2022 Ambetter 301

Race details[1][2][3][4][5][6][7]
Race 20 of 36 in the 2022 NASCAR Cup Series
Date	July 17, 2022 (2022-07-17)
Location	New Hampshire Motor Speedway in Loudon, New Hampshire
Course	Permanent racing facility 1.058 mi (1.703 km)
Distance	301 laps, 318.458 mi (512.603 km)
Average speed	98.113 miles per hour (157.898 km/h)
Pole position
Driver	Martin Truex Jr.	Joe Gibbs Racing
Time	29.964
Most laps led
Driver	Martin Truex Jr.	Joe Gibbs Racing
Laps	173
Winner
No. 20	Christopher Bell	Joe Gibbs Racing
Television in the United States
Network	USA
Announcers	Dale Earnhardt Jr., Jeff Burton, and Steve Letarte
Nielsen Ratings	1.45 (2,403,000 viewers)
Radio in the United States
Radio	PRN
Booth Announcers	Doug Rice and Mark Garrow
Turn Announcers	Rob Albright (1 & 2) and Doug Turnbull (3 & 4)

The 2022 Ambetter 301 was a NASCAR Cup Series race held on July 17, 2022, at New Hampshire Motor Speedway in Loudon, New Hampshire. Contested over 301 laps, on the 1.058-mile (1.703 km) speedway. It was the 20th race of the 2022 NASCAR Cup Series season.

This race was the last start for 2004 champion Kurt Busch, as Busch suffered a concussion during the second qualifying round for the next race, and the injuries from that crash ended up being career-ending; he announced on August 26, 2023 that he was officially retiring.

Report

Background

New Hampshire Motor Speedway is a 1.058-mile (1.703 km) oval speedway located in Loudon, New Hampshire, which has hosted NASCAR racing annually since the early 1990s, as well as the longest-running motorcycle race in North America, the Loudon Classic. Nicknamed "The Magic Mile", the speedway is often converted into a 1.6-mile (2.6 km) road course, which includes much of the oval.

The track was originally the site of Bryar Motorsports Park before being purchased and redeveloped by Bob Bahre. The track is currently one of eight major NASCAR tracks owned and operated by Speedway Motorsports.

Entry list

• (R) denotes rookie driver.
• (i) denotes driver who is ineligible for series driver points.

Practice

William Byron was the fastest in the practice session with a time of 29.877 seconds and a speed of 127.483 mph (205.164 km/h).^[8]

Practice results

Qualifying

Martin Truex Jr. scored the pole for the race with a time of 29.964 and a speed of 127.113 mph (204.569 km/h).^[9]

Qualifying results

Race

Stage Results

Stage One Laps: 70

Stage Two Laps: 115

Final Stage Results

Stage Three Laps: 116

Race statistics

• Lead changes: 8 among 7 different drivers
• Cautions/Laps: 9 for 52
• Red flags: 0
• Time of race: 3 hours, 14 minutes and 45 seconds
• Average speed: 98.113 miles per hour (157.898 km/h)

Media

Television

USA covered the race on the television side. Dale Earnhardt Jr., four-time and all-time Loudon winner Jeff Burton and Steve Letarte called the race from the broadcast booth. Kim Coon, Parker Kligerman and Marty Snider handled the pit road duties from pit lane.

Radio

PRN had the radio call for the race, which was also simulcast on Sirius XM NASCAR Radio. Doug Rice and Mark Garrow called the race from the booth when the field races down the frontstretch. Rob Albright called the race from turns 1 & 2 and Doug Turnbull called the race from turns 3 & 4. Brad Gillie, Brett McMillan and Wendy Venturini handled the duties on pit lane.

Standings after the race

Drivers' Championship standings Pos Driver Points 1 Chase Elliott 734 1 2 Ross Chastain 667 (–67) 1 3 Ryan Blaney 656 (–78) 2 4 Martin Truex Jr. 619 (–115) 1 5 Kyle Larson 616 (–118) 1 6 Kyle Busch 594 (–140) 7 Joey Logano 582 (–152) 8 Christopher Bell 570 (–164) 2 9 Kevin Harvick 551 (–183) 10 William Byron 536 (–198) 2 11 Alex Bowman 510 (–224) 12 Aric Almirola 490 (–244) 13 Austin Cindric 489 (–245) 2 14 Kurt Busch 485 (–249) 15 Daniel Suárez 479 (–255) 2 16 Tyler Reddick 474 (–260) Official driver's standings

Manufacturers' Championship standings Pos Manufacturer Points 1 Chevrolet 737 2 Ford 672 (–65) 3 Toyota 665 (–72) Note: Only the first 16 positions are included for the driver standings. . – Driver has clinched a position in the NASCAR Cup Series playoffs.