was very good too. The pre-race show actually talked about the race, its implications for various drivers, and the playoff picture, as opposed to segments of Michael Waltrip schmoozing with fans. And they didn’t make me watch a pointless Rutledge segment during the event. Commercials covering the whole screen were almost entirely limited to caution laps.
If NASCAR keeps putting on good shows like this one, they’ll keep growing enough that they won’t have to pander to the left coast and can put races back to noon.
I doubt they’ll ever be put back to noon just because it’s been proven that 230-330 starts work so much better for TV. But I’d even be happy with 2 or 130 start times.
that later start time works for TV but not I still don’t think it works as well for fans. We have been to NH several times and yesterday during the race, the conversation turned to “is this race always this long?” and “what time would we get home?” Since we usually drove up the day before and home the same night as the race (which turned into a 21 hour day) I’m not interested in doing that any more. I know I know, we could stay over after the race too but that’s now how we worked it out when the race started at 1 p.m.).
I thought it was a pretty good race. Certainly I was glad to see Bell win it rather than the drivers that I don’t enjoy seeing win. That list is way longer than it used to be.
When NASCAR was at its peak in 2003…the last year pre-Brian…races started around noon-1:00 most weeks if I remember correctly. Didn’t hurt the TV ratings at all. If the product is good people will watch whenever it’s on within reason, and there should be some consideration for people filling the stands.
Again, I don’t want to be bitchy-pants this week, just saying.
Agree Kurt. I would love it, but like leaving the Playoff system, in this day and age, I don’t think a BIG change at least will happen.
However, if this Next-Gen car continues to produce such good racing at nearly every track, the viewers will appear no matter what time these deals start. I know I would.
i kept waiting for rutledge to show up at some place that sells lobster rolls.
surprised that he didn’t too! My favorite is lobster pie. We used to get that when we traveled up there. Lots of butter and lobster – not a healthy dish but certainly wonderful to eat.
I was happy not to see a pointless Rutledge bit either. I just assumed I missed it by being away from the TV for a few minutes here and there.
Overall I thought it was a decent race. The second half of the race was much better than the first half. I was OK with Bell winning. It is now clear that one of the usual playoff participants (Truex, Harvic and Blaney) will be sitting out the playoffs unless they all three pull off wins in the next 6 race (if that happens someone with a win will be sitting out based on points). While I like Truex and Blaney, I think it’s good that one of the designated “NASCAR stars” will miss it this year.
Can’t wait to hear more on the Keselowski/Dillon dust up. Very impressed with Kes declining to talk about it in the post race interview. No soundbite for NBC next week…. the horror, the horror.
Oh yeah, does anyone else besides me think that Chase Elliott looks like a 70’s porn star with that mustache?
Kinda looks more like Rooster if he was from Georgia to me