The NASCAR Cup Series' trip to New Hampshire Motor Speedway saw Ryan Blaney win a lobster for the second consecutive season, once again despite his own pit crew's best efforts to keep him out of victory lane. The Team Penske star was unable to do enough to close the gap to points leader Denny Hamlin but should be sitting in prime position to be the No. 2 seed in the Chase for the Cup.
Sunday's race also featured the first wet-weather action of the 2026 season due to rainstorms passing through the track prior to the green flag. Most of the race was run in normal, dry conditions, but the opening stage saw a significant transition.
And as usual, NASCAR was absolutely clueless as to what to do about it.
NASCAR is still micromanaging rain races, and it needs to end yesterday
Forget Mother Nature; on Sunday we had Mommy NASCAR coddling her precious little children. First the race's start was delayed when the cars went out for the initial pace laps and hit a few puddles, and then a competition caution was thrown on lap 40 so that everybody could switch back to regular tires at the same time.
These are, supposedly, the best stock car drivers in the world. If racing in a little bit of rain is too dangerous for them, then cancel the whole sport. The conditions at the start were no worse than what NASCAR finished the race in at the same track two years ago. There was absolutely no reason for the delay.
But the real crime was the scheduled caution to change tires, because heaven forbid teams make their own decisions like the grown-ups they are. We already see a disappointing lack of unique pit strategies in NASCAR today. Having the teams choose when to make a green-flag stop to switch to dry tires, or even to give them the option to risk running the entire stage without pitting, would have added a fun wrinkle into Sunday's race.
Apparently we're not allowed to have fun, though. Instead, we had to interrupt a clinic by Shane van Gisbergen while he was on the verge of potentially lapping into the top 10 during the stint, so that all the baby birds could pit together and wipe off their wet shoes on the welcome mat. Hopefully they were also rewarded with smiley-face stickers and popsicles while they were there.
These are the types of situations that make Formula 1 and IndyCar fans sneer at NASCAR. If you want to be taken seriously on a global level, treat your teams and drivers like capable grown adults when it's time to race in the rain.
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