Team Penske Fords set the tone all weekend at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, and Ryan Blaney delivered when it mattered most, capturing Sunday’s Mobil 1 301 to open the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs’ Round of 12.

Blaney’s No. 12 Ford dominated the afternoon, leading 116 of 301 laps and holding off Wood Brothers Racing’s Josh Berry by 0.937 seconds in the closing stretch. The victory, his third of the season and 16th of his career, locks the 2023 series champion into the Round of 8 as he chases a second Cup title.

“Probably the hardest 20 laps I’ve ever driven,” said Blaney, 31, of the tense finish. “Josh was coming hard, and I just tried to hang on. It was clean, hard racing, and I appreciate him not using the bumper when he could have.”

The win capped a strong day for Ford teams after Toyota swept the opening three Playoff races. Three Fords finished inside the top five and six in the top 10, signaling a potential shift in championship momentum.

Pole-winner Joey Logano led a race-high 147 laps in the No. 22 Ford before fading to fourth, just behind Hendrick Motorsports’ William Byron. Byron’s third-place finish was his first career top-10 at New Hampshire, while his teammate Chase Elliott rallied from 27th to fifth.

Logano admitted Blaney had the edge all weekend. “The 12 was the fastest car in practice and again in the race,” he said. “Our only shot was on pit road, but they executed perfectly. Once he got out front, it was tough to catch him.”

Defending race winner Christopher Bell led Toyota with a sixth-place run, followed by Playoff contenders Kyle Larson (seventh), Michael McDowell (eighth), Ross Chastain (ninth), and Chase Briscoe (10th). Denny Hamlin, who entered as the Playoff points leader, slipped to 12th after mid-race contact with his Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Ty Gibbs ended Gibbs’ day.

With his win, Blaney advances to the Round of 8. Byron (+47), Larson (+41), and Bell (+29) are well above the cut line, while Hamlin (+24), Logano (+24), Elliott (+14), and Briscoe (+12) currently hold transfer positions. Below the line are Chastain (-12), Austin Cindric (-19), and 23XI Racing teammates Tyler Reddick (-23) and Bubba Wallace (-23).

“The Penske cars were kind of in another zip code today,” Byron said. “If we can build on this, we’ll be in good shape moving forward.”

The NASCAR Cup Series continues next Sunday with the Hollywood Casino 400 at Kansas Speedway (3 p.m. ET, USA Network, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio), where Chastain is the defending winner.

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