Story By: STEWART-HAAS RACING – LOUDON, NH
STEWART-HAAS RACING
USA Today 301
Date: June 23, 2024
Event: USA Today 301 (Round 18 of 36)
Series: NASCAR Cup Series
Location: New Hampshire Motor Speedway in Loudon (1.058-mile oval)
Format: 301 laps, broken into three stages (70 laps/115 laps/116 laps)
Note: Race extended four laps past its scheduled 301-lap distance due to a green-white-checkered finish.
Race Winner: Christopher Bell of Joe Gibbs Racing (Toyota)
Stage 1 Winner: Christopher Bell of Joe Gibbs Racing (Toyota)
Stage 2 Winner: Denny Hamlin of Joe Gibbs Racing (Toyota)
SHR Finish:
● Chase Briscoe (Started 23rd, Finished 2nd / Running, completed 305 of 305 laps)
● Josh Berry (Started 10th, Finished 3rd / Running, completed 305 of 305 laps)
● Ryan Preece (Started 31st, Finished 11th / Running, completed 305 of 305 laps)
● Noah Gragson (Started 21st, Finished 27th / Running, completed 305 of 305 laps)
SHR Points:
● Chase Briscoe (16th with 405 points, 215 out of first)
● Josh Berry (19th with 357 points, 263 out of first)
● Noah Gragson (25th with 297 points, 323 out of first)
● Ryan Preece (28th with 275 points, 345 out of first)
Briscoe Notes:
● Briscoe earned his second top-five and sixth top-10 of the season with his second-place finish Sunday at New Hampshire. It was his first top-five and second top-10 in four career NASCAR Cup Series starts at the 1.058-mile oval.
● Briscoe’s second-place finish was the 12th top-five of his NASCAR Cup Series career, a mark highlighted by his March 2022 win at Phoenix Raceway.
● This was Briscoe’s best finish so far this year. His previous best was fifth, earned May 12 at Darlington (S.C.) Raceway.
● Briscoe’s second-place result bettered his previous best finish at New Hampshire – 10th, earned last July.
Berry Notes:
● Berry earned his second top-five and fourth top-10 of the season, and it came in his first career NASCAR Cup Series start at New Hampshire.
● Berry equaled his season’s best finish of third, originally earned May 12 at Darlington.
● This was Berry’s second straight top-10. He finished seventh last Sunday at Iowa Speedway in Newton.
● Berry finished fifth in Stage 1 to earn six bonus points and eighth in Stage 2 to earn three more bonus points.
● Berry was the highest finishing rookie.
Preece Notes:
● Preece earned his fifth top-15 of the season and his first top-15 in six career NASCAR Cup Series starts at New Hampshire.
● Preece’s 11th-place result bettered his previous best finish at New Hampshire – 16th, earned in August 2020.
Gragson Notes:
● Gragson’s 27th-place result bettered his previous best finish at New Hampshire – 32nd, earned last July.
Race Notes:
● Christopher Bell won the USA Today 301 to score his ninth career NASCAR Cup Series victory, his third of the season and his second at New Hampshire. His margin of victory over Briscoe was 1.104 seconds.
● There were 14 caution periods for a total of 85 laps.
● Twenty-nine of the 36 drivers in the race finished on the lead lap.
● Kyle Larson and Chase Elliott leave New Hampshire tied atop the championship standings with a 40-point advantage over third-place Denny Hamlin.
Sound Bites:
“The rain saved us. Awesome recovery for our Zep Ford. I’ve always joked this is one of my worst racetracks, so to run second is kind of surprising, to be honest with you. But, yeah, the rain definitely helped us. If it wasn’t for the rain, we literally would’ve run 24th, probably. We were able to have a couple of good restarts. Our guys did a really good job just understanding the rain balance. I think we learned a lot when we did it at Richmond. We needed a good turnaround day. It definitely didn’t start that way, but I’m certainly glad that it ended that way.” – Chase Briscoe, driver of the No. 14 Zep Ford Mustang Dark Horse
“Man, that was a lot of fun, honestly. I’m going to think back to a million different things I could’ve done differently there. But the bottom was so hard to get going through (turns) one and two. I felt like if I could just clear the 14 (Briscoe), I was kind of inching in on C-Bell (Christopher Bell) before the final caution and I just got a little loose off of two. That let Chase get back to my left rear, he kind of dragged me back and we got stuck racing each other. I don’t know, I wanted to take the front row so bad there at the end, but we felt like we were making the right decision based on the track conditions. They just didn’t work out.” – Josh Berry, driver of the No. 4 MINER Ford Mustang Dark Horse
“I feel a lot better about it now with how we ended versus how it was before that rain delay. We were going to end up 28th and now we ended up 11th. We needed a good run, but I’m still ticked off finishing 11th because I feel like we should’ve finished higher. It was great to be back home with family and friends here at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. Overall, I was happy with the speed in our Mohawk Northeast Ford Mustang Dark Horse. The team has been working hard and we’ll go get ‘em at Nashville.” – Ryan Preece, driver of the No. 41 Mohawk Northeast Ford Mustang Dark Horse
“I just lacked grip. Super loose all the way around the track. Must’ve hit the paint on entry to (turn) one, and not intentionally by any means with the 23 (Bubba Wallace). Just a mistake on my part. It was unfortunate and I apologize to the 23 guys for ruining their day. That’s obviously not what we want to do and not what I want to do. It was completely unintentional.” – Noah Gragson, driver of the No. 10 Overstock.com Ford Mustang Dark Horse
Next Up:
The next event on the NASCAR Cup Series schedule is the Ally 400 on Sunday, June 30 at Nashville (Tenn.) Superspeedway. The race begins at 3:30 p.m. EDT with live coverage provided by NBC and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.