RYAN BLANEY, WINNER OF THE CRACKER BARREL 400, BEING CONGRATULATED BY PENSKE TEAMMATE JOEY LOGANO – TEAM PENSKE PHOTO
NASCAR Staff Wire Reports – Ryan Blaney claimed his first victory of the 2025 season Sunday night in the Cracker Barrel 400 at Nashville Superspeedway. The 2023 NASCAR Cup Series champion led a race-best 139 of the 300 laps to finally secure that all-important playoff position.
Blaney has come so close this season to hoisting a trophy only to have something break his heart and challenge his resolve. But Sunday, the sport’s popular 31-year-old, third-generation racer ultimately drove his No. 12 Team Penske Ford to a 2.830-second win over 22-year-old Spire Motorsports’ Carson Hocevar in a 103-lap green flag run that closed out the race.
Blaney was so thrilled to take the win, he climbed on top of his Ford, raised his arms in triumph and then jumped off the car and ran up and into the track’s front grandstands to claim the checkered flag before handing it off to an excited young fan.
“I never gave up hope that’s for sure,” said Blaney, whose victory puts all three drivers of the reigning champion Penske team into the 2025 playoffs.
Hocevar’s runner-up finish tied a career-best effort turned in at Atlanta in February.
“It just proves how strong this group is to go from the disappointment last week,” said Hocevar, who looked strong and led laps at Charlotte Motor Speedway last Sunday only to retire early with mechanical problems. “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,” he added.
Joe Gibbs Racing’s Denny Hamlin, who won the opening stage and led 79 laps, finished third despite helmet hose and hydration system issues. Blaney’s Penske teammate Joey Logano finished fourth with current NASCAR Cup Series championship leader, Hendrick Motorsports’ William Byron, rounding 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, whose fiancé, Jordan Fish, is expecting to deliver the couple’s third child at any time.
Logano, the defending race winner, also led laps, but ultimately couldn’t challenge at the end giving up 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, adding, “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.”
23XI Racing’s Bubba Wallace, Legacy Motor Club’s Erik Jones, Hendrick Motorsports’ Kyle Larson, 23XI Racing’s Tyler Reddick and JGR’s Christopher Bell rounded out the top 10. The effort marked a particularly significant comeback for Larson, who started 28th on the grid and was involved in an incident on Lap 115.
There were 18 lead changes among nine drivers with Hamlin (Stage 1) and Blaney (Stage 2) claiming the stage wins.
New this year, the Nashville race set the 32-car field for the inaugural NASCAR In-Season Challenge — a bracket-style tournament taking place during the TNT Sports’ five-race stretch this summer. The tournament starts June 28 at Atlanta followed by the races at Chicago, Sonoma, Dover, and Indianapolis with the winner receiving a $1 million prize.
Now, 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 out of those races.
Former series champion Brad Keselowski claimed the 32nd position for the competition by only 21 points over Trackhouse Racing’s Shane Van Gisbergen.
Byron continues to lead the NASCAR Cup Series championship standings, now 48 points up on Hendrick Motorsports teammate Larson with 12 regular-season races remaining to set the 16-driver playoff field. Their teammate Chase Elliott, who finished 15th Sunday, is the highest-ranked driver (fifth) without a win.
The NASCAR Cup Series returns to action next Sunday afternoon in the Firekeepers Casino 400 at Michigan International Speedway (2 p.m. ET, Prime Video, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). Reddick is the defending winner at the 2-mile speedway.
NOTE: There were no issues in post-race inspection, confirming Blaney as the winner. No cars were to be brought back to the NASCAR R&D Center in Concord, North Carolina.