Christopher Bell won the NASCAR Marathon Cup Series race in New Hampshire on Sunday.
Bell won the rain-delayed race ahead of Chase Briscoe and Josh Berry, as the entire field used rain tires. The last part of the race, after a rain delay of more than two hours, was held on rain tires, because NASCAR wanted to restart the race as quickly as possible.
Bell took the lead on lap 242 of the scheduled 301-lap race and led the rest of the way. He held the lead for the final 64 laps after two spin cautions flew on the final 10 scheduled laps.
The race ultimately lasted more than six hours and lasted 305 laps.
It was the second time this season that part of a Cup Series race was held with rain tires. The Richmond race this spring started with teams on rain tires before NASCAR stopped the race for teams to put on slicks.
And like Richmond, NASCAR was heavy-handed in its rain tire management. Teams were not allowed to change to slicks if they felt the track was dry enough and were only allowed to change sets of rain tires if NASCAR allowed it.
Had the race been canceled on lap 219, Tyler Reddick would have earned his second win of the season. Reddick pitted on lap 156 and inherited the lead when he failed to pit at the end of the second stage. A series of cautions at the start of the third stage helped keep Reddick in the lead before the rain started.
