RICK WARE RACING
Bass Pro Shops Night Race
Date: Sept. 13, 2025
Event: Bass Pro Shops Night Race (Round 29 of 36)
Series: NASCAR Cup Series
Location: Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway (.533-mile, concrete oval)
Format: 500 laps, broken into three stages (125 laps/125 laps/250 laps)
Race Winner: Christopher Bell of Joe Gibbs Racing (Toyota)
Stage 1 Winner: Ryan Blaney of Team Penske (Ford)
Stage 2 Winner: Ty Gibbs of Joe Gibbs Racing (Toyota)
RWR Finish:
● Cody Ware (Started 34th, Finished 29th / Running, completed 496 of 500 laps)
RWR Points:
● Cody Ware (36th with 202 points)
Race Notes:
● Christopher Bell won the Bass Pro Shops Night Race to score his 13th career NASCAR Cup Series victory, his fourth of the season and his first at Bristol. His margin over second-place Brad Keselowski was .343 of a second.
● There were 14 caution periods for a total of 137 laps.
● Only 13 of the 39 drivers in the race finished on the lead lap.
● This was the last race in the Round of 16 of the NASCAR Playoffs. Bell, Denny Hamlin, Kyle Larson, William Byron, Ryan Blaney, Chase Briscoe, Chase Elliott, Bubba Wallace, Austin Cindric, Ross Chastain, Joey Logano and Tyler Reddick moved on to the Round of 12, while Alex Bowman, Austin Dillon, Shane van Gisbergen and Josh Berry did not advance. The cutoff race for the Round of 8 is the Oct. 5 Bank of America Roval 400 at the Charlotte (N.C.) Motor Speedway Roval, and the cutoff race for the final, winner-take-all Championship 4 is the Oct. 26 Xfinity 500 at Martinsville (Va.) Speedway. The NASCAR Cup Series season finale is Nov. 2 at Phoenix Raceway.
Sound Bites:
“The best way to describe the night was we had a fast car and we executed well but, unfortunately, all the uncontrollable aspects of the race kind of got away from us. Bummed we couldn’t walk away with a top-25, but the car was fast. Really proud of the guys. We’ll just keep digging and get ready for New Hampshire next week.” – Cody Ware, driver of the No. 51 Arby’s Ford Mustang Dark Horse
Next Up:
The next event on the NASCAR Cup Series schedule is the Mobil 1 301 on Sunday, Sept. 21 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway in Loudon. The fourth race in the 10-race NASCAR Playoffs starts at 2 p.m. EDT with live coverage provided by USA and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.
