LOUDON, N.H. \u2014 With just two races remaining before NASCAR\u2019s postseason begins, New Hampshire Motor Speedway has become the center of a championship battle defined by momentum, consistency and an entirely new playoff format that has drivers paying attention to every point available.<\/p>\n
Few drivers understand that better than Christopher Bell, who arrives at Loudon in the midst of one of the most unusual seasons of his Cup Series career. Despite not winning as often as he would like, Bell has remained firmly in the championship conversation through relentless consistency, piling up seven runner-up finishes and climbing into a tight battle for a top-five position in the standings.<\/p>\n
\u201cEvery single stage, every race, every position, all those points matter,\u201d Bell said Saturday.<\/p>\n
Under NASCAR\u2019s revised championship format, Bell says those second-place finishes are finally being rewarded. In previous years, race wins largely dictated postseason positioning. Now, every point earned throughout the season carries more significance, creating pressure that Bell says is felt every weekend.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe previous format was very much win or bust,\u201d Bell said. \u201cNow, these races we\u2019ve done since February matter.\u201d<\/p>\n
Bell enters the weekend tied for sixth in points and just 20 markers behind fifth-place Chase Briscoe. While Daytona looms as a chaotic season finale, Bell views New Hampshire as a race where contenders can largely control their own destiny.<\/p>\n
Adding to his confidence is a remarkable history at the one-mile oval. Across NASCAR\u2019s three national touring series, Bell has won seven times in 12 starts at Loudon. He credits much of that success to extra seat time he received early in his career through Kyle Busch Motorsports, which tested and raced extensively at the track before many of today\u2019s younger drivers ever arrived.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve had great cars every time that I\u2019ve come here,\u201d Bell said. \u201cI was fortunate enough to get that seat time before I got into the Cup Series.\u201d<\/p>\n
While Bell and Toyota have enjoyed success on larger, higher-speed tracks this season, he acknowledged that New Hampshire falls squarely into a category where Team Penske has become the benchmark.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think they\u2019re going to be the cars to beat again,\u201d Bell said. \u201cThis is definitely their strength right now.\u201d<\/p>\n
The numbers back him up.<\/p>\n
As the playoffs approach, Penske drivers Ryan Blaney and Joey Logano appear to be building momentum at exactly the right time. Both drivers believe the organization has steadily improved throughout the summer, particularly on the shorter, flatter tracks that make up a critical portion of the playoff schedule.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think we\u2019re in a good spot at Team Penske and hitting some really good momentum right before we get going in the Chase,\u201d Blaney said.<\/p>\n
Logano agreed, noting that consistency has returned to the No. 22 team after an uneven start to the year.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt seems like we\u2019ve been able to scratch and claw and get some speed back in it,\u201d Logano said. \u201cShort tracks, obviously, are still our bread and butter.\u201d<\/p>\n
For Penske, New Hampshire represents one of the best opportunities remaining before the postseason begins. Blaney won at Loudon last season, while Logano called the track perhaps the most technical oval on the Cup schedule.<\/p>\n
Unlike many modern speedways, New Hampshire rewards precision over aggression. Drivers constantly fight changing banking, multiple grooves and unforgiving corner entries that can ruin a lap in an instant.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019ve just got to be so precise around this racetrack,\u201d Logano said. \u201cIt\u2019s hard to ever feel like you just nailed the lap perfect.\u201d<\/p>\n
Both drivers believe momentum matters entering the playoffs, but neither views it as a guarantee of success.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou can have all the momentum in the world and it can break pretty easy,\u201d Blaney said.<\/p>\n
That uncertainty extends beyond Loudon. The regular-season finale at Daytona will feature a revised superspeedway package that remains largely unknown to drivers and teams.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ll be the first to know,\u201d Blaney said.<\/p>\n
Perhaps no driver feels the urgency of the next two weeks more than Ryan Preece.<\/p>\n
The Connecticut native returns to what he considers his home track knowing time is running short to make up ground in the playoff standings. For Preece, however, New Hampshire has always been about more than points.<\/p>\n
Growing up in New England, Loudon represented NASCAR\u2019s biggest annual event in the region. Long before becoming a Cup Series driver, Preece built his reputation racing modifieds throughout the Northeast, and he still considers New Hampshire one of the most meaningful stops on the schedule.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a whole bunch of states that just get around whoever is from New England,\u201d Preece said. \u201cWe\u2019re very passionate about our sports.\u201d<\/p>\n
Preece will pull double duty this weekend, competing in both the Cup Series and a modified event. He admits transitioning back to the modified comes naturally, but keeping up with the latest developments in the division remains a challenge.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe car drives really good,\u201d Preece said. \u201cMy hopes for today are to contend and try and win that race.\u201d<\/p>\n
His Cup Series focus is equally straightforward.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe need a home run right now,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
That home run means qualifying near the front, scoring stage points and potentially contending for a win. Preece believes RFK Racing has made notable gains since struggling at Iowa and pointed to Richmond as evidence that the organization is moving in the right direction despite a poorly timed caution spoiling the final result.<\/p>\n
Like Bell and the Penske drivers, Preece is trying not to become consumed by standings calculations.<\/p>\n
\u201cControl the things that you can control,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
That philosophy may be the defining theme of NASCAR\u2019s playoff race.<\/p>\n
Bell is chasing valuable points and trying to transform consistency into a championship run. Penske\u2019s stars are relying on momentum built over months of development and improvement. Preece is hoping a breakthrough performance at his home track can keep his postseason hopes alive.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"LOUDON, N.H. \u2014 With just two races remaining before NASCAR\u2019s postseason begins, New Hampshire Motor Speedway has become…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":867773,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[446],"tags":[49,48,634,82],"class_list":["post-867772","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nascar","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-nascar","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/867772","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=867772"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/867772\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/867773"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=867772"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=867772"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=867772"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}