NASCAR Nashville: Ryan Blaney gets first Cup win of 2025

LEBANON, TENN. — Ryan Blaney broke through at Nashville Superspeedway for his first win of the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series season.

Blaney led a race-high five times for 139 of 300 laps, including the final 33 laps. It is his 14th career win in the NASCAR Cup Series and first at Nashville Superspeedway. Most importantly, he is no longer the only other Team Penske driver who is winless on the season.

“The 12 boys are awesome. They stick with it, no matter how it goes, and it was great to finish one out tonight,” Blaney said after doing a rare burnout. “It’s nice that it’s finally happening so I’m going to go celebrate.”

Blaney’s closest competitor throughout the night was Denny Hamlin who, in his 700th start, finished third. Hamlin matched an all-time best mark Jeff Gordon set when he made his 700th start at Darlington Raceway in May 2013.

In total, Hamlin led five times for 79 laps. Toward the end, he didn’t have the pace he needed as the track changed. Worse yet, he also didn’t have any cooler air pumping in nor any water to drink.

“I got hot,” Hamlin said. “I just couldn’t run with the 12 [Blaney] in the super long run. Our best strategy was to run long, catch a caution… but then we got jumped by the 77 [Hocevar]. Then the track went through a really weird phase in the last 30 laps where everyone was pinned to the bottom. There weren’t enough cars running the middle so it threw dust up there and made it like ice so that definitely hurt the passing.”

Sandwiched between the favorites was Carson Hocevar who backed up a stellar run in the Coca-Cola 600 with a second-place finish. Hocevar pitted four laps before Blaney which put him in clean air for those laps and boosted him to second during the final green-flag pit stop cycle.

“This proves how strong this group is to go from the disappointment last week to having a really bad qualifying draw, qualifying bad, to sticking through and having a shot, like a straightaway, I’m just proud of this group. Our average with this car is 38th so this is a big upgrade,” Hocevar said.

Hocevar had a great drive Sunday night, going from 26th in the first stage to seventh in the second stage and second in the end.

STAGE 1 TOP-10 (LAP 90): Denny Hamlin, Tyler Reddick, Chase Briscoe, William Byron, Christopher Bell, Chase Elliott, Ryan Blaney, Michael McDowell, Joey Logano, Ross Chastain.

In contrast to the first stage, which went caution-free, the second stage featured four cautions.

On lap 107, Carson Hocevar ran hard into turn three and spun Ricky Stenhouse Jr. into the wall, ending his night last (39th).

Stenhouse wasn’t happy.

“A lap or two before, he tried to dive in there from around 10 car lengths. That time, I opened my entry and he drilled us in the bumper. I’d say it’s not out of the ordinary for him but I wasn’t expecting it,” Stenhouse said. “I definitely have something to do about this at some point.”

Hocevar said he needed to see a replay but defended himself.

“I’ve seen a bunch of people do that same move and get shipped. He was the only one who got wrecked. I feel like it was a common move with how big of a run I had,” Hocevar said.

On the restart seven laps later, in the same corner on lap 114, Alex Bowman got loose and bumped Noah Gragson. The contact left both of them crashed and relegated to 36th and 38th on the night.

Six laps later, on lap 120, Christopher Bell threw a block on Erik Jones as they ran well inside the top-10. Jones fought back and spun Bell around. Bell hit the wall while Jones carried on.

On lap 132, Corey Heim received a “Welcome to the NASCAR Cup Series” gesture from Brad Keselowski. Heim tried to get around Keselowski exiting turn four but wasn’t clear, causing him to hit the wall and end his night in 37th.

When the race went green again, Denny Hamlin controlled the race but Ryan Blaney kept him honest. Blaney challenged Hamlin until William Byron got by and led a lap on lap 167. Then, Hamlin led a lap before Blaney and Byron took control to the end of the stage.

STAGE 2 TOP-10 (LAP 185): Blaney, Byron, Hamlin, Logano, Erik Jones, Austin Cindric, Carson Hocevar, Zane Smith, Josh Berry, Bell.

Bell grinded out a top-10 stage finish and held on to the track position through the end of the race. Bubba Wallace rose to the top-10 after a drive-through penalty in the first stage. Kyle Larson and Tyler Reddick also made their way into the top-10 after they each had to pit under green for tire issues.

Despite all of the storylines swirling around, Blaney took control. He led 81 of the final 102 laps and took home his first win of 2025.

NASCAR CUP SERIES AT NASHVILLE SUPERSPEEDWAY TOP-10 FINISHERS (LAP 300): Ryan Blaney, Carson Hocevar, Denny Hamlin, Joey Logano, William Byron, Bubba Wallace, Erik Jones, Kyle Larson, Tyler Reddick, Christopher Bell.

Leaving Nashville, 17 drivers are within a race worth of points of the cutline — either above or below:

• Bubba Wallace: 343 (+54 points to the cutline)
• Chase Briscoe: 342 (+53)
• Alex Bowman: 334 (+45)
• Chris Buescher: 297 (+8)
• Kyle Busch: 291 (+2)
• Ryan Preece: 289 (-2 points to the cutline)
• Carson Hocevar: 287 (-4)
• Ricky Stenhouse Jr: 285 (-6)
• AJ Allmendinger: 284 (-7)
• Michael McDowell: 278 (-13)
• John Hunter Nemechek: 267 (-24)
• Todd Gilliland: 261 (-30)
• Erik Jones: 259 (-32)
• Zane Smith: 255 (-36)
• Austin Dillon: 252 (-39)
• Ty Gibbs: 236 (-55)
• Daniel Suarez: 231 (-60)

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