Ryan Blaney celebrates after winning a NASCAR Cup Series auto race Sunday, June 1, 2025, in Lebanon, Tenn. (AP Photo/George Walker IV)

LEBANON, Tenn. (AP) — Ryan Blaney and Team Penske have been fast with his No. 12 Ford Mustang this year only to have races slip away when it mattered most.

Not Sunday night.

Blaney ran away down the stretch for his first Cup Series victory of the year Sunday night at Nashville Superspeedway, then he celebrated with a burnout in front of the roaring fans after what he called a rough year.

“I’m ready to go celebrate,” Blaney said.

The 2023 Cup champ had been racing well with five top-five finishes over the first half of this season. He finally got to victory lane for his 14th career victory and first since Martinsville in November after leading a race-high 139 laps.

“I never gave up hope that’s for sure,” Blaney said. “We’ve had great speed all year. It just hasn’t really been the best year for us as far as good fortune. But (No.) 12 boys are awesome. They stick with it no matter how it goes.”

He became the ninth different winner this season and the fifth driver to win in as many races at Nashville. He also gave Team Penske a second straight Cup win at Nashville’s 1.33-mile concrete track.

Blaney, who started 15th, quickly drove his way to the front as he won the second stage. He easily held off Carson Hocevar by 2.83 seconds. Hocevar matched his career-best finish at Atlanta in February after complaining during the race that his No. 77 Chevrolet was undriveable.

“Either I’m really dramatic or they’re really good on adjustments,” Hocevar said. “Probably a little bit of both, but, yeah, proud of this group proud of this car. A place that is really, really difficult to pass, we’re able to go 26th to second.”

Denny Hamlin finished third in his 700th career Cup Series race, matching the third-place finish by Jeff Gordon at Darlington in 2013 for the best finish in a driver’s 700th race. Joey Logano, who won here last year, was fourth and William Byron fifth.

Hamlin was hoping for one more caution that never came after seven cautions for 35 laps.

“Just couldn’t run with the 12 (Blaney) there in the super long run,” Hamlin said. “After 40 laps, I could maintain with him. But then after that, he just pulled away and stretched it on us.”

There was a sprint to the finish under green forcing teams and drivers to pick and choose went to pit. Blaney had led 107 laps when he went to the pits under green flag on lap 248. Hamlin took the lead before going to pit road on lap 256.

Crew chief Jonathan Hassler said they decided on Blaney’s fifth and final pit stop trying to make sure he could get back out into the cleanest air possible.

“It was really nice just to finish off a race,” Hassler said.

Brad Keselowski had the lead when he went to the pits on lap 269. Blaney took the lead for the final 31 laps.

Waiting on a call

Hamlin raced Sunday night hoping to take advantage of his starting spot spot beside pole-sitter Chase Briscoe. Whether Hamlin would chase his third win this season had been in question with his third child, a boy, due the same day.

Hamlin practiced and qualified well, so he drove his No. 11 Toyota even as Joe Gibbs Racing had Ryan Truex on standby in case Hamlin got the call that his fiancee was in labor. Hamlin won the first stage and survived the final stretch without water or fresh air.

Tyler Reddick beat his boss Hamlin, a co-owner of his 23XI Racing team, to new parent status, which Reddick announced on social media earlier Sunday.

His family welcomed their second son at 2:20 a.m. on May 25, then Reddick followed up hours later by finishing 26th in the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte.

Early night

Ricky Stenhouse Jr. didn’t finish his first race this year. He was the first out when Hocevar tapped his No. 47 Chevrolet, spinning Stenhouse into the wall between Turns 3 and 4 for the second caution of the race on lap 106.

Punishment and more penalties possible?

AJ Allmendinger started at the back of the field and served a stop-and-go penalty after the green flag for an unapproved adjustment to the splitter during Saturday’s practice. His No. 16 Chevrolet was sent back to the garage and then the scanning station before practice and qualifying.

The No. 66 Ford of Chad Finchum failed inspection twice leading to engineer Austin Webb’s ejection. The Garage 66 team also lost pit stall selection.

Up next

NASCAR heads to Michigan International Speedway for the Cup Series on June 8.

A season full of near misses and hard-luck finishes for Ryan Blaney disappeared in a magical Music City night.

At a sold-out Nashville Superspeedway, with fireworks and cheers washing over him, Blaney was finally able to celebrate a victory.

Blaney, driving the No. 12 Ford for Penske Racing, led a race-high 139 laps, earned his first NASCAR Cup Series win of the year and the 14th victory of his career by taking the checkered flag in the Cracker Barrel 400.

“We’ve had great speed all year — just hasn’t been the best year for us as far as good fortune,” said Blaney, the 2023 NASCAR Cup Series champion. “The 12 boys are awesome; they stick with it no matter how it goes, and it was great to finish one out tonight.”

Blaney gained top position early by making a two-tire stop, won the second stage after surviving a wave of caution flags and held on through a green-flag pit stop cycle in the third stage to beat Carson Hocevar to the start-finish line by 2.83 seconds.

“I never gave up hope,” said Blaney, who won his first Cup Series race since last fall in Martinsville, a span of 15 events.

“I thought [two tires] was a good call. We drove up to seventh there in the first stage, and I thought two tires were great. I thought my car was really good, and that really set us up for the rest of the race.

“It’s nice that it’s finally happening. It’s time to go celebrate!”

Denny Hamlin, making his 700th career Cup Series start, won the opening stage, led 79 laps and placed third. Defending NASCAR Cup Series champion Joey Logano, the 2024 Nashville Superspeedway winner, finished fourth and William Byron came in fifth.

For Hocevar, a past Truck Series winner at Nashville, it was his second runner-up finish of the season.

“Proud of this group — proud of this car,” Hocevar said. “At a place that is difficult to pass, we went from 26th to second. It’s good to get a deserved finish for once.”

“Good run for the 12,” Hamlin added. “He just pulled away and stretched it on us.”

Blaney, 31, from Hartford Township, Ohio, averaged 129.068 mph around the 1.33-mile concrete oval, completing 300 laps in 3 hours, 5 minutes and 29 seconds. Seven caution periods took up 35 laps while nine leaders exchanged the lead 18 times, with 25 drivers finishing on the lead lap. The Cracker Barrel 400 was the 2,800th NASCAR Cup Series race.

Chase Briscoe, the fastest Cup Series qualifier in track history, led 51 laps overall before slipping back to finish 17th.

Among other notables, Josh Berry, from nearby Hendersonville, Tennessee, placed 30th while Knoxville, Tennessee, native Chad Finchum finished 35th.

NSS PR

Winston-Salem State University alumni pride was on full display during ESPN’s First Take on Monday, as Stephen A. Smith delivered a heartfelt congratulations to fellow HBCU graduate Rajah Caruth. Caruth made history over the weekend by winning his first NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race of the 2025 season at Nashville Superspeedway on Friday, May 30—securing a playoff spot in the process.

The segment opened with a throwback recorded message from Caruth thanking Smith for his influence and leadership during a previous HBCU segment.

“Honestly, Stephen A., I wanted to say thank you for everything you’ve done for Winston-Salem State University and our culture,” Caruth said. “You’re a great example of living Black history.”

Smith, who graduated from the HBCU in Dec. 1991, was visibly moved by the gesture, responded with emotion and pride.

“I always get touched by stuff like that, especially for my alma mater, which means the world to me. I wouldn’t be where I am today if it wasn’t for Winston-Salem State,” he said.

Smith praised Caruth’s performance during the final stretch of the race, noting the young driver held off seasoned champions in the final 15 laps.

“He handled his business, held it down, and ended up winning for the first time. I’m very, very proud of this young man and what he’s doing—the way he’s representing the Rams.”

This win marked the second career victory for Caruth in the Craftsman Truck Series. Smith took the moment to highlight Caruth’s impact as an HBCU representative in a traditionally non-diverse sport like NASCAR.

“Anytime I see great things from Winston-Salem State, I’m incredibly happy… There’s a whole bunch of talent at HBCUs throughout this country.”

As Smith wrapped up his remarks, he once again voiced his support for Caruth and reaffirmed his commitment to celebrating HBCU excellence, saying, “Way to go, Rajah. Way to go.”

Related

LEBANON, Tenn. — Well, thank goodness that’s over.

One of the most tiresome storylines of this season had focused on Ryan Blaney’s lack of a victory, even though he had been outperforming his three teammates, who each had already won a race.

Anyone paying attention to NASCAR every week could tell Blaney has had one of the fastest cars all season, and only a series of unfortunate circumstances or mistakes have kept him from victory lane.

According to Grant Peters of Auto Racing Analytics, who supplied data at The Athletic’s request, Blaney was leading the series in both passing efficiency and defense heading into Nashville. Statistically, Peters said, Blaney completes an average pass on an intermediate track like Nashville in less than three laps of catching a car ahead of him — and he is also able to hold back a car in range for more than 14 laps on average.

Those are elite stats, so it should be no surprise that Blaney is a winner again. The only surprise is that it took him this long to have a race where nothing went wrong.

“Everything went smoothly, went like a normal race should go, and we executed like we should, and the speed in our car was good,” Blaney said. “It feels like those races for our team are hard to come by, just nothing funky happening. It’s nice it finally went that way tonight. The fastest car won the race and nothing wacky happened.”

Blaney isn’t just back in the playoffs, he’s a bona fide championship contender. He represents Team Penske’s best threat to reach the Championship 4 again, which will be held at Phoenix Raceway — the site of three consecutive titles for Penske drivers (including one for Blaney).

Don’t mistake Blaney for being the one-win-a-year guy of old, when he never seemed to reach the potential he showed in his early years. This Blaney is a much more well-rounded, savvy racer who appears to be an annual season-long threat; races like Nashville will continue to happen more often than not.

.@Blaney brings it home in Nashville! pic.twitter.com/lvfDXdpDlM

— NASCAR (@NASCAR) June 2, 2025

Hocevar rising

Another week, another brilliant flash of speed from Carson Hocevar — and another instance of him making enemies on the track.

Hocevar angered Ricky Stenhouse Jr. with an aggressive move to fill a hole and gain position; Stenhouse didn’t realize the second-year driver was going to jam the car into that spot, came down the track and Hocevar didn’t lift in time before they collided.

“I felt like I was there enough to get a call ‘inside’ (from the spotter) and have him just kind of run the middle,” Hocevar said. “Honestly, he probably could have cleared me. That’s what I expected him to do, and he didn’t. And by the time I checked up, I almost spun, too.”

Reached by text message, Stenhouse said their incident wasn’t the first of the night; in his view, there was a near miss two laps earlier when Hocevar had another huge run without care for whether Stenhouse was there or not. Stenhouse viewed it as Hocevar shooting for a hole and praying it’s going to be there without knowing the consequences.

Said Hocevar: “Yes, but at the same time, I feel like maybe I could have caught a break too, with how big of a run I had. So I think it goes both ways.”

But as part of the typical Carson Hocevar Experience, the Spire Motorsports driver was also blazing fast. He tied his career-best finish with a second-place result and moved five spots to 17th in the standings, now on the cusp of the playoff picture.

And yet he was downtrodden and disappointed to miss out on the win, despite Blaney clearly having more speed.

“My dream and expectation is to be here and win races and be up front,” Hocevar said. “It sucks when you don’t. If I wasn’t disappointed, I don’t deserve this seat. When I was a fan, I’d hate when people were pumped about second or third. I said I’d never be like that, and I feel like I’m not.”

Carson Hocevar tied his best-ever Cup Series finish with a second-place run Sunday at Nashville Superspeedway. (Sean Gardner / Getty Images)

More horsepower

Drivers’ ears perked up when NASCAR competition chief Elton Sawyer publicly broached the topic of increased horsepower last week — the No. 1 request on drivers’ wish lists for the entirety of the Next Gen Era.

“That’s the first time they’ve ever come out and said, ‘I think we can do it,’” Blaney said. “It’s definitely something all the drivers and teams want, and everyone watching wants it. They were only talking about doing it on short tracks and road courses, but if you’re going to do it at certain tracks, why not do it everywhere?”

But the conversation itself has some pitfalls. A horsepower increase will not be a magic cure for everything that ails the Next Gen on short tracks and road courses, which is why Christopher Bell said it was important to frame the horsepower discussion in a certain way for fans to “taper their expectations.”

The amount of horsepower being discussed is not a significant change, Bell said, but “directionally” better.

“Whenever we talk about wanting more horsepower, it stems from a place of wanting to be able to pass better,” Bell said. “Adding horsepower, no matter what the number is, is not going to make us pack race at a short track — but it should make passing easier.”

Josh Berry shared a similar concern: What if NASCAR increased the horsepower slightly and it didn’t materially change the quality of the racing?

“What I would hate to happen is to go up 100 horsepower and it doesn’t really look that different and everyone goes, ‘Oh, that wasn’t it,’” Berry said.

But in drivers’ minds, horsepower is it. At least a big part of solving the equation. So Denny Hamlin said even if the number was smaller than what drivers hoped, he would be happy just to take a minor win.

“Do I wish it was the big number we used to have? Absolutely,” Hamlin said. “But we need to be realistic, and even if it’s 80 to 100 (hp), we need to just take it and shut up and be thankful they’re willing to change.”

Larson’s regrets

Of the many things that Kyle Larson wishes he could do over again for his Double attempt last week, his sarcastic thumbs-up gesture to Scott McLaughlin is near the top of the list.

After a 45-minute rain delay at the Indy 500, the cars finally started rolling under the pace laps when McLaughlin, one of the pre-race favorites, suddenly lost control of his car and crashed while trying to warm up his tires. Larson spotter Tyler Monn radioed that someone up ahead had crashed (“f—ing idiot,” as Monn described it). An already-frustrated Larson, realizing the crash cleanup would only add to the time crunch he was in for the Double, then drove by and flashed a thumbs up in McLaughlin’s direction.

Scott McLaughlin and Kyle Larson are “all good” after Larson’s at the #Indy500.@BobPockrass | #INDYCAR | #NASCAR pic.twitter.com/nkw6RWQ3oU

— INDYCAR on FOX (@IndyCarOnFOX) May 29, 2025

It was not a good look, and McLaughlin later responded on X with a quote-tweet that said: “Guess im out of the best driver in the world talks” with a shrug emoji. Larson texted McLaughlin during the week to apologize.

“As all of us, everybody in life, wishes they could go back and not do something or do something differently,” Larson said Saturday. “That’s one of those moments for me. I feel like I’m usually pretty good about not keying up or not doing gestures and stuff, but yeah, just let my frustration get the best of me there.

“It was a bit embarrassing, and I felt bad. You never want to see anybody crash out of the biggest race in the world before the green and (McLaughlin is) somebody who has always been super respectful to me and really nice to me. I didn’t even realize it was him until I was close to alongside of him. So just wish I could have taken that back.”

In Detroit for last weekend’s IndyCar race, McLaughlin told Fox Sports he knew Larson didn’t mean anything by the gesture.

“He’s really a respectful racer,” McLaughlin said. “And kudos to him for even reaching out. He didn’t need to. He doesn’t care about my IndyCar (race). I understand it. They know it’s logistically tough. … At the same time, Indy is Indy and the 600 is the 600, and if you want to run the risk of doing that, that’s up to you.”

Larson reiterated he is not currently interested in attempting the Double again due to the time crunch between the two races, which doesn’t allow for enough buffer in case of weather or long cautions. He said he would like to do the Indy 500 in the future once he is done with full-time NASCAR driving.

Caruth also rising

After Rajah Caruth won his second career Truck Series race on Friday night, we asked him about the pressure of being chased down by a future “Sunday guy” in the form of Corey Heim.

The question was barely finished before Caruth interjected: “I’d like to think I’m a future Sunday guy.”

Caruth has never doubted he will be. He speaks about his future success in “when” terms instead of “if.” His confidence in his abilities is high and seemingly unwavering. But to be a future Sunday guy, Caruth is going to need to win a lot more races. He just went well over a year between victories (Las Vegas in March 2024) and was outside of the Truck Series playoff standings before clinching a berth with his Friday win.

In Caruth’s mind, though, he continues to drill down on the process and thus doesn’t let the results frazzle him or force him into mistakes, as is sometimes the case for young drivers eager to prove themselves.

“I just kept my faith up through the ups and downs of the season,” he said. “Really poured into the people around me and just focused on the things that are in my control.”

Caruth said he does everything with “intention” — whether it’s a sim session, practice session, workout, pit practice or even taking personal time for himself. That way, he said, “it doesn’t feel like the end of the world when you have that pressure and that opportunity there in front of you.”

There’s still plenty of time to climb the ladder for a driver who turns 23 next week. His unique path has taken him from racing online while growing up in Washington D.C. to contending in real-life NASCAR races.

But if he’s going to truly make it, moments like Friday have to be more than an annual tradition.

(Top photo of Ryan Blaney celebrating Sunday’s win: Sean Gardner / Getty Images)

BROOKLYN, MICH. — NASCAR heads to Michigan International Speedway for an early-June stop with the Cup Series and Craftsman Truck Series.

The NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series is returning to the two-mile, D-shaped oval for the first time since 2020. Meanwhile, the NASCAR Cup Series is headed there for the 108th race in series history, dating back to the first race in 1969. Cale Yarborough won the very first race, held June 15, 1969.

This is the first time NASCAR has raced at Michigan in June since 2019 – the last year the track had two race weekends.

NASCAR Cup Series’ Firekeepers Casino 400

• Sunday, June 8
  • 2 p.m. (All times Eastern)
    • Practice and qualifying: Saturday at 9:30 a.m.
• 200 laps
  • Stages end on laps 45, 120, 200
• Prime Video, Motor Racing Network, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio
• Last year’s winner: Tyler Reddick

Coming into this weekend, the NASCAR Cup Series is on a streak of two consecutive races at Michigan International Speedway with 26 or more lead changes. This hasn’t happened since 1981 when the August race had 65 lead changes after the June race had 47.

Both the 2023 race and the 2024 race featured 26 lead changes each. The last time a Michigan Cup race had 26 or more lead changes before 2023 was August 2012.

The NextGen car has made the racing even more fierce at Michigan in recent years, upping the parity among winners.

The first three races with the car have seen three different winners – Reddick, Chris Buescher (2023) and Kevin Harvick (2022) – compared to three different winners in the last six Gen 6 races.

Odds coming soon.

NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series’ DQS Solutions & Staffing 250

• Saturday, June 7
  • 12 p.m. (All times Eastern)
• 125 laps
  • Stages end on laps 30, 60, 125
• FOX, NASCAR Racing Network, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio
• Last winner: Zane Smith (2020)

The return of NASCAR Trucks at Michigan International Speedway has been highly-anticipated for five years since the track didn’t return to the schedule for 2021. Because it’s been so long, the trucks will get a 50-minute practice Friday at 1 p.m. ET before they qualify Saturday morning at 8 a.m. ET.

When the trucks last raced at Michigan, in 2020, current NASCAR Cup Series driver Zane Smith made a last-lap pass on Christian Eckes to take home the win.

In the last six Truck races at Michigan, five of them featured 15 or more lead changes. In fact, three of the last five Truck races at Michigan featured a last-lap pass. With 25 more laps, it’s anticipated this year’s race will go well beyond 15 lead changes.

Among the current full-time drivers in the series, these drivers have experience at Michigan:

• Ben Rhodes
  • Two top-10 finishes in five starts
• Chandler Smith
  • Crash DNF (38th) in 2020 after leading four laps and winning the pole
• Daniel Hemric
  • Finished seventh in 2015, third in 2016
• Grant Enfinger
  • Four top-10s in five starts
• Matt Crafton
  • Three top-5 finishes and nine top-10s in 19 starts
    • Best finish: Second (2014)
    • Best start: Pole (2011, ’15, ’17)
• Spencer Boyd
  • Finished 22nd in 2019, 27th in 2020
• Stewart Friesen
  • Two top-10s in four starts
• Tanner Gray
• Ty Majeski
• Tyler Ankrum
  • One top-5 finish in two starts

Odds coming soon.

• Friday at 5 p.m. (All times Eastern)
• 100 laps
• Practice and qualifying: Friday at 2 p.m.
• Last year’s winner: Connor Zilisch

Jonathan Fjeld is the co-owner of the The Racing Experts, LLC. He has been with TRE since 2010.

A Twin Valley, MN, native, Fjeld became a motorsports fan at just three years old (first race was the 2002 Pennsylvania 500). He worked as a contributor and writer for TRE from 2010-18. Since then, he has stepped up and covered 24 NASCAR race weekends and taken on a larger role with TRE. He became the co-owner and managing editor in 2023 and has guided the site to massive growth in that time.

Fjeld has covered a wide array of stories and moments over the years, including Kevin Harvick’s final Cup Series season, the first NASCAR national series disqualification in over 50 years, Shane van Gisbergen’s stunning win in Chicago and the first Cup Series race at Road America in 66 years – as well as up-and-coming drivers’ stories and stories from inside the sport, like the tech it takes for Hendrick Motorsports to remain a top-tier team.

Currently, he resides in Albuquerque, N.M., where he works for KOB 4, an NBC station. He works as a digital producer and does on-air reports. He loves spending time with friends and family, playing and listening to music, exploring new places, being outdoors, reading books and writing among other activities. You can email him at fjeldjonathan@gmail.com