Joe Gibbs Racing has two drivers feuding, but another pair of teammates were the primary concern after the NASCAR Cup Series playoff race at New Hampshire Motor Speedway on Sunday.

While the JGR Toyotas were struggling and spinning each other on the 1.058-mile oval, the Team Penske Fords of Ryan Blaney and Joey Logano were dominating at a track with similarities to the 1-mile layout at the championship venue where Penske has won three consecutive titles, Phoenix Raceway.

I think the biggest thing youve got to take away from today is that at a 1-mile racetrack, the Penske cars are completely untouchable again, JGR director of competition Chris Gabehart said. The reality is weve got a lot of work to do.

After a virtually perfect first round of the playoffs with three consecutive victories, Joe Gibbs Racing opened the second round dealing with an internal squabble of Denny Hamlin vs. Ty Gibbs and an external threat from Penske which is familiar for championship contenders in NASCARs premier series.

Penske has won Cup titles on late-season surges by Blaney, who won two of the final six races in 2023, and Logano, who won two of the last four in 22 and 24.

With six races left this season, the team got a head start on its championship push at New Hampshire. Logano started on the pole position and took fourth after leading a race-high 147 of 301 laps. Blaney started second and led 116 laps for his third victory this year.

We did a great job of preparing, and our cars are really fast as a whole, Blaney said. Its huge anytime you can win in the playoffs. Its just momentum. When you win in the playoffs, its just a confidence boost for everybody. Maybe a little weight off your shoulders.

The burden of playoff pressure has shifted to JGR, which led only 19 laps as its three-race win streak at New Hampshire was snapped. The teams top finisher was Christopher Bell in sixth the first time since September 2014 that JGR left New Hampshire without a top five.

We just didnt have the pace to run with the top competitors, said Bell, who has won at Kansas Speedway and the Charlotte Motor Speedway Roval, the last two tracks in the second round. I feel good about our performance at the next two (races), but I felt good about our performance coming into here and it didnt turn out.

As Blaney advanced with a victory, Bell remained a solid bet to be among the other seven contenders who will reach the third round. He is ranked fourth among the 12 playoff drivers and a spot ahead of Hamlin, who finished 12th after his dustup with Gibbs .

Hamlin had some choice words on his team radio for the grandson of team owner Joe Gibbs, who is out of the playoffs but seemed to impede the progress of his teammates early in the race. Gabehart downplayed the dissension, which he said would be defused in team meetings this week.

I think theres a reasonable etiquette to follow, Gabehart said. But at the same time, you cant create an atmosphere where everybody just has to roll over and play nice all the time, either, or you wont hang as many banners as Joe Gibbs Racing has hung over the years.

Hamlin was focused more on his disappointing performance than patching things up.

Certainly, we didnt come here with our best, Hamlin said. Got to get a little faster, get the car handle a little better, and I certainly got to do a better job.

Blaney suggested a new right-side tire might have dulled JGRs edge at New Hampshire.

I didnt think they had the pace that I expected, Blaney said. This sport is just ebbs and flows, ups and downs. We just hit it really good this weekend. When you have a big tire change, it can really turn you around.

The same tire will be used for the 2025 seasons final two races at Martinsville Speedway and Phoenix, where Bell won in March .

But Logano clinched his past two titles by winning the championship race at Phoenix , and Blaney captured the 2023 title with a second in the season finale and was runner-up last year.

The reality is its playoff season, and here come the (Penske) cars, Gabehart said. Those guys know how to get it done when it counts, and well just have to race them the rest of the year and see how it goes. Theyre going to be very tough.

23XI struggles

Kansas Speedway has been a good track at 23XI Racing, which needs a boost after stumbling badly at New Hampshire. Tyler Reddick (21st) and Bubba Wallace (26th) fell to the last two spots in the playoff points standings.

Wallace, who won at Kansas in 2022, said New Hampshire was the longest day Ive had in a race car in a long time. To be that far off, it caught all of us by surprise. Its just a head scratcher. I told our team were way better than that.

Reddick battled brake problems from the outset en route to his third consecutive finish of 15th or worse since a second in the playoff opener at Darlington .

I thought we were going to be able to run in the top 10 all day, said Reddick, a 2023 winner at Kansas. It just got away quick. Just a terrible day. Theres just a lot of question marks, honestly. We need something special to happen. Im hoping we find the answer.

Chasing greatness

With its playoff trio of William Byron (third), Chase Elliott (fifth) and Kyle Larson (seventh), Hendrick Motorsports had three top 10s at New Hampshire for the first time in a decade. Elliott delivered an impressive drive after qualifying 27th his fifth consecutive start outside the top 15.

Just hate I put us in those holes, NASCARs seven-time most popular driver said. Its a great day for sure to battle and claw our way back up into the mix, but you hate to have to do that.

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AP auto racing:

乔·吉布斯车队（Joe Gibbs Racing）的两名车手虽有不和，但周日的纳斯卡杯系列赛新罕布什尔赛道季后赛结束后，另一对队友的冲突成为了焦点。

当JGR车队的丰田赛车在1.058英里椭圆形赛道上陷入苦战并相互打转时，瑞安·布莱尼（Ryan Blaney）和乔伊·洛加诺（Joey Logano）驾驶的潘世奇车队福特赛车却在这条与凤凰赛道（Phoenix Raceway）相似的1英里布局赛道上占据主导地位——潘世奇车队已在此连续三次夺得冠军。

乔·吉布斯赛车（JGR）竞赛总监克里斯·加布哈特表示：“我认为今天最重要的收获是，在一英里赛道上，潘世奇车队的赛车再次展现出无可匹敌的实力。现实情况是我们还有很多工作要做。”

乔·吉布斯车队在季后赛首轮以三连胜的近乎完美表现晋级后，却在第二轮伊始面临内忧外患：内部是丹尼·哈姆林与泰·吉布斯的争执，外部则面临潘世奇车队的威胁——这种局面对于NASCAR顶级系列赛的冠军争夺者而言早已司空见惯。

彭斯克车队凭借布莱尼（2023年最后六场比赛中赢下两场）和洛加诺（2022及2024年最后四场比赛中两度夺冠）在赛季末段的强势表现，多次问鼎杯赛总冠军。

本赛季剩余六站比赛之际，该车队在新罕布什尔站为冠军争夺战抢得先机。洛加诺（Logano）从杆位发车并领跑全场最多的301圈中的147圈，最终获得第四名。布莱尼（Blaney）第二位发车，领跑116圈后摘得本赛季第三冠。

布莱尼表示："我们赛前准备得非常充分，整体而言我们的赛车速度极快。在季后赛中获胜意义重大，这能带来强劲的势头。季后赛的胜利会提振全队信心，或许还能让人如释重负。"

季后赛的压力如今转移到了JGR车队身上。他们在新罕布什尔站仅领先19圈，三连胜的纪录就此终结。车队成绩最好的克里斯托弗·贝尔仅获第六名——这是自2014年9月以来，JGR车队首次未能在新罕布什尔站进入前五名。

“我们只是速度跟不上顶尖选手。”贝尔说道。这位车手曾在第二轮最后两站——堪萨斯赛道和夏洛特赛车场罗瓦尔赛道夺冠。“我对接下来两场比赛的表现持乐观态度，但之前我对本站比赛也充满信心，结果却未能如愿。”

随着布莱尼（Blaney）凭借一场胜利晋级，贝尔（Bell）仍稳居有望进入第三轮比赛的其他七名车手之列。他在12名季后赛车手中排名第四，领先于与吉布斯（Gibbs）发生冲突后仅获第12名的哈姆林（Hamlin）一个位次。

哈姆林在车队无线电中对老板乔·吉布斯（Joe Gibbs）的孙子颇有微词——尽管后者已无缘季后赛，却在比赛初期似乎阻碍了队友的进程。车队经理加贝哈特（Gabehart）淡化了这次分歧，表示将在本周的队内会议中化解矛盾。

“我认为需要遵循合理的礼仪规范，”加布哈特（Gabehart）表示，“但与此同时，也不能营造一种让所有人始终逆来顺受、一味示好的氛围，否则就无法像乔·吉布斯车队（Joe Gibbs Racing）这些年来赢得那么多冠军旗帜。”

哈姆林更关注自己令人失望的表现，而非修补关系。

“显然，我们这次并未展现出最佳状态，”哈姆林说道，“必须再提速一些，让赛车操控更顺手，而我自己也肯定要表现得更好。”

布莱尼认为，新更换的右侧轮胎可能削弱了乔·吉布斯车队（JGR）在新罕布什尔站的优势。

布莱尼表示：'我本以为他们的速度会更快。这项运动本就充满起伏与波折。本周末我们状态极佳，而一次重大的轮胎更换往往能彻底扭转局面。'

2025赛季最后两场在马丁斯维尔赛道和凤凰城举办的比赛将使用同一款轮胎，贝尔曾在今年三月于凤凰城夺冠。

但洛加诺（Logano）此前两次夺冠均是在菲尼克斯站赢得冠军赛，而布莱尼（Blaney）则以赛季收官战亚军成绩斩获2023年总冠军，去年则获得亚军。

加布哈特表示：“现实就是季后赛已经来临，潘世奇车队的赛车来势汹汹。这些家伙深知如何在关键时刻发力，我们只能在接下来的赛季中与他们一较高下，看看结果如何。他们将会是非常难缠的对手。”

23XI车队陷入困境

堪萨斯赛道一直是23XI车队的福地，该车队在新罕布什尔站遭遇惨败后亟需重振旗鼓。泰勒·雷迪克（第21位）和布巴·华莱士（第26位）在季后赛积分榜上跌至最后两名。

2022年在堪萨斯站夺冠的华莱士表示，新罕布什尔站的比赛是“我长久以来在赛车里度过的最漫长的一天。表现如此失常，让我们所有人都感到意外。这简直令人费解。我告诉团队，我们的实力远不止于此。”

雷迪克（Reddick）从比赛伊始就遭遇刹车故障，最终连续第三站以第15名或更差的成绩完赛——此前他在达灵顿季后赛揭幕战上曾获得亚军。

“我原以为我们能全天保持在前十名，”2023年堪萨斯站冠军雷迪克说道，“但优势转瞬即逝。真是糟糕的一天。说实话，现在有很多疑问。我们需要一些转机。希望能尽快找到答案。”

追求卓越

亨德里克赛车运动的三位季后赛车手威廉·拜伦（第三名）、蔡斯·埃利奥特（第五名）和凯尔·拉森（第七名）在新罕布什尔州站比赛中同时跻身前十，这是该车队十年来首次取得如此佳绩。埃利奥特在排位赛仅列第27位的情况下奉献了惊艳表现——这已是他连续第五站比赛未能进入前15名发车。

纳斯卡七届最受欢迎车手表示：我实在不愿将我们置于如此困境。 他补充道：今天奋力拼搏、重新杀回竞争行列固然值得欣喜，但谁也不愿被迫经历这种逆转。

美联社赛车新闻：