C Bell wins New Hampshire / Larson holds P1 in rankings with 4th place finish

23 June 2024
By Bob Francis, Managing Editor
Go Full Throttle Racing News

LOUDON, N.H. — Christopher Bell dominated at New Hampshire Motor Speedway sweeping the weekend with wins in both Saturday’s Xfinity Series race and the Cup Series USA Today 301 on Sunday.

Sunday was a tale of two races: the dry race was laps 1–218, then following a 2 hour and 14-minute rain and lightning delay, was the “wet” race from lap 219 to 305 (301+ Overtime). An important note: it was risky, but NASCAR pushed ahead with using the wet-weather Goodyear tires under damp conditions to complete the race. It was all new to drivers and crew chiefs, but it worked. All our favorite dirt stars that know how to explore different lines and find the right amount of grip were at the front doing battle (Larson, Reddick, Bell, Briscoe).

Cars running everywhere on the race track at Loudon to find the optimal racing line on wet-weather tires. (Image Credit: Torey Fox, NASCAR Digital Media)

Bell led a 148 laps in the №20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota and finished 1.104 seconds ahead of Chase Briscoe (№14 Stewart-Hass Ford) at the checkered flag. This was Bell’s second win at the 1.058-mile track and ninth of his Cup Series career.

Christopher Bell, driver of the #20 Rheem Toyota, celebrates in victory lane after winning the NASCAR Cup Series USA Today 301 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway on June 23, 2024 in Loudon, New Hampshire. (Photo by Jonathan Bachman/Getty Images)

Larson holds lead in GFT Driver Rankings after Loudon

Go Full Throttle Top 25 NASCAR AI Driver Rankings following the USA TODAY 301 on June 23, 2024 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway (Image Credit: GFT Digital)

With the win, C Bell jumps 3 spots in the GFT NASCAR AI Driver Rankings up to P5. Meanwhile early season dominance has not carried into the mid-season for Willam Byron and the №24 Hendrick Motorsports team, falling another 2 spots to P8 in the rankings.

Go Full Throttle NASCAR Box Scores after Loudon

Go Full Throttle NASCAR BOX SCORES following the USA TODAY 301 on June 23, 2024 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway (Image Credit: GFT Digital)

After 18 Races …
Manufactures Box Score:
Chevrolet = 8
Toyota = 7
Ford = 3

Team Box Score:
Hendrick Motorsports = 7

Driver Box Score:
Kyle Larson, William Byron, Christopher Bell, and Denny Hamlin are tied with 3 wins each.

NASCAR CUP SERIES PLAYOFF PICTURE

Bubble Watch! Last week it was Bubba Wallace (№23 23XI Racing) on the bubble in the 16th slot. After Sunday’s USA TODAY 301, it’s Joey Logano (№22 Team Penske Ford) moving into the Playoff grid at P16, +13 points as Wallace drops out to P17 (-13), Chase Briscoe is P18 (-25), and Kyle Busch is P19 (-45).

GFT AI NASCAR FANTASY LIVE RACE PREDICTION MODELS

The GFT AI prediction models continue tuning and machine learning updates for the 2nd half of the season. The “asset allocation” algorithm helped our prediction model accurately forecast the winner (Bell) this week but other picks struggled resulting in 175 points. A drop in the rankings, but remaining in the top 16% of all players (4,642).

UP NEXT:

ALLY 400 at NASHVILLE SUPERSPEEDWAY

SUNDAY, JUN. 30–3:30 PM ET