It was a packed house at Nashville Superspeedway for the Cracker Barrel 400, with a sold-out crowd on hand as the NASCAR Cup Series kicked off the in-season challenge. Chase Briscoe started on the pole with Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Denny Hamlin alongside him on the front row. AJ Allmendinger was forced to drop to the rear and serve a stop-and-go penalty at the start due to unapproved adjustments before practice — a move that also cost his crew chief his hard card for the weekend.
Early on, Kyle Larson found himself in trouble, getting squeezed three-wide between Ty Gibbs and Zane Smith on lap 3 and dropping all the way back to 36th. Meanwhile, his Hendrick teammate Chase Elliott had a strong start, gaining five spots by lap 15 to settle into sixth.
Green flag pit stops came earlier than expected, but Penske teammates Ryan Blaney and Austin Cindric opted to stretch their runs. Bubba Wallace was hit with a speeding penalty on pit road and had to serve a pass-through. Once the Penske duo finally pitted, Briscoe cycled back to the lead. The final laps of Stage 1 brought an exciting back-and-forth between Briscoe, Hamlin, and William Byron, but it was Hamlin — on baby watch for his son due any moment — who took the stage win.
On pit stops, Blaney and Cindric gambled with just two tires, and it paid off as Blaney jumped to the lead on the restart. The second stage quickly turned chaotic.
On lap 106, Carson Hocevar got into Ricky Stenhouse Jr. in Turn 3, sending Stenhouse into the wall. While Stenhouse returned to the track briefly, a bent toe link ended his day. His post-care center interview made it clear there’s growing frustration with Hocevar, hinting that some form of payback may be coming.
Moments later, Alex Bowman drove into Turn 3 too deep while already loose, sliding up the track into Noah Gragson and collecting Larson in the process. That triggered another caution. Then on the next restart, Christopher Bell got turned by Erik Jones and slammed into the wall in Turns 1 and 2. Chase Elliott barely avoided Bell, but lost significant track position.
The cautions kept coming. Rookie Corey Heim misjudged a move off Turn 4 and turned himself off the nose of Brad Keselowski, slamming into the frontstretch wall. Elliott had another close call and continued to fade through the field.
Larson, who had spent most of the race clawing back from his early drop, cracked the top 20 by lap 152. Elliott, who had run in the top 10 early, had slipped all the way back to 18th. With 15 to go in the stage, Byron, Hamlin, and Blaney were three-wide battling for the lead. Blaney ultimately pulled ahead and secured the Stage 2 win.
Joey Logano won the race off pit road, followed by Blaney. Josh Berry and Keselowski were both penalized on pit road — Berry for a crew member over the wall too soon, and Keselowski for too many over the wall.
Blaney quickly took control again on the restart and Larson, continuing his steady comeback, climbed into the top 10. As green-flag pit stops began around lap 243, Erik Jones was first to commit. Once the cycle was complete by lap 270, Blaney remained in the lead but was navigating heavy traffic. Hamlin and Hocevar closed in, both within striking distance.
In the final 20 laps, Blaney’s lead stabilized at around 2.5 seconds. Hocevar, running on older tires, couldn’t keep pace. Hamlin also plateaued in third, about three seconds back.
After a frustrating season filled with five DNFs, Ryan Blaney finally closed the deal. He took the checkered flag and celebrated his first win of the year, giving Team Penske a much-needed shot of momentum.