The NASCAR Cup Series visited Nashville Superspeedway on Sunday night in the Cracker Barrel 400. Chase Briscoe started the race on the pole with Denny Hamlin starting second. Ryan Truex was on standby for Hamlin as he was expecting a baby boy. However, Hamlin ran the whole race.
Chase Briscoe led the opening 39 laps before making his first pit stop. Denny Hamlin, Tyler Reddick, and Ryan Blaney all led laps before Briscoe regained the lead once pit stops were complete. Denny Hamlin passed William Byron for second place and later Chase Briscoe for the lead on lap 83. Hamlin led the final nine laps to win the first stage.
During pit stops, Ryan Blaney emerged ahead of the field for the lead with Austin Cindric second. The two led the field to start the second stage. On lap 106, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. spun in between Turns 3 and 4 to bring out the second caution after getting a tap from Carson Hocevar. Before the caution, Denny Hamlin passed both Cindric and Blaney for the lead.
On lap 114, Alex Bowman got loose underneath Noah Gragson and spun around with both of them making contact with the wall at Turn 3. Shortly after the restart, Erik Jones made contact with Christopher Bell while fighting for fifth place on lap 119 causing Bell to spin and make slight contact with the wall at Turn 1.
Denny Hamlin was still the leader when Corey Heim made contact with Brad Keselowski before spinning on the frontstretch on lap 130 for the fifth caution of the night. On lap 165, Ryan Blaney challenged Hamlin for the lead while William Byron was closing in. It became a three-wide battle with Hamlin getting loose and Byron took the lead on lap 169. Not long after, Blaney passed Byron for the lead and began to pull away on his way to winning the second stage.
Joey Logano emerged ahead of everyone on pit road to take the lead. Logano and Ryan Blaney were on the front row to lead the field to start the final stage. Blaney cleared Logano at Turn 2 to take the lead and Erik Jones took second from Logano.
Later in the race, Denny Hamlin passed both Logano and Jones for second. On lap 243, drivers began to make their final pit stops of the night. Once the pit stop cycles were complete, Ryan Blaney was the leader. Late in the race, Carson Hocevar passed Hamlin for second place.
Meanwhile, Blaney led the last 32 laps to win his first race of the season by 2.830 seconds over Hocevar. Blaney led a total of 139 laps and it was his 14th career Cup Series win. The rest of the top five finishers were Denny Hamlin third, Joey Logano fourth, and William Byron fifth. There were seven cautions for 35 laps and 18 lead changes among nine drivers.
The Cup Series heads to Michigan International Speedway next Sunday at 2 pm on Prime Video. Purchase NASCAR Cup Series tickets today at StubHub.
