Track position came at a premium at New Hampshire on Sunday, at least until Christopher Bell got near the front of the field.
The driver of the Joe Gibbs Racing No. 20 Toyota Camry took home the victory at New Hampshire and also made the first true charge to the front, following Chase Elliott there.
Once Elliott took the lead, Bell found a way to second and dug in deeper, passing Elliott with 41 laps to go and holding the lead under green flag conditions to the end of the race.
The Oklahoma native becomes the 14th different winner in the NASCAR Cup Series in 2022, making the NASCAR Playoff Grid something of extreme intrigue.
With two more, unique winners in the next six races, only drivers who have won a race this year will make the playoffs. With three more, the Daytona 500 champion could be left out.
The series will return to the track Sunday for its next race, competing at Pocono Raceway July 24. It’s scheduled to begin at 2:00 p.m. CT on USA Network.
NASCAR Cup Series results
Ambetter 301
New Hampshire Motor Speedway
Sun. July 17, 2022
1. Christopher Bell
2. Chase Elliott
3. Bubba Wallace
4. Martin Truex Jr
5. Kevin Harvick
6. Denny Hamlin
7. Brad Keselowski
8. Ross Chastain
9. Daniel Suarez
10. Kurt Busch
11. William Byron
12. Kyle Busch
13. Austin Cindric
14. Kyle Larson
15. Chase Briscoe
16. AJ Allmendinger
17. Chris Buescher
18. Ryan Blaney
19. Erik Jones
20. Justin Haley
21. Tyler Reddick
22. Ricky Stenhouse Jr
23. Austin Dillon
24. Joey Logano
25. Todd Gilliland
26. Harrison Burton
27. Cole Custer
28. Michael McDowell
29. JJ Yeley
30. Cody Ware
31. Aric Almirola
32. Corey LaJoie
33. Ty Dillon
34. Josh Bilicki
35. Alex Bowman
36. BJ McLeod
NASCAR Playoff Grid
After 20 of 26 regular season races
1. Chase Elliott (3 wins, 20 PP)
2. Ross Chastain (2 wins, 13 PP)
3. William Byron (2 wins, 13 PP)
4. Joey Logano (2 wins, 12 PP)
5. Denny Hamlin (2 wins, 12 PP)
6. Kyle Larson (1 win, 7 PP) 617 points
7. Kyle Busch (1 win, 6 PP) 594 points
8. Christopher Bell (1 win, 5 PP) 570 points
9. Alex Bowman (1 win, 6 PP) 510 points
10. Austin Cindric (1 win, 6 PP) 489 points
11. Kurt Busch (1 win, 7 PP) 485 points
12. Daniel Suarez (1 win, 7 PP) 479 points
13. Tyler Reddick (1 win, 7 PP) 474 points
14. Chase Briscoe (1 win, 7 PP) 465 points
15. Ryan Blaney 656 (+105)
16. Martin Truex Jr. 619 (+68)
———Playoff Cutoff———–
17. Kevin Harvick 551 (-68)
18. Aric Almirola 490 (-129)
19. Erik Jones 465 (-154)
20. Austin Dillon 421 (-198)
