Martin Truex Jr. wins at New Hampshire Motor Speedway

There were no new winners Monday at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. Instead, Martin Truex Jr. celebrated in Victory Lane for the third time while taking back the top spot in the regular-season standings.

Here are the points reports:

Click here for the driver standings l Click here for the team owner standings

Truex and William Byron have each held the top spot in the standings over the past two races. The Hendrick Motorsports driver took the lead after winning at Atlanta Motor Speedway. He was 21 points ahead of Truex entering New Hampshire, but he finished 24th.

Truex is now 17 points ahead as the Cup Series turns its attention to the final six races remaining in the regular season. Next up is Pocono Raceway, a track where Truex has two previous wins (2015, 2018).

The battle for the final playoff spot only intensified at New Hampshire. Daniel Suarez and Michael McDowell each gained bonus points in stage 1 after entering the weekend three points ahead of Bubba Wallace.

McDowell finished 11th overall with 25 points while Suarez finished 16th with 24 points. Wallace finished eighth overall with 29 points despite missing out on top-10 finishes in the first two stages.

Wallace is now back above the cutline and in 15th. He has a two-point lead over Suarez, who is the first driver below the cutline.

McDowell is 16th and one point ahead of Suarez. AJ Allmendinger, who was 13 points back of the cutline entering New Hampshire, is now 20 points back after a 19th-place finish.

Martin Truex Jr. led 254 laps and won his third race of the Cup Series season.

Click here for where everyone finished at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.

Click here for the cumulative race report.

Click here for the penalty report.

For the first time in his Cup Series career, Martin Truex Jr. gets to hold up the lobster.

The 2017 Cup Series champion entered the race weekend at the 1.058-mile track with 29 starts and zero wins despite having 916 laps led. He snapped his winless streak in dominant fashion by sweeping all three stages and leading the overwhelming majority of the laps.

Truex then held off Joey Logano on three different late-race restarts. He built up a lead of more than one second, and he finally took the checkered flag at a track where he has performed so consistently throughout his career.

Logano, Kyle Larson, Kevin Harvick and Brad Keselowski rounded out the top five. Pole-sitter Christopher Bell finished 29th after hitting the wall on Lap 288.

Christopher Bell, one of the favorites to win at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, crashed with 13 laps remaining.

The driver of the No. 20 lost control and hit the wall hard. This crumpled the right rear and took Bell out of contention for a top-10 finish. The incident also set up another late restart featuring Martin Truex Jr., Joey Logano, Kevin Harvick, and Kyle Larson.

Truex had struggled to pull away from Logano on the two previous restarts despite having the best car all day. He was starting to finally gain ground when Bell backed it into the wall.

“We should have a company policy that says when one of your teammates is leading, don’t crash by yourself,” Truex said over the radio after the caution flew.

The first two stages at New Hampshire were calm; now the intensity has ramped up significantly.

Following a caution for Noah Gragson hitting the wall, Martin Truex Jr. used fresh tires to take the lead from Kevin Harvick with 23 laps remaining in the race.

Joey Logano moved into second and began challenging for the lead, but this battle did not last long. The caution flew for an Alex Bowman spin on Lap 280.

The incident occurred as Ty Gibbs hit Bowman from behind, sending the No. 48 Chevrolet into a slide. Bowman collided with the side of Erik Jones’ No. 43, which actually straightened him back out. The caution flew as Bowman continued moving forward on the track.

This was the second incident involving Bowman and Gibbs, but it was the first to bring out the yellow. The first occurred when Gibbs slid up ahead of Bowman, who then hit the No. 54 Toyota from behind.

Martin Truex Jr. had a sizable lead over Kyle Larson in second and Ryan Blaney in third with just over 30 laps remaining at New Hampshire. The situation changed as Noah Gragson hit the wall.

The driver of the No. 42 Chevrolet hit the wall hard with 31 laps remaining, and he brought out the caution. Gragson said over the radio that something failed and then the NBC Sports replay showed that the nut came off of the No. 42.

This incident set up a final restart at the 1.058-mile track. Martin Truex Jr. won the race off pit road while Larson was just behind him. Blaney was knocked out of contention after he ran over the hose in his pit stall. This led to a penalty that dropped him to the rear of the field.

Kevin Harvick and Austin Dillon both stayed out on older tires, which put them at the front of the pack for the restart. This decision put Harvick in a position to contend for his fifth Cup win at New Hampshire in his final start at the track. He just had to hold off drivers on fresh tires.

The Cup Series race at New Hampshire Motor Speedway has featured a dominant performance by Martin Truex Jr. He swept the first two stages and surpassed his career-best mark of 172 laps led at the 1.058-mile track. Now, he has the goal of closing out the day.

Truex entered the weekend winless in Cup competition at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. He set out to change this trend, and he put himself at the front of the pack during the final stage. However, Truex had a challenger.

Ryan Blaney erased Truex’s advantage with fewer than 100 laps remaining in the race. He worked his way to within half of a second as he tried to win his second Monday race of the 2023 season.

Blaney won the rain-postponed race at Charlotte Motor Speedway on May 29. Truex won the other Monday race at Dover Motor Speedway on May 1.

Blaney was the first to hit pit road during green flag stops. He tried to leapfrog Truex, but the No. 19 team turned in a solid stop and kept Truex ahead. This set up one final battle between the two veteran drivers.

Martin Truex Jr. won stage 2 after a battle with Kyle Larson. This marked the second consecutive race at New Hampshire Motor Speedway where he swept the first two stages.

Truex lost his lead after Erik Jones spun and brought out the caution. Aric Almirola, Larson, Joey Logano, and Kevin Harvick used a two-tire strategy while Truex’s crew changed all four on the No. 19 Toyota. The stage 1 winner still restarted inside of the top five.

Almirola brought out the caution on Lap 169 after hitting the wall, which led to another restart. Larson led the field to the green flag, but Truex used his four tires to take the lead. He built up an advantage over one second, and he went on to win the second stage.

Stage points earned at New Hampshire:

• Martin Truex Jr. - 20
• Ryan Blaney - 13
• Tyler Reddick - 10
• Denny Hamlin - 10
• Joey Logano - 10
• William Byron - 9
• Kyle Larson - 9
• Aric Almirola - 7
• Christopher Bell - 6
• Kevin Harvick - 5
• Alex Bowman - 4
• Brad Keselowski - 3
• Daniel Suarez - 3
• Michael McDowell - 1

Aric Almirola brought out the caution on Lap 169 after using a two-tire strategy to take the lead. He led the field to green but then he lost control as the field went three- and four-wide behind him.

Almirola hit the wall hard as the right-rear wheel began to come off the No. 10 Ford. The NBC Sports replay showed that the nut had come off of the wheel as Almirola spun. The No. 10 team also confirmed over the radio that the lug nut was not tight.

NBC Sports’ Steve Letarte explained that the issue came from the drive pins never getting seated during the tire change. The pin did not lock into position, so the wheel spun as the tire changer tried to tighten the nut.

Almirola, the winner of the 2021 New Hampshire race, had one of the best cars in the field prior to the crash. He finished fourth in stage 1 and then he spent the majority of stage 2 running second behind Martin Truex Jr.

This incident led to Almirola finishing 33rd overall. The only drivers behind him were Cole Custer, Corey LaJoie, and Kyle Busch.

Erik Jones brought out the third caution of the day on Lap 163 of the Cup Series race. He was in the 24th position entering
Turn 4, but he lost control and spun.

Jones kept the car out of the wall and avoided damage, but he forced the leaders to head down pit road for fresh tires. This led to a change at the top of the leaderboard.

Aric Almirola took the lead after the Jones caution as he used a two-tire strategy. Martin Truex Jr., who had the dominant car all day, came off pit road further back after a four-tire stop. Kyle Larson, Joey Logano, Michael McDowell, Kevin Harvick and Bubba Wallace all took two tires during the stop.

Truex was the driver to watch early at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. He won the first stage after making multiple passes for the lead and then he led at the halfway point of the race after green flag pit stops.

Truex reached 1,000 career laps led at New Hampshire, and he led more than 100 laps in a race for the sixth time since 2016. His career-high was 172 laps led during the 2022 Cup Series race.

The 2017 Cup Series champion had the best car in the field at the halfway point of the race, and he used it to build up a lead of more than four seconds over Aric Almirola in second place. He also put several drivers a lap down, including Chase Briscoe, Harrison Burton, Chase Elliott, and Justin Haley.

The Jones caution and the four-tire stop put him behind Almirola, Larson, Logano, and Harvick for the restart.

Chase Elliott lost five points on the playoff cutline after the race at Atlanta Motor Speedway. He entered New Hampshire 60 points out of a playoff spot, but he has only struggled after starting 18th overall.

Elliott finished 18th in stage 1 while Daniel Suarez and Michael McDowell both scored stage points. These two names are significant considering that they entered the weekend three points above the playoff cutline.

Elliott dropped outside of the top 20 in stage 2, and he remained in the 23rd position as green flag pit stops approached. He was fourth in the Hendrick Motorsports camp. Kyle Larson was running fifth, William Byron was 11th, and Alex Bowman was 17th.

McDowell continued to race inside of the top 10 midway through stage 2, which set him up to potentially add more points to his total.

“This has not been a good track for me, I would say at all really. We ran good up here last and I really wasn’t sure why, to be honest,” Elliott said Saturday.

Martin Truex Jr. won stage 1 with a Toyota that appears to be the strongest in the field. He passed William Byron on Lap 43, and he went on to build up a lead of more than three seconds before scoring the playoff point.

This was the sixth stage win at New Hampshire of Truex’s career. He swept the first two stages during the 2022 race at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. He ultimately finished fourth while Christopher Bell won.

Truex has never won a Cup race at New Hampshire despite posting seven top-10 finishes in the past eight races at the 1.058-mile track.

While Truex added another stage win to his season total, William Byron finished second after using a two-tire strategy on the opening pit stop. Denny Hamlin (seventh) and Michael McDowell (10th) were the other two drivers that had gained several positions with two-tire stops.

Kyle Busch began the day at the rear of the field after a crash in qualifying and repairs by the No. 8 Richard Childress Racing team. He finished stage 1 with smoke billowing from his Chevrolet after he spun and hit the wall.

Corey LaJoie also hit the wall in the same spot, and he had to spend extra time on pit road as his team made repairs. He ultimately headed to the garage as well.

“No, I’ve been lacking right-rear grip the whole time we’ve been here,” Busch told NBC Sports’ Dave Burns. “Just couldn’t get the right-rear feel in the race track. You’re just going along trying to keep it under you as much as you can. It was getting late in the run, and I was trying a different line and it was just too high. I didn’t like to be that high on entry. I couldn’t give it wheel and have the right-rear stick with the lateral grip that you need.”

With the Cup Series race taking place after rain postponed it to Monday, NASCAR elected to hold a competition caution on Lap 30. The yellow flew one lap early after AJ Allmendinger spun exiting Turn 2.

The Kaulig Racing driver was running 11th at the time, but he only dropped to 15th after spinning. He avoided damage after keeping the No. 16 out of the wall, and he was able to make it to pit road with the rest of the drivers on the lead lap.

There were three drivers that used an alternate strategy on the opening round of pit stops. William Byron moved up six spots with a two-tire stop. Denny Hamlin used the same strategy and left pit road second. Michael McDowell also moved up to fifth with a two-tire stop.

Ricky Stenhouse Jr. actually inherited the lead after staying out in the No. 47 Chevrolet. He lined up on the outside
lane with Byron on his inside, but he fell to sixth after the restart. Byron took the lead with Martin Truex Jr., Tyler Reddick, Aric Almirola, and Denny Hamlin behind him.

Christopher Bell led the field to the green flag from the outside lane, and he quickly cleared Martin Truex Jr. for the lead. Joey Logano settled into third while Aric Almirola took fourth.

Michael McDowell and Austin Dillon took the field three-wide on Lap 2, which led to contact between Dillon and AJ Allmendinger. The No. 16 remained moving forward without incident as Allmendinger tried to crack the top 10.

There was a lot of three-wide racing outside of the top 10 as the drivers tried to make as many passes as possible before the competition caution. Allmendinger’s teammate, Justin Haley, was involved as Todd Gilliland and Ryan Preece battled for position.

Bell led during the first two laps, but Truex jumped to his outside and took the lead on Lap 3. He began to build up a lead of more than half a second over Bell, and he increased it to one second by Lap 10.

Joe Gibbs Racing’s Christopher Bell will be the center of attention heading into Monday afternoon’s race at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. The Oklahoma native is the defending winner at the 1.058-mile track, and he has five wins across the three national series.

Bell reached the playoffs with a win at Bristol Motor Speedway (dirt) on Easter Sunday, but he has since gone winless in Cup Series competition. He enters the New Hampshire race fourth in the regular-season standings.

“My finishes have been atrocious lately and we are still right in the hunt,” Bell told NBC Sports on Saturday.

Bell will lead the field to green after winning the pole while teammate Martin Truex Jr. will join him on the front row. Kyle Busch is the only driver that will drop to the rear of the field after a crash in qualifying. (Click here to see where everyone will line up).

Other storylines to watch:

—In Dustin Long’s Friday 5 column, Michael McDowell’s crew chief Travis Peterson said that “the next four weeks is our playoff stretch.” McDowell is currently above the playoff cutline with seven races remaining in the regular season, but the next four races are at tracks where the veteran driver has historically struggled while falling short of a top-10 finish. Peterson’s goal is to stay within five or 10 points of the cutline by the time the schedule turns to the Aug. 13 race at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

—Diandra Leslie-Pelecky highlighted Kyle Busch and William Byron in her weekly column as the top two championship contenders entering New Hampshire. She pointed out that each driver can remain on this path with simple objectives. Byron needs to continue his consistent stretch of finishing races while Busch needs to avoid some of the early-race mistakes that have plagued the No. 8 team. Busch is 11.2 in average finishing position while Byron is 11.4. These are the two best numbers in the Cup Series in 2023.