Ryan Blaney finally shook away the racing gremlins during Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series Cracker Barrel 400, collecting his first win of 2025. (Photo Credit: Yasser Khan | The Podium Finish)
LEBANON, Tenn. — Ryan Blaney continues to exemplify his position as a contender week in and week out when he avoids trouble to finally put it all together. The driver of the No. 12 Team Penske Ford rose to dominance in Sunday’s Cracker Barrel 400 at Nashville Superspeedway, scoring his first and much needed victory of the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series season.
The race saw Blaney move from a 15th-place starting position to lead an impressive 139 of 300 laps, ultimately securing a crucial playoff spot, including a victory in Stage 2. In the final stage, he surged ahead of the entire Cup Series field, ultimately securing a dominant win of nearly 3 seconds over the sophomore driver of Carson Hocevar.
Blaney has come so close this season to hoisting a trophy only to have something break his heart and challenge his resolve. In all, he has collected a total of five DNFs through the opening 14 races, which includes three consecutively in March that saw the 2023 Cup Series champion collect two engine failures along with a crash during that span.
Ryan Blaney worked overtime during Sunday’s 300-mile quest at Nashville Superspeedway by claiming his first Cup Series win of 2025. (Photo Credit: Yasser Khan | The Podium Finish)
The Joe Gibbs Racing duo of Chase Briscoe and Denny Hamlin fired immediately out of the gun to kick off the 300-lap showdown around the 1.330-mile oval, as Briscoe led the opening 39 laps from the pole before early green flag pitstops began on Lap 40.
Blaney decided to stay out during the green flag run for an expanded time before both he and his Team Penske teammate of Austin Cindric serviced their race cars with 20 laps to go in Stage 1, taking just two tires to gain back track position as Hamlin jumped back out to the lead for good for the remainder of the opening 90-lap stage to claim his third stage victory on the year.
A series of caution laps during Stage 2 was initiated after the 102-lap green flag run, which was ultimately ended when Hocevar made contact with Ricky Stenhouse Jr., causing him to hit the Turn 4 wall on Lap 106.
The chaos continued in the early stages of Stage 2. During the restart on Lap 112, Noah Gragson and Alex Bowman sustained heavy damage in an incident that also involved Kyle Larson. The race went green again on Lap 119, but the yellow flag quickly came out when Christopher Bell lost control of his No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota after colliding with Erik Jones’ No. 43 Legacy Motor Club Toyota.
The chaos finally concluded, but not before CRAFTSMAN Truck Series standout Corey Heim, fresh off the heels of a 13th-place run at Kansas Speedway in his lone Cup Series start of 2025, ran Brad Keselowski out of room exiting Turn 4, causing Heim to spin and destroy the rear clip of his No. 67 23XI Racing Toyota, ending the hopes of a promising run for the Marietta, Georgia native.
Corey Heim (No. 67) spins down the frontstretch after a bummer end to a strong day for 23XI Racing. (Photo Credit: Yasser Khan | The Podium Finish)
Blaney excelled for the remainder of Stage 2, engaging in battles with Hamlin and William Byron for the stage victory. All three drivers were eager to win, but Blaney ultimately emerged victorious in the stage.
As the third and final stage began, Blaney took control, leading 111 of the last 132 laps. He successfully fended off a late challenge from Hocevar, whose attempt to catch up to Blaney was hindered by a wall of lap traffic.
This obstacle dashed Hocevar’s hopes of closing the gap, which allowed Blaney to speed away to his first win of 2025, and his first since claiming victory in the penultimate race of the 2024 Cup Series season at Martinsville Speedway in November.
“I never gave up hope, that’s for sure,” Blaney said in an upbeat post-race interview. “We’ve had great speed all year, just hasn’t been the best year for us as far as good fortune. The (Team Penske) 12 boys are awesome; they stick with it no matter how it goes, and it was great to finish one out tonight.”
Blaney decided to give back to the fans after the interview by handing a young fan the race-winning checkered flag, celebrating after waiting over half a year to claim victory yet again in the Cup Series.
Ryan Blaney hands off the race-winning Cracker Barrel 400 flag to a young fan on the frontstretch of Nashville Superspeedway. (Photo Credit: Yasser Khan | The Podium Finish)
Hocevar’s runner-up finish tied a career-best effort turned in at Atlanta in February, continuing to provide the strength that Spire Motorsports has shown on intermediate tracks throughout the season thus far.
“It just proves how strong this group is to go from the disappointment last week, we were one spot short again, but hopefully this is a step in the right direction, just proud of this (Spire Motorsports) group.”
Following Blaney and Hocevar for the top 5 came Hamlin, finishing third, who drove an impressive race at the front, nabbing a stage victory, along with 79 laps led throughout the evening.
“Yeah, I thought that the second-to-last run when me and the 12 pulled away, I thought that long run there, I went loose.” Said Hamlin. “I went loose on the run before that, but I just lost too much grip late, and we tried to make it better that last run. We made it slightly better, but it just wasn’t enough.”
“After 40 laps, I could maintain with him, but after that, he’d just pull away and stretch it on us.”
Blaney’s Team Penske teammate of Joey Logano, rallied back to finish in fourth place, with Byron rounding out the top 5.
The rest of the top 10 finishers were followed by Bubba Wallace, Jones, Larson, Tyler Reddick, and Bell.
Byron remains atop the points chart as the series ventures to Michigan International Speedway on Sunday, June 8, for the FireKeepers Casino 400.
Coverage of the FireKeepers Casino 400 will air live on Amazon Prime on June 8 at 2 p.m. ET, with radio coverage presented by the Motor Racing Network and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Channel 90.
