Race Results

NASCAR Cup Series

Ambetter 301

New Hampshire Motor Speedway

July 17th, 2022

Race #20 of the 2022 NASCAR Cup Series Season

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Laps Scheduled: 301
Miles Raced : 318.5
Time of Race : 03 Hours 14 minutes 45 seconds
Average Speed: 98.113 mph
Margin of Victory : 05.439 seconds
Cautions: 9
Caution Laps: 52
Lead Changes: 8
Cars in Race : 36
Finished On Lead Lap: 13 (36%)

Christopher Bell celebrates after winning — Loudon, New Hampshire - July 17th, 2022: Christopher Bell, driver of the #20 Rheem/WATTS Toyota, celebrates after winning the NASCAR Cup Series Ambetter 301 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. Photo by Tim Nwachukwu | Getty Images

FIN	ST	Car #	Driver	Make	TOT PTS	F PTS	B PTS	PO PTS	Laps	Led	x Led	S1	S2	STUS
1	5	20	Christopher Bell	Toyota	47	40	7	5	301	42	1	6	9	Running
2	2	9	Chase Elliott	Chevrolet	50	35	15	0	301	13	1	4	3	Running
3	4	23	Bubba Wallace	Toyota	44	34	10	0	301	0	0	2	10	Running
4	1	19	Martin Truex Jr	Toyota	53	33	20	2	301	172	3	1	1	Running
5	10	4	Kevin Harvick	Ford	47	32	15	0	301	0	0	5	2	Running
6	14	11	Denny Hamlin	Toyota	32	31	1	0	301	0	0	10	0	Running
7	9	6	Brad Keselowski	Ford	30	30	0	0	301	0	0	0	0	Running
8	18	1	Ross Chastain	Chevrolet	33	29	4	0	301	0	0	0	7	Running
9	19	99	Daniel Suarez	Chevrolet	28	28	0	0	301	0	0	0	0	Running
10	3	45	Kurt Busch	Toyota	36	27	9	0	301	40	1	7	6	Running
11	6	24	William Byron	Chevrolet	31	26	5	0	301	0	0	9	8	Running
12	17	18	Kyle Busch	Toyota	25	25	0	0	301	0	0	0	0	Running
13	28	2	Austin Cindric	Ford	24	24	0	0	301	0	0	0	0	Running
14	8	5	Kyle Larson	Chevrolet	37	23	14	0	300	0	0	3	5	Running
15	29	14	Chase Briscoe	Ford	22	22	0	0	300	6	1	0	0	Running
16	20	16	AJ Allmendinger	Chevrolet	0	0	0	0	300	0	0	0	0	Running
17	16	17	Chris Buescher	Ford	20	20	0	0	300	0	0	0	0	Running
18	11	12	Ryan Blaney	Ford	19	19	0	0	300	0	0	0	0	Running
19	22	43	Erik Jones	Chevrolet	18	18	0	0	300	0	0	0	0	Running
20	25	31	Justin Haley	Chevrolet	17	17	0	0	300	0	0	0	0	Running
21	13	8	Tyler Reddick	Chevrolet	16	16	0	0	300	0	0	0	0	Running
22	24	47	Ricky Stenhouse Jr	Chevrolet	15	15	0	0	300	0	0	0	0	Running
23	30	3	Austin Dillon	Chevrolet	14	14	0	0	300	0	0	0	0	Running
24	12	22	Joey Logano	Ford	20	13	7	0	300	25	1	0	4	Running
25	26	38	Todd Gilliland	Ford	12	12	0	0	300	0	0	0	0	Running
26	31	21	Harrison Burton	Ford	11	11	0	0	300	3	1	0	0	Running
27	23	41	Cole Custer	Ford	10	10	0	0	300	0	0	0	0	Running
28	15	34	Michael McDowell	Ford	9	9	0	0	299	0	0	0	0	Running
29	33	15	JJ Yeley	Ford	0	0	0	0	299	0	0	0	0	Running
30	36	51	Cody Ware	Ford	7	7	0	0	297	0	0	0	0	Running
31	7	10	Aric Almirola	Ford	9	6	3	0	282	0	0	8	0	Running
32	21	7	Corey Lajoie	Chevrolet	5	5	0	0	88	0	0	0	0	Accident
33	35	42	Ty Dillon	Chevrolet	4	4	0	0	5	0	0	0	0	Accident
34	34	77	Josh Bilicki	Chevrolet	0	0	0	0	5	0	0	0	0	Accident
35	27	48	Alex Bowman	Chevrolet	2	2	0	0	4	0	0	0	0	Accident
36	32	78	BJ McLeod	Ford	0	0	0	0	4	0	0	0	0	Accident

Race Infractions

Ambetter 301 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway

Driver	Infraction	Penalty	Lap	Lap Assessed	Flag
Ty Dillon	Pitting before pit road is open Garage	Tail End	5	0	Yellow
Josh Bilicki	Pitting before pit road is open Garage	Tail End	6	0	Yellow
JJ Yeley	Removing equipment from assigned pit area	Tail End	74	77	Yellow
Justin Haley	Pitting before pit road is open	Tail End	79	83	Yellow
Harrison Burton	Pitting before pit road is open	Tail End	90	100	Yellow
Michael McDowell	Pitting before pit road is open	Tail End	91	100	Yellow
Ryan Blaney	Pitting before pit road is open	Tail End	147	151	Yellow
Harrison Burton	Pitting before pit road is open	Tail End	147	151	Yellow
Aric Almirola	Pitting before pit road is open Garage	Tail End	155	0	Yellow
Cody Ware	Pitting before pit road is open	Tail End	166	167	Yellow
Austin Cindric	Car/Truck pitting out of the assigned pit box	Tail End	188	192	Yellow
Todd Gilliland	Pitting before pit road is open	Tail End	205	209	Yellow
Harrison Burton	Removing equipment from assigned pit area	Tail End	206	209	Yellow
Tyler Reddick	Pitting before pit road is open	Tail End	208	209	Yellow

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Race Fast Facts

New Hampshire Motor Speedway
30th Annual Ambetter 301
Race Winner: Christopher Bell
Age: 27
Team: No. 20 - Rheem/WATTS Toyota
Owner: Joe Gibbs Racing
Crew Chief: Adam Stevens
Christopher Bell won the 30th Annual Ambetter 301, his second victory in 92 Cup Series races.
This is his first victory and 11th top-10 finish in 2022.
This is his first victory and second top-10 finish in three races at New Hampshire Motor Speedway (finished second last year).
Chase Elliott (second) posted his third top-10 finish in nine races at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. It is his 14th top-10 finish in 2022.
Bubba Wallace (third) posted his first top-10 finish in five races at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.
Austin Cindric (13th) was the highest finishing rookie.

Race Recap

Christopher Bell tames the Magic Mile securing first win of 2022 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway

July 17th, 2022

By Holly Cain - NASCAR Wire Service

Christopher Bell has quietly established himself as a New England force over the past three years coming up the NASCAR ranks and on Sunday afternoon, he convincingly earned his biggest triumph to date there, a victory in the NASCAR Cup Series Ambetter 301 and a ticket to the 2022 Playoffs.

Bell led the last 42 laps of the 301-lapper at the one-mile New Hampshire Motor Speedway claiming the trophy – and the traditional lobster hoist in Victory Lane – with a massive 5.767-second victory over last week’s race winner Chase Elliott.

It’s only the second NASCAR Cup Series win for the third-year driver of the No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota but oh, so significant as it launches the 27-year old Oklahoman into a guaranteed Playoff contention. The 14th different winner of the season came into the race ranked last among the top-16 drivers that would advance to the Playoffs. Now he has secured his title run.

“Man, that one was much needed right there,” said Bell, who won three consecutive NASCAR Xfinity Series races at the track from 2019-2021 and was runner-up in last year’s NASCAR Cup Series race there.

“I tell you what, that was a helluva race from my viewpoint. It was so much fun racing with the 45 (Kurt Busch), the 22 (Joey Logano) and the 9 (Elliott). We were all running different lines. That was a blast. Just so happy to be here at Joe Gibbs Racing and so good to get that 20 car back in victory lane.”

“Winning Cup races is hard,’’ he added with a smile, thanking the crowd. “Just seems like we’ve been close then we had fallen off a little bit last week. I was talking to my best friend and I told him, ‘earlier in the year I felt like we were right on the verge of winning. Then the last couple of weeks I felt like we were pretty far away.

“But here we are today.’’

Elliott, who hasn’t finished worse than second in the last four races (including two victories), said he just didn’t have anything for Bell at the very end.

“I feel like just a poor run of execution on my end in the last run,’’ said Elliott, driver of the No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet. “It took me a while to get past Joey (Logano) and the 45 (Busch) and I had to run harder than I wanted to.

“Just make a couple mistakes and couldn’t get much breathing room.”

The string of top-two finishes was of little consolation to the 2020 series champion.

“When you’re in position like we’ve been in, you need to finish it off.’’

Bubba Wallace, driver of the No. 23 23XI Racing Toyota, turned in a career best day at New Hampshire finishing third – his second top-five of the season but first top-10 since a 10th place at Kansas eight races ago.

“Just proud of the team, proud of myself and proud of everybody at the shop,’’ Wallace said, adding, “It’s been hell for me the last month so good to come out with a top-five.

“This sport humbles you so there’s really no surprises. Have to keep the task at hand and be mindful of your surroundings and do your job.’’

Bell’s Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Martin Truex Jr. finished fourth followed by Stewart-Haas Racing’s Kevin Harvick.

The pole sitter Truex won both stages – his series-leading sixth and seventh of the year – and led a race best 182 laps; including the first 95 consecutively to start the race.

His No 19 JGR Toyota certainly looked like the car to beat, but a two-tire stop for him – and for Harvick – with about 100 laps to go turned out to unsettle the car and he dropped briefly outside the top-10 before racing back to his fist top-five since a fifth place at Talladega, Ala. in April.

JGR’s Denny Hamlin, Brad Keselowski, Trackhouse Racing’s teammates Ross Chastain and Daniel Suarez and 23XI Racing’s Kurt Busch rounded out the top-10. Seventh place was Keselowski’s best finish of the season in his first year as co-owner/driver of the No. 6 Roush Fenway Keselowski Ford.

With Chastain’s 14th top-10 and Ryan Blaney’s 18th place finish, there was significant movement atop the championship standings. Chastain has moved into second place, 67 points behind the leader Elliott. Blaney – who is still looking for his first victory of the season – is now third.

Truex, who is also still racing for a Playoff-securing victory is now in the 16th and final Playoff position – 68 points ahead of Harvick, who has not won in 2022 either.