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Ryan Blaney claimed his third win of the season on Sunday afternoon at Loudon, New Hampshire, using a late two-tyre pit stop in the final stage to work his way back into the lead.

Jonathan Hassler made the call for the two-tyre stop, handing Blaney track position but also leaving him to withstand 63 laps of green-flag running against rivals on better tyres.

With the victory, Blaney remains second in the standings and stretched his points advantage over Ty Gibbs by collecting 70 points for the win, along with a fifth-place finish in Stage One and a Stage Two victory.

After winning Stage Two, a mistake on pit road resulted in a long stop that dropped Blaney by 13 positions.

In the closing laps, 23XI Racing’s Bubba Wallace, still chasing his first win of the season, was reeling in Blaney through traffic when he locked up with three laps remaining, costing him his chance.

Wallace said it felt like he had one of his worst cars of the year, never quite getting it to feel right, but he still managed to charge from 23rd to contend for the win.

Wallace is the highest-placed driver yet to secure a playoff spot. He is now 75 points above the cut line in 14th place. Just two points next week at Daytona would seal his place.

The race began an hour late because of rain in the area. NASCAR initially sent the drivers out in a light drizzle, but the action was soon stopped after Carson Hocevar spun before the green flag.

On the opening lap, pole-sitter Tyler Reddick overcooked Turn Four and spun on his own, bringing out the first caution. Reddick recovered to finish eighth and set the fastest lap in 10 of the final 11 laps.

Kyle Larson won Stage One and eventually finished fifth.

Josh Berry, who nearly delivered Wood Brothers Racing a win over Blaney last year, once again emerged as the main challenger to the Penske driver. He finished third, one second behind Wallace and ahead of Joe Gibbs Racing’s Christopher Bell.

Ty Gibbs came home sixth, ahead of Denny Hamlin, who secured the regular-season championship and the top seed heading into the playoffs in two weeks with his seventh-place finish.