Who Can Grab the Winning Magic at New Hampshire?

Photo Credit to Meg Oliphant/Getty Images

NASCAR

Who Has the Magic Hand Heading to New Hampshire Motor Speedway?

NASCAR heads north to New Hampshire Motor Speedway for their annual trek around The Magic Mile. The Dollar Tree 301 marks the second-to-last stop in the regular season, as The Chase picture starts to take shape. The Granite State’s flat mile could be one driver’s season-defining win as crunch time is here for the championship. Here are a few who hope to find success on the short track.

Christopher Bell

Perhaps New Hampshire’s most consistent man ever, Christopher Bell is in need of a breakthrough moment. The seven-time runner-up this season has yet to find victory lane this year, but is the man to beat in New England. Driver 20 owns a pair of wins here, in addition to four top-10s in six starts. Those stats are in Cup alone, Bell’s also been money on NHMS in O’Reilly and Truck competition too Leading into Richmond last week, Bell walked through a successful lap around Loudon.

“So, New Hampshire is generally trying to get the car in the corner in turn three,” Bell said. “It’s really rough over there, and these cars really like to be low to the ground. So, turn one and really the rest of the racetrack is smooth. You want to get it down to optimize the car performance for those smooth parts of the racetrack. Then you have to manage the bumpy entry to turn three, which can become really difficult if you get the car too low. So, it’s just a compromise there. The car has to be loose, which makes the bumps even harder. You have to be turning good. You have to be loose, have to be free, and then you have to manage the bumps and turn three at Loudon. So, it does become a very tricky track for the crew chiefs and the drivers.”

Of Bell’s seven second-place finishes in 2026, four of them have come in the last six weeks. This proves that team 20 is as elite now as ever on a wide multitude of tracks. Coming into what may be his best stop on the circuit, Bell hopes to leave the competition in the dust. Bell will run double duty this weekend between Trucks and Cup, gunning for two more wins at one of his favorite tracks.

Ryan Blaney

Last year’s New Hampshire winner, 2025 saw Ryan Blaney lead 116 laps en route to his maiden Loudon triumph. That only marked Blaney’s fifth top-10 in 13 Loudon starts, and his first in the Next Gen car. Already a winner twice this season at Phoenix and Atlanta, Blaney beams at the chance to back up this New England victory.

“It’s a place I’ve always enjoyed,” Blaney said about New Hampshire. “It was nice to have success there last year and win that race. It’s a neat racetrack. I love the area personally. The fans up there are always fantastic. That northeastern part of the country is really beautiful, especially that time of year. Hopefully, we can recreate some of the success we had there last year and try to go for another one.”

Now second in points, Blaney has a narrow edge over Ty Gibbs and Tyler Reddick for the runner-up Chase seed. Blaney’s been lights-out fast on short flat ovals all season, boasting a seventh-place average finish. Flying the flag for Fords all year on several track types, Blaney hopes to raise the lobster trophy high again for a second-straight year.

Kyle Larson

Surprisingly winless across 15 career New Hampshire starts is Kyle Larson. The Hendrick Motorsports star has been second here three times though, and has an active three-race streak of finishing seventh or better. The reigning Cup champion is fresh off another major win at the Knoxville Nationals early last Sunday, and eyes a return to NASCAR victory lane.

“[New Hampshire] is unique in the fact that its shape gives you two actual straightaways, whereas a lot of the short tracks we go to have more curved straightaways,” Larson said. “Historically, it hasn’t been a great track for our race team. But we’ve had some decent finishes there and have fought hard to get better results over the last few years. Hopefully, we can take some things from the last couple of weeks and put together a good car for New Hampshire.”

Larson’s winless drought now extends to almost 50 races, despite being close many times this year. Coming off a sixth-place Richmond run, Larson does have a bit of short track momentum heading into this weekend.

Denny Hamlin

Within reach of tying New Hampshire’s all-time wins record on Sunday is Denny Hamlin. Driver 11 has conquered The Magic Mile three times before, most recently in 2017. Since then, however, the Joe Gibbs Racing veteran has been the picture of consistency here, with two runner-ups and five top-10s in the last nine races.

Hamlin has been equally red hot lately, too, as the 11 owns four-straight top-fives. Past just that, Hamlin also has a series-best 3.2 average finish on short tracks this year. Entering week 25 as the Cup Series points leader by 115, Hamlin could remain on kill mode in Loudon. Scared of lobsters, Hamlin could have another very awkward encounter with the crustacean trophy on Sunday.

Joey Logano

Three inevitabilities of life are death, taxes, and Even Year Joey Logano. Richmond last week was the 22’s second win over the last four weeks, continuing a late summer surge. Entering a homecoming race as the most recent Cup winner, Logano has high hopes for a third New Hampshire triumph.

“I wish we were a little better off in points than we are,” Logano said after Richmond. “We’re getting there, right? We still got a couple more races where we can score a bunch of points. In Loudon, I feel at home in that racetrack, that’s home. Always a special one for me. Hopefully we can bring this amount of speed again and execute like this again. Like I said, even Iowa was strong. Two seconds in the stages. We had that little hiccup on pit road that kept us from finishing top three probably. Things are good. I wish we were a little bit closer to the front right now. Before the season started, I said you got to be top 10. I said seven, but I think you can probably recover more than I thought. I think in the top 10 you can make a serious run at winning this thing.”

Now ninth in The Chase standings, Logano looks ahead to Loudon after a banner run here a year ago. That day saw the 22 lead a race-high 147 laps before coming home fourth. It’s been 12 years since Logano’s last time grabbing the lobster trophy. The Connecticut native has plenty of motivation and mojo for a home track heater.

Chase Briscoe

As unlikely as it may be to believe, Chase Briscoe is one of only two drivers (Kyle Larson) with three-straight New Hampshire top-10s. This span includes starts across two teams for Briscoe, and a best Loudon result of second in 2024. Top-six across the last four weeks, Briscoe foresees another contending day at Loudon.

“I don’t feel like I’m learning now as much as I am just like fine-tuning things,” Briscoe said. “Like I still go to the racetrack and even this past weekend and going to New Hampshire this week. Well New Hampshire I’m still going to be learning but outside of that I feel like that’s the only track where I have like these massive learning curves to still gain. But now yeah, like when we go to Las Vegas or Charlotte or wherever, I just feel like I’m fine-tuning. Like when I get in the car on Saturday for practice, I know how it’s going to drive now. I know what to expect. I know the tendencies it’s going to have. So yeah, I feel really really good about where we’re at as a team, myself as a driver. I know I still have a lot I can be doing better, just as far as managing races. The more experience you get up front, the better you get. That’s where Denny [Hamlin] and Joey [Logano] and all these guys that have always ran up front for multiple years, they’re so good at managing the race and understanding when to go, when not to go.”

“It is unique when you can go to a track where you know a team is good and that’s been the good thing, I think, for me about being at JGR. The tracks that I’ve historically been really bad at and where I just don’t feel good at is Richmond, Loudon, and Sonoma. And those are all three tracks that JGR and specifically the 19 car has been great at.”

Joe Gibbs Racing has typically been lights-out dominant on New Hampshire’s tight confines, with three of the last four wins. The sight of Martin Truex Jr’s final career win three years ago, Chase Briscoe aims for repeat success here with the No. 19.

While New Hampshire may look like one of the most straightforward tracks on the calendar, it couldn’t be more unique. This track’s one-of-a-kind layout has thrown many talented drivers and teams for a loop, with no Chevrolet win here in a decade. One driver will be money in the Dollar Tree 301, as they hope to make a deposit in their path to a championship. The New England green flag flies Sunday at 2 p.m. ET on USA Network, PRN, and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.

Written by Peter Stratta

Be sure to follow us on Twitter/X

Be sure to follow the writer on Twitter/X

Photo Credit to Meg Oliphant/Getty Images