Joey Logano won Sunday's Sprint Cup race at New Hampshire, the second of the Challenger Round of the Chase. He now joins Team Penske teammate Brad Keselowski in the Contender Round. This is Logano's fourth win of the season. It is also his first win in a Chase race and his second win at New Hampshire in Cup competition. Logano got his first series win at the track in a rain-shortened race in June of 2009, during his rookie season. After winning just three races in the five seasons between 2009 and 2013, Logano is now a true contender in NASCAR's top series, and now he has won one of the ten races that matter the most. He sits one point behind Keselowski, who remains the points leader.
Several Chase drivers got caught up in crashes or suffered mechanical problems. Denny Hamlin, after running into a fuel issue, got caught up in a crash along with David Ragan, Martin Truex Jr. and Cole Whitt on lap 181 of what ended up being a 303-lap race due to a green-white-checkered finish. Hamlin's teammates at Joe Gibbs Racing, Kyle Busch and Matt Kenseth, were involved in another crash a few laps later with Kasey Kahne, Jamie McMurray and Ryan Newman. Hamlin is now 13th and on the brink of elimination heading into the final Challenger Round race in Dover, Delaware next week. Busch and Hendrick Motorsports driver Dale Earnhardt Jr. have traded fifth and sixth places and are now tied in points. Earnhardt had a tire issue early, but eventually got back on the lead lap thanks to a caution and went on to finish ninth. Kenseth, who entered the race as the defending champion, has now gone one year without a points win in Cup competition.
One driver now safe from elimination for the time being is underdog A.J. Allmendinger, who climbed from 14th to 10th in points. Allmendinger also lost a couple of laps during the race but got them back. Meanwhile, Aric Almirola remains 16th and last in the Chase grid, although he finished sixth, which was the position in which he suffered his blown engine last week at Chicagoland.
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