Have a day, Team Penske.
The three-car Ford stable combined to lead 263 of 301 laps in the Mobil 1 301 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, including 116 laps out front for Ryan Blaney on the way to his third win of the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series season on Sunday (Sept. 21).
New Hampshire is a track where it’s typically difficult to pass under green, which led to several two-tire and fuel only pit calls to try to maximize track position. Here are the major pit road plotlines coming out of The Magic Mile:
Chase Elliott, No. 9 Team on the Comeback Trail
Following practice and qualifying on Saturday, it looked as though the Round of 12 was going to get off to a rough start for Chase Elliott and the No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports team.
Elliott wound up 20th on the practice charts, and qualifying went evet worse, starting the race all the way back in 27th. With that starting position and only 70 laps in the opening stage, Elliott missed out on early stage points but did claw has way up to 16th.
Then, in stage two, long-time HMS crew chief Alan Gustafson made his first of two critical pit calls on the afternoon. On lap 150, under the sixth caution of the race, Gustafson dialed up a call for right-side tires only and fuel to vault Elliott up the running order.
Elliott maintained much of his newfound track position to finish stage two in seventh, picking up four stage points. In the playoffs, just one point could separate a team from advancing or getting eliminated, so do not be surprised if those stage points make a difference at the end of the round.
Gustafson’s second pit strategy shakeup came on the last round of pit stops during the final caution that came out on lap 253. Elliott was one of just two lead lap drivers to stay out on the racetrack, restarting second alongside race leader Josh Berry. Though Elliott possessed neither the raw speed nor the fresh tires to contend for the win, he had a strong enough final run to finish fifth, a 22-position improvement from his starting spot.
A great day for sure to battle our way back through there,” Elliott said post-race. “I thought everybody on pit road did a great job with a terrible stall. Hats off to our pit crew, really everybody across the board on our NAPA team just executed a good race. Alan called a good race obviously staying out there at the end. We made our bed there with running long at the end.”
At a critical juncture in the playoffs, Gustafson was at the top of his game atop the pit box. If Elliott and the No. 9 make a championship run, this rally in The Granite State will go down as one of the defining moments of the season.
Two-Tire Calls Turn in Mixed Results
As aforementioned in the intro, two-tire pit stops were a recurring theme throughout the race for teams looks to gain track position. Ultimately, these calls by crew chiefs produced mixed results. Let’s look at a couple of examples.
After showing a great deal of speed and winning a race in the Round of 16, Chase Briscoe had a slight stumble out of the gates for the Round of 12. Rolling off 18th, Briscoe missed out on points in stage one, which had the No. 19 team searching for a way to squeeze points out of stage two.
On lap 113, crew chief James Small made Briscoe the first car off of pit road with two right-side tires. Briscoe held on to lead a handful of laps before getting passed for the lead by Kyle Larson on lap 134. Nonetheless, the two-tire call paid some dividends as Briscoe collected two stage points with a ninth-place stage two finish and took the checkered flag in 10th. However, Briscoe is by no means in a comfortable position, sitting as the last driver above the cut line, 12 points ahead of Ross Chastain.
While Blaney and Joey Logano started — and stayed — out front for Team Penske, the same could not be said for their teammate and fellow Round of 12 driver Austin Cindric.
After taking the initial green flag in 22nd and completely missing out on stage points, crew chief Brian Wilson made a last-ditch effort to salvage the day for the No. 2 team. During the post-stage two caution pit stops, Wilson had the pit crew put on just two right-side tires.
Cindric restarted the race on the front row alongside Logano. Unfortunately for him and the No. 2 team, Cindric did not stay up there long, soon falling back outside the top 10 before wrapping up the race with a 17th-place finish.
While Blaney is on the Round of 8 and Logano has built up a 24-point cushion to the cut line, Cindric resides 19 points below the cut line. This continues the theme of Cindric not measuring up to Blaney and Logano’s performance since going full-time Cup racing in 2022. He will need great runs over the next two races to avoid a second straight Round of 12 exit.
Look Ahead to Next Week
The Round of 12 continues at Kansas Speedway with the running of the Hollywood Casino 400 Presented by ESPN Bet next Sunday, Sept. 28. Broadcast coverage begins at 3 p.m. ET on USA Network.
With the Charlotte Motor Speedway ROVAL looming as an elimination race, the 11 remaining playoff teams not already locked into the Round of 8 will want to get themselves as much of a cushion from the cut line as possible. It is easier to pass under green at Kansas than it is at New Hampshire, but pit strategy will still be a vital tool to obtain track position next weekend.
Andrew Stoddard joined Frontstretch in May of 2022 as an iRacing contributor. He is a graduate of Hampden-Sydney College, the University of Richmond, and VCU. He works as an athletic communications specialist at Eastern Mennonite University in Harrisonburg, Va.