NASCAR playoffs at New Hampshire results: Ryan Blaney wins his way to the Round of 8 at The Magic Mile

Blaney outlasted a hard charging Josh Berry for an important win as he pursues his second Cup title

By Steven Taranto

Sep 21, 2025 at 6:02 pm ET • 4 min read

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In a performance that saw him take full advantage of one of the strongest cars in the field, Ryan Blaney drove to the front and held off Josh Berry in the final laps to win the Mobil 1 301 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, earning his third win of the 2025 season and 16th of his NASCAR Cup Series career. WIth his win, Blaney becomes the first driver to advance to the Round of 8 in the NASCAR playoffs, putting the 2023 Cup champion just one step away from making it back to the Championship 4 to pursue his second title.

Blaney's car showed outstanding long run speed in practice Saturday, which ended up translating to Sunday as he continually drove to the front the longer each green flag run progressed. Blaney and fellow Team Penske driver Joey Logano proved to be the class of the field, and Wood Brothers Racing driver Josh Berry showed to have just as strong a car as he drove all the way back through the field after a mid-race spin.

NASCAR playoffs 2025 race schedule, results: Complete list of Cup Series race dates, winners, tracks

Steven Taranto

With his spin leaving him down a set of tires, Berry stayed out under the final caution while most of the leaders came to pit road for two tires, and Blaney would manage to take the lead back. But as the laps wound down, Berry was able to run Blaney back down on long run speed. But with 12 laps to go, a slide by Berry entering Turn 3 would use up what grip his tires had left, allowing Blaney to drive away and claim his right to a Round of 8 spot -- and the winner's lobster in Victory Lane.

"That was probably the hardest 20 laps that I drove," Blaney told USA. "I was trying to kind of bide my stuff and kind of pull Josh a little bit, and then he really started coming. I started to get super free, and it was all I could do to hold him off, trying new lanes. That was good racing and clean racing, and I appreciate Josh for not throwing me the bumper when he could have.

"But what a cool day, what a cool weekend. Super fast car all weekend. Can't believe the 12 boys, they're unbelievable. Really have been strong through the playoffs, and it's great to get a win in the first race of this round."

Berry would finish second to earn his best overall finish since his win at Las Vegas in March, followed by William Byron, Joey Logano and Chase Elliott rounding out the top five. Christopher Bell, Kyle Larson, Michael McDowell, Ross Chastain and Chase Briscoe made up the rest of the top 10.

Beyond the Penske cars up front, the biggest development concerning a playoff driver came by virtue of Denny Hamlin, who was involved in an on-track feud with Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Ty Gibbs. As Gibbs became frustrated with the way fellow JGR driver Christopher Bell had been racing him, his aggression caught the ire of Hamlin behind him, who openly expressed his displeasure with how Gibbs was racing him over the team radio. "Does Ty know we're going for a championship?", Hamlin asked. "What the f--k?"

TENSIONS. ARE. HIGH. 👀

Denny Hamlin voices some frustration while battling with teammate Ty Gibbs. #NASCARPlayoffs

📺: @USANetwork pic.twitter.com/epxts7yuDJ
— NASCAR on NBC (@NASCARonNBC) September 21, 2025

The on-track scrap ended with Hamlin turning Gibbs into the Turn 1 wall but things continued over the radio. Complicating things is the fact that Gibbs happens to not only share the team's namesake, but is also the grandson of team owner Joe Gibbs. "Are they afraid to talk to him? That's what I feel like. They're scared of him," Hamlin said, presumably referring to JGR team leadership.

While both Gibbs and Hamlin spoke in platitudes and gave highly general non-answers in their respective post-race interviews, Gibbs made slightly more revealing comments to a scrum of reporters outside the infield care center.

"We got wrecked there," Gibbs said. "We'll go see them next week."

Hamlin would end up finishing 12th, first of all playoff drivers who finished outside the top 10. He would be followed in that category by Austin Cindric in 17th, Tyler Reddick in 21st and Bubba Wallace a lap down in 26th.

Ross Chastain (-12), Cindric (-19), Reddick (-23) and Wallace (-27) all leave New Hampshire below the cut line to advance to the Round of 8. With Blaney having advanced virtue his win, William Byron (+47), Kyle Larson (+41), Christopher Bell (+29), Hamlin (+27), Joey Logano (+24), Chase Elliott (+14) and Chase Briscoe (+12) are the seven drivers currently above the cut line on points with two races still left to run in the second round.