Ryan Blaney shined under the lights at Nashville Superspeedway. He combined a dominant performance and pit strategy to win the fifth annual running of the Cracker Barrel 400 on Sunday, June 1.
The 2023 NASCAR Cup Series champion from High Point, North Carolina, led five times for a race-high 139 of 300 scheduled laps. He started in 15th place, utilizing an early pit strategy, to lead for the first time on Lap 47 while most of the front-runners pitted. After leading his first 24 laps of the event, Blaney pitted, finishing in seventh place after the first stage period.
Blaney’s pit strategy continued during the first stage’s break period when a gusty call from crew chief Jonathan Hassler resulted in Blaney regaining the lead following a two-tire pit service. This allowed Blaney to lead the first 11 laps of the second stage period before he lost the lead to Denny Hamlin amid another caution period.
Nonetheless, Blaney would cycle back to the lead amid an intense three-car battle with Hamlin and William Byron in the closing laps of the second stage period, which he won.
Then, after surrendering the lead to pit amid a late cycle of green-flag pit stops with nearly 50 laps remaining, Blaney would cycle back into the lead with nearly 30 laps remaining. Despite being mired within lapped traffic, Blaney would maintain a reasonable gap from both Carson Hocevar and Hamlin to lead through to the event’s conclusion and capture his first Cup Series victory of the 2025 campaign.
On-track qualifying determined the starting lineup on Saturday, May 30, at Nashville Superspeedway. Chase Briscoe notched his third Cup Series pole of the 2025 season with a lap at 164.395 mph in 29.125 seconds. It was also his second in a row in recent weeks. Joining Briscoe on the front row was teammate Denny Hamlin, with a qualifying lap at 164.119 mph in 29.174 seconds.
Prior to the event, AJ Allmendinger dropped to the rear of the field due to unapproved adjustments made to his entry’s splitter. The adjustment resulted in Allmendinger’s car chief, Jaron Antley, being ejected for the remainder of the weekend and his hard card being confiscated. In addition, Allmendinger lost his pit stall selection for Sunday’s event. He was also forced to serve a stop-and-go penalty through pit road after the event started.
Green Flag
When the green flag waved at Nashville, the event commenced. Pole-sitter Chase Briscoe drove his No. 19 Bass Pro Shops Toyota Camry XSE entry ahead of the field through the frontstretch. He led through the first two turns as the field behind jostled for early spots. Briscoe would lead from the backstretch and back to the frontstretch as he led the first lap.
Over the next four laps, Briscoe maintained a steady advantage of three-tenths of a second over Hamlin while Byron, Tyler Reddick and Christopher Bell pursued in the top five. Meanwhile, Kyle Larson, who was racing outside the top-20 mark, got loose in Turn 1 and was hit by Zane Smith while trying to avoid hitting Ty Gibbs.T
The contact dropped Larson back to 36th place on the Nashville track. In addition, AJ Allmendinger, who served his stop-and-go penalty on pit road on the opening lap, was mired a lap down in 38th place. Amid the early actions, Briscoe retained his early advantage by half a second over Hamlin at the Lap 10 mark.
Through the first 25 scheduled laps, Briscoe continued to lead by a tenth of a second over a hard-charging Hamlin while Byron, Reddick and Bell continued to race in the top-five mark. Behind, Chase Elliott, Michael McDowell, Joey Logano, Ross Chastain and Brad Keselowski trailed in the top 10 ahead of Bubba Wallace, Chris Buescher, Erik Jones, Ryan Blaney and Austin Cindric ,
Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Ryan Preece, Justin Haley, Ty Gibbs and Josh Berry pursued in the top 20 at Nashville ahead of rookie Shane van Gisbergen, Austin Dillon, Corey Heim, Carson Hocevar and Kyle Busch. Meanwhile, Ty Dillon, Alex Bowman, Zane Smith, Noah Gragson and Kyle Larson were mired in the top 30 while Cole Custer, rookie Riley Herbst, Todd Gilliland, John Hunter Nemechek, Daniel Suarez, Cody Ware, AJ Allmendinger and Chad Finchum rounded out the 38-car field.
Ten laps later, Briscoe slightly stretched his advantage at Nashville up to half a second over Hamlin while third-place Byron trailed by within two seconds. Another five laps later, an early cycle of green flag pit stops commenced as Larson pitted his No. 5 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet entry. Briscoe would then surrender the lead to pit a lap later. Hamlin, who led the previous lap, pitted by Lap 42 along with Byron.
As more names pitted over the next five laps at Nashville, Tyler Reddick, who had led since Lap 41, pitted under green as Ryan Blaney, who had yet to pit, cycled into the lead. Amid the pit stops, Bubba Wallace was penalized for speeding on pit road.
Just past the Lap 50 mark, Blaney, who was among 11 competitors who had yet to pit, was leading by more than a second over teammate Austin Cindric while Ty Gibbs, Justin Haley and Corey Heim were scored in the top five. Behind, Carson Hocevar, Ty Dillon, Alex Bowman, John Hunter Nemechek and Daniel Suarez were in the top 10 at Nashville. Briscoe, the first competitor who recently pitted under green, was mired in 11th place ahead of Hamlin, Byron, Reddick and Bell, respectively.
At the Lap 65 mark, Blaney, who remained on the track through his early strategic move, added two seconds to his advantage. He was leading by three seconds over Cindric while Haley, Briscoe and Hamlin all trailed by double digits. Both Blaney and Cindric would then pit under green on Lap 70 while Briscoe, who was among several Toyota competitors reporting potential brake pedaling issues, cycled back into the lead.
Nearing the Lap 80 mark of the Nashville race, a three-car battle for the lead ensued. Briscoe, who was approaching Larson in an effort to lap him, had both Byron and Hamlin reeling in on the former for the lead through every turn and straightaway.
Byron, who nearly got alongside Briscoe for the lead through the frontstretch at the Lap 80 mark at Nashville, then went slightly up the track through Turns 1 and 2. This allowed Hamlin to draw even and overtake Byron for the runner-up spot. Reddick then overtook Byron for third place by Lap 82 while Briscoe threw a big block on Hamlin to maintain the lead.
Still on Lap 82, Hamlin would draw even with Briscoe through the backstretch before he drove his No. 11 Progressive Toyota Camry XSE entry ahead entering the frontstretch to assume the lead on Lap 83. As Hamlin pursued Larson to lap him, Reddick charged his way into the runner-up spot and would start to reel in Hamlin for the lead while Briscoe and Byron battled for third place.
When the first stage period at Nashville concluded on Lap 90, Hamlin, who was making his 700th Cup Series career start, captured his third Cup stage victory of the 2025 season. Reddick followed suit in second by two-tenths of a second while Briscoe, Byron, Bell, Chase Elliott, Blaney, Michael McDowell, Logano and Chastain were scored in the top 10, respectively.
By then, Larson, who was mired in 27th place, remained on the lead lap by keeping his entry ahead of the leaders while rookie Riley Herbst, who was in 28th place, fended off teammate Bubba Wallace to emerge as the first competitor scored a lap down and receive the free pass to cycle back on the lead lap.
Under the stage break, the lead lap field led by Hamlin peeled off the track to pit for service. Following the pit stops and amid mixed strategies, Team Penske’s Blaney and Cindric, both of whom opted for two-tire pit services, exited pit road in the top-two spots. They were followed by Hamlin, Reddick, Briscoe, Bell, Byron, Elliott, Logano and McDowell, respectively.
Stage 2
The second stage period at Nashville started on Lap 97 as Blaney and Cindric occupied the front row. At the start, Blaney gained the upper hand from the inside lane as he led through the first two turns while Cindric was locked in a side-by-side battle with Hamlin for the runner-up spot.
As Blaney led the following lap, Hamlin would use the inside lane through the first two turns to assume the runner-up spot while Reddick, Bell, Elliott, Byron, Logano and Briscoe pursued. Amid the battles within the field, Blaney led at the Lap 100 mark.
On Lap 104 of the Nashville race, the caution returned when Stenhouse, who was racing in 17th place, got sideways after receiving a tap from Carson Hocevar and slapped his No. 47 NOS Energy Chevrolet entry into the outside wall through Turns 3 and 4. The incident, which terminated Stenhouse’s event, left the driver of the No. 47 Chevrolet heated and issuing a potential warning to Hocevar over the latter’s aggressive driving skills.
“[Hocevar] overcharged the corner and just drilled us in the rear bumper,” Stenhouse said at the infield care center. “I’d say it’s not out of the norm for him, but I definitely wasn’t expecting that at that point in the race. [I’ll] Definitely have something to do about it, at one point.”
During the caution period, the field led by Blaney returned to pit road for service and for enough fuel to reach the second stage period’s conclusion at Nashville. Following the pit stops, Hamlin exited pit road first ahead of Cindric, Logano and Blaney while Reddick, McDowell, Elliott, Briscoe and Byron followed suit. Amid the pit stops, Keselowski made contact with Nemechek while trying to exit his pit stall.
The start of the next restart on Lap 111 featured Hamlin fending off Cindric and Logano from the inside lane to lead as the field fanned out to multiple lanes exiting the frontstretch and through the first two turns.
Then, as the intensity of the Nashville on-track action ensued during the following lap, the caution returned when Bowman, who was racing near the top-20 mark, got loose and clipped Gragson. This sent Gragson’s No. 4 Rush Truck Centers Ford Mustang Dark Horse entry hard into the Turn 3 outside wall. As Bowman slid his No. 48 Ally Chevrolet entry backwards into the wall, Larson slightly collided into the rear of Gragson while trying to slam on the brakes, though the latter continued with minimal damage.
More on-track troubles ensued during the next restart on Lap 118 when Bell, who restarted in fifth place, received a tap from Erik Jones that sent Bell’s No. 20 DeWalt Toyota Camry XSE entry spinning and making contact with the outside wall through the first two turns. Amid Bell’s incident, the oncoming field barely dodged Bell as Bell continued.
As the race restarted on Lap 123, Hamlin used the inside lane to muscle ahead of Cindric and the field through the first two turns for a third consecutive time. With Hamlin leading the next lap and through to the Lap 125 mark, Blaney pursued in the runner-up spot while his teammates Logano and Cindric battled for third place.
Behind, Byron and Briscoe battled for fifth place ahead of Erik Jones, McDowell, Josh Berry and Ty Gibbs while Reddick, who restarted in seventh place, was plummeting below the leaderboard and slowly falling off the pace. Reddick, who radioed a potential flat tire on his No. 45 Pinnacle Toyota Camry XSE entry, would then pit under green by Lap 128 as Hamlin retained the lead.
The caution then returned on Lap 130 when Corey Heim, who was racing in the top-12 mark, went up the track and collided with Keselowski entering the frontstretch. The contact, which resulted in Keselowski hitting the outside wall, sent Heim’s No. 67 Chief’s Toyota Camry XSE entry spinning and wrecking across the frontstretch.
The caution served as a big break for his 23XI Racing teammate Reddick as he was awarded the free pass to cycle back on the lead lap following his green flag pit stop to have a flat right-front tire changed. By then, Larson, who pitted during the previous restart under green due to a loose wheel, was mired outside the top-30 mark.
With the event restarting under green on Lap 136, Hamlin rocketed ahead from the inside lane through the frontstretch as he led the field that fanned out through the first two turns and the backstretch. Hamlin retained the lead through the Lap 140 mark and Blaney would follow suit in second. Byron, who used the outside lane to gain a bevy of spots while utilizing momentum on restarts, muscled up to third place ahead of Logano and Erik Jones.
Halfway Mark
At the halfway mark on Lap 150, Hamlin was leading by two-tenths of a second over Blaney while Byron, Logano, Jones, Briscoe, Cindric, Ty Gibbs, Hocevar and McDowell were racing in the top 10. Meanwhile, Zane Smith, Josh Berry, Bell, Chastain and Ryan Preece pursued in the top 15 ahead of van Gisbergen, Cole Custer, Elliott, Kyle Busch and Ty Dillon while Larson, Wallace, Reddick, Nemechek and Daniel Suarez trailed in the top 25, respectively.
Ten laps later, Hamlin continued to lead by a tenth of a second over a hard-charging Blaney as the latter reeled in on the former and was drawing close to his rear bumper. Behind, Byron trailed the two leaders by within six-tenths of a second while Logano and Erik Jones continued to race in the top five.
Another five laps later, the two-car battle for the lead between Hamlin and Blaney became a three-car battle as Byron used the outside lane through the first two turns to rocket past Blaney into the runner-up spot. Byron then quickly darted his No. 24 Raptor High Heat Chevrolet entry beneath Hamlin through Turns 3 and 4, where both dueled for the lead through the frontstretch and for the following lap.
Byron would then clear Hamlin to assume the lead through the backstretch on Lap 168, but Blaney, who nearly threw a three-wide move exiting the frontstretch seconds earlier, responded by going beneath Byron exiting the backstretch and muscling his No. 12 Menards Ford Mustang Dark Horse entry ahead with the lead through Turns 3 and 4, where he led the next lap. Blaney would then slowly stretch ahead with the lead by Lap 175 over Byron and Hamlin.
When the second stage period concluded on Lap 185, Blaney, who extended his lead to more than two seconds and has been racing with left-side tires that had more wear than the field, cruised to his third Cup stage victory of the 2025 season. Byron followed suit in second ahead of Hamlin, Logano and Erik Jones. Cindric, Hocevar, Zane Smith, Berry and Bell were scored in the top 10, respectively.
During the stage break, the lead lap field led by Blaney pitted for service. Following the pit stops, Logano, whose gasman tripped but managed to keep the gas can inside of the pit box to avoid a penalty, exited pit road first ahead of teammate Blaney, Jones, Hamlin and Hocevar while Byron, Cindric, Berry, Kyle Busch and Bell followed suit, respectively. Amid the pit stops, Berry received a penalty for a crew member jumping over the pit wall too soon.
Final Stage
With 108 laps remaining, the final stage period commenced as Logano and Blaney occupied the front row. At the start, the field fanned out to multiple lanes exiting the frontstretch as Logano barely fended off Blaney to lead through the first two turns. Behind, however, Byron used the outside lane to bolt his way up to third place, but Logano would proceed to lead the following lap. As Logano led Blaney, Byron pursued in third while Hamlin, Erik Jones and Hocevar battled for fourth place.
The caution then returned with 107 laps remaining due to Ryan Preece getting sideways entering the first two turns and spinning his No. 60 Trimble Ford Mustang Dark Horse entry backwards into the outside wall, though Preece managed to continue with minimal damage.
The start of the next restart with 102 laps remaining, featured the field fanning out through the frontstretch and the first two turns as Blaney overtook teammate Logano to assume the lead. Behind, Erik Jones battled Logano for the runner-up spot as Byron and Hamlin pursued within close reach.
As Blaney proceeded to lead with 100 laps remaining, Jones and Logano remained dead even for the runner-up spot in front of Hamlin and Byron while Hocevar and Chastain battled for sixth place. In addition, Wallace, who carved his way back to the front, battled Kyle Busch for eighth place ahead of Larson, Bell and Reddick.
With 90 laps remaining, Blaney stretched his lead to a second over Logano while Hamlin, Jones and Byron trailed in the top five. Blaney would continue to lead by more than a second over Hamlin, who assumed the runner-up spot over Logano seven laps earlier, with 75 laps remaining as Jones and Byron continued to trail in the top five.
Meanwhile, Hocevar, Chastain, Wallace, Larson and Kyle Busch trailed in the top 10, respectively, while Reddick, Bell, Cindric, Cole Custer and Zane Smith were mired in the top 15.
Then, with 58 laps remaining, a late cycle of green flag pit stops slowly commenced as Erik Jones pitted his No. 43 Family Dollar Toyota Camry XSE entry from fourth place. Hocevar, McDowell, Chastain, Logano and Larson would pit over the next three laps while Blaney continued to lead the race by more than three seconds.
As Wallace and Ty Dillon pitted with 54 laps remaining, Blaney would then pit a lap later. As Blaney pitted, Elliott also pitted while more names that included Buescher, Herbst, Briscoe, Allmendinger, Nemechek, Kyle Busch, Bell, Reddick, Zane Smith, Byron, Custer, Suarez and Todd Gilliland all pitted within the final 50-lap mark. Amid the pit stops, Hamlin, who has yet to pit, was leading while Cindic, van Gisbergen, Austin Dillon and Keselowski were racing in the top five.
With 45 laps remaining, Hamlin pitted from the lead as only eight competitors, not including Hamlin and all of whom still needed to pit, were scored on the lead lap. Following his pit service, Hamlin was overtaken by Blaney while Cindric cycled into the lead.
As Cindric pitted his No. 2 Discount Tire Ford Mustang Dark Horse entry from the lead with 42 laps remaining, Austin Dillon cycled into the lead and proceeded to lead with 40 laps remaining while Keselowski followed suit in second. By then, Blaney carved his way up to fourth place and he trailed the lead by nine seconds while Hamlin was scored in sixth place and trailing Blaney by eight seconds. Meanwhile, Hocevar was racing in fifth place and trailing the leader by 14 seconds.
Down to the final 34 laps of the event, Austin Dillon pitted his No. 3 Toys for Tots Chevrolet entry from the lead. This allowed Keselowski to cycle into the lead along with Berry while Blaney, who nearly got loose while pursuing the lapped competitor of Nemechek a lap earlier, was racing as hard as he could back to the front from third place.
Berry would then pit shortly after before Keselowski pitted from the lead with 32 laps remaining. This allowed Blaney, who was mired in lapped traffic, to cycle back to the lead. As Blaney led with 30 laps remaining, Hocevar trailed in the runner-up spot by less than three seconds while Hamlin trailed in third place by less than four seconds.
Down to the final 25 laps of the event, Blaney continued to lead by more than two seconds over Hocevar while Hamlin trailed Hocevar by six-tenths of a second. Behind, Logano and Byron were racing in the top five ahead of Jones, Wallace, Larson, Chastain and Bell while Blaney stabilized his lead to two seconds over Hocevar and three seconds over Hamlin with 20 laps remaining.
With 15 laps remaining, Blaney, who continued to find himself mired behind lapped traffic, maintained a healthy advantage of more than two seconds over runner-up Hocevar and by more than three seconds over third-place Hamlin while Logano, Byron and Wallace pursued in the top six. Blaney would then increase his advantage to three seconds over Hocevar with 10 laps remaining and maintain it with five laps remaining.
Victory
When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Blaney remained in the lead by three seconds over both Hocevar and Hamlin. With a steady advantage to his favor and no lapped traffic interfering, Blaney was able to smoothly navigate his way around Nashville Superspeedway for a final time before he cycled back to the frontstretch and captured his first elusive checkered flag of the 2025 Cup Series campaign.
With the victory, Blaney, whose average finishing result stood at 17.8 prior to Nashville, notched his 14th career win in NASCAR’s premier series, his first at Nashville and his first since he won at Martinsville Speedway in November 2024. Blaney, who has now won in eight of nine seasons, including 2025, also became the ninth different winner through 14 scheduled Cup events to be guaranteed a spot to the 2025 Playoffs.
Blaney’s victory was the fourth of the 2025 season for the Ford nameplate and the third for Team Penske, with all three Penske entries (Nos. 2, 12 & 22) having won at least once in a Cup season for a second consecutive year.
“I never gave up hope, that’s for sure,” Blaney said on the frontstretch on Prime Video. “We’ve had great speed all year. It just hasn’t really been the best year for us as far as good fortune. The No. 12 boys are awesome. They stick with it no matter how it goes. It was great to finish one out tonight. I thought [the two-tire pit stop] was a good call.
“We drove up to seventh there in the first stage and I thought two tires are great. I thought my car was really good and that really set us up for the rest of the race. Great job by [crew chief Jonathan Hassler] as always. It’s nice that it’s finally happening. I’m ready to go celebrate.”
Carson Hocevar rallied from his early on-track incident with Ricky Stenhouse Jr. to tie his career-best result of second place. Meanwhile, Denny Hamlin, who dealt with having no air in his helmet or water in his car throughout the final stage period, soldiered through with a third-place finish at Nashville in his 700th Cup career start.
“[The finish] just proves how strong this group is to go from the disappointment last week to having a really bad qualified draw, qualifying really bad and sticking through it and having a shot like a straightaway,” Hocevar said. Just proud of this group.
“I think our average with this car is like 38, so it’s a big upgrade. I was probably being a lot more vocal on the radio than I needed to be, but you’re just trying so hard and trying to find something that [is] just not there, one spot short again. Hopefully, this is a step in the right direction.”
“I was hot,” Hamlin said. “[I] Just couldn’t run with [Blaney] there in the super long run. After 40 laps, I could maintain with him, but then after that, he just pulled away and stretch it on us. Our best strategy at that point was to go long and you either catch a caution or another caution comes. We all were going to stay out because the lap times don’t fall off.
“We got fresher tires, but we got jumped by [Hocevar] and then, the track just went through a really weird phase there the last 30 laps where everyone had to pin to the bottom [lane]. I think there was not enough cars running the middle [lane] and it threw dust up in that middle and top lane. It was not an option. It was like ice up there, so that definitely hurt the passing.”
Joey Logano, the reigning three-time Cup Series champion who won at Nashville a year ago, came home in fourth place while William Byron settled in fifth place. Bubba Wallace, Erik Jones, Kyle Larson, Tyler Reddick and Christopher Bell completed the top 10 in the final running order.
Notably, Ross Chastain, winner of last weekend’s Coca-Cola 600, settled in 11th place ahead of Kyle Busch, Chase Elliott finished in 15th place, pole-sitter Chase Briscoe ended up in 17th place in front of Austin Cindric despite leading 51 laps, AJ Allmendinger muscled through to 20th place after rallying from his stop-and-go penalty at the event’s start and Brad Keselowski fell back to 23rd place following his late green-flag pit stop. In addition, rookies Riley Herbst and Shane van Gisbergen finished in 24th and 25th place, respectively.
There were 18 lead changes for nine different leaders during the race at Nashville. The race featured seven cautions for 35 laps. In addition, 26 of 39 starters finished on the lead lap.
Following the 14th event of the 2025 Cup Series season, William Byron leads the regular-season standings by 48 points over teammate Kyle Larson, 88 over Christopher Bell, 104 over Denny Hamlin and 105 over teammate Chase Elliott.
Nashville Superspeedway Cup Series Results:
1. Ryan Blaney, 139 laps led, Stage 2 winner
2. Carson Hocevar
3. Denny Hamlin, 79 laps led, Stage 1 winner
4. Joey Logano, 10 laps led
5. William Byron, one lap led
6. Bubba Wallace
7. Erik Jones
8. Kyle Larson
9. Tyler Reddick, seven laps led
10. Christopher Bell
11. Ross Chastain
12. Kyle Busch
13. Zane Smith
14. Chris Buescher
15. Chase Elliott
16. Daniel Suarez
17. Chase Briscoe, 51 laps led
18. Austin Cindric, two laps led
19. Cole Custer
20. AJ Allmendinger
21. Michael McDowell
22. Todd Gilliland
23. Brad Keselowski, three laps led
24. Riley Herbst
25. Shane van Gisbergen
26. Ty Dillon, one lap down
27. John Hunter Nemechek, one lap down
28. Ryan Preece, one lap down
29. Austin Dillon, one lap down, eight laps led
30. Josh Berry, one lap down
31. Ty Gibbs, one lap down
32. Justin Haley, one lap down
33. Cody Ware, three laps down
34. JJ Yeley, three laps down
35. Chad Finchum, 12 laps down
36. Alex Bowman, 112 laps down
37. Corey Heim – OUT, Accident
38. Noah Gragson – OUT, Accident
39. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. – OUT, Accident
Next on the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series season is Michigan International Speedway in Brooklyn, Michigan, for the Firekeepers Casino 400. The event is scheduled to occur next Sunday, June 8, and air at 2 p.m. ET on Prime Video.
