Ryan Blaney secured his first victory of the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series season Sunday night, leading a race-best 139 of 300 laps in the Cracker Barrel 400 at Nashville Superspeedway. The 2023 series champion’s win guarantees him a spot in the NASCAR Playoffs.
Blaney, 31, has faced a season of near-misses and bad luck but drove his No. 12 Team Penske Ford to a 2.830-second victory over Carson Hocevar, 22, of Spire Motorsports. The final 103 laps of the race ran under a green flag.
Following the win, Blaney celebrated by climbing on his car, raising his arms, then jumping into the grandstands to retrieve the checkered flag, which he then gave to a young fan.
“I never gave up hope that’s for sure,” said Blaney, whose victory means all three Penske drivers have secured a playoff spot for 2025. “We’ve had adversity, and this hasn’t really been a good year for us in terms of good fortune, but the 12-boys are awesome. They stick with it no matter how it goes.”
Hocevar’s second-place finish ties his career-best effort, previously set at Atlanta in February.
“It just proves how strong this group is to go from the disappointment last week,” said Hocevar, who had mechanical issues at Charlotte Motor Speedway last Sunday after leading laps. “Sticking to it and having a shot, just proud of this group. We were one spot short again, but hopefully this is a step in the right direction.”
Denny Hamlin of Joe Gibbs Racing finished third despite issues with his helmet hose and hydration system. Hamlin won the opening stage and led 79 laps. Joey Logano, Blaney’s Penske teammate, finished fourth, and current NASCAR Cup Series championship leader William Byron of Hendrick Motorsports rounded out the top five.
“Just couldn’t run with the 12 there in the super long run, after 40 laps I could maintain with him, but after that he’d just pull away and stretch it on us,” said Hamlin.
Logano, the defending race winner, also led laps but couldn’t challenge at the end, ceding positions to Hocevar and Hamlin.
“The 12 was just lights out which gave them a huge lead and we just weren’t able to hold onto second, the 11 [Hamlin] got by me,” Logano said. “Good execution and proud of Team Penske. All our cars have a win now and that’s pretty impressive to have everybody with a win. All the teams are really strong.”
Bubba Wallace (23XI Racing), Erik Jones (Legacy Motor Club), Kyle Larson (Hendrick Motorsports), Tyler Reddick (23XI Racing), and Christopher Bell (Joe Gibbs Racing) completed the top 10. Larson’s finish was notable as he started 28th and was involved in an incident on Lap 115.
The race featured 18 lead changes among nine drivers. Hamlin won Stage 1, and Blaney won Stage 2.
The Nashville race determined the 32-car field for the inaugural NASCAR In-Season Challenge, a bracket-style tournament to be broadcast on TNT this summer. The tournament begins June 28 at Atlanta, followed by races at Chicago, Sonoma, Dover and Indianapolis. The winner will receive a $1 million prize.
The next three races — Michigan, Mexico City’s Autodromo Hermanos Rodriquez and Pocono — will determine the bracket seeding based on a driver’s best finish in those events.
Former series champion Brad Keselowski secured the 32nd position for the challenge by 21 points over Shane Van Gisbergen of Trackhouse Racing.
Byron maintains his lead in the NASCAR Cup Series championship standings, 48 points ahead of Hendrick Motorsports teammate Larson. Twelve regular-season races remain before the 16-driver Playoff field is set. Chase Elliott, who finished 15th Sunday, is the highest-ranked driver (fifth) without a win.
The NASCAR Cup Series will compete next Sunday afternoon in the Firekeeper’s Casino 400 at Michigan International Speedway (2 p.m. EDT, Amazon Prime, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). Reddick is the defending winner at the two-mile speedway.
NASCAR Cup Series Race – Cracker Barrel 400
Nashville Superspeedway
Nashville, Tennessee
Sunday, June 1, 2025
- (15) Ryan Blaney, Ford, 300.
2. (26) Carson Hocevar, Chevrolet, 300.
3. (2) Denny Hamlin, Toyota, 300.
4. (9) Joey Logano, Ford, 300.
5. (3) William Byron, Chevrolet, 300.
6. (12) Bubba Wallace, Toyota, 300.
7. (14) Erik Jones, Toyota, 300.
8. (28) Kyle Larson, Chevrolet, 300.
9. (4) Tyler Reddick, Toyota, 300.
10. (7) Christopher Bell, Toyota, 300.
11. (5) Ross Chastain, Chevrolet, 300.
12. (25) Kyle Busch, Chevrolet, 300.
13. (27) Zane Smith, Ford, 300.
14. (10) Chris Buescher, Ford, 300.
15. (11) Chase Elliott, Chevrolet, 300.
16. (32) Daniel Suarez, Chevrolet, 300.
17. (1) Chase Briscoe, Toyota, 300.
18. (16) Austin Cindric, Ford, 300.
19. (29) Cole Custer, Ford, 300.
20. (17) AJ Allmendinger, Chevrolet, 300.
21. (8) Michael McDowell, Chevrolet, 300.
22. (35) Todd Gilliland, Ford, 300.
23. (6) Brad Keselowski, Ford, 300.
24. (37) Riley Herbst #, Toyota, 300.
25. (23) Shane Van Gisbergen #, Chevrolet, 300.
26. (31) Ty Dillon, Chevrolet, 299.
27. (36) John Hunter Nemechek, Toyota, 299.
28. (19) Ryan Preece, Ford, 299.
29. (21) Austin Dillon, Chevrolet, 299.
30. (20) Josh Berry, Ford, 299.
31. (22) Ty Gibbs, Toyota, 299.
32. (18) Justin Haley, Chevrolet, 299.
33. (34) Cody Ware, Ford, 297.
34. (38) JJ Yeley(i), Chevrolet, 297.
35. (39) Chad Finchum, Ford, 288.
36. (24) Alex Bowman, Chevrolet, 188.
37. (33) Corey Heim(i), Toyota, Accident, 130.
38. (30) Noah Gragson, Ford, Accident, 112.
39. (13) Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Chevrolet, Accident, 110.
Average Speed of Race Winner: 129.068 mph.
Time of Race: 3 Hrs, 5 Mins, 29 Secs. Margin of Victory: 2.830 Seconds.
Caution Flags: 7 for 35 laps.
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