Ryan Blaney took control of the race with a pass for the lead on the restart with 116 laps to go, then drove to his first victory of the NASCAR Cup Series season in the Cracker Barrel 400 on June 1 at Nashville Superspeedway.
Blaney won Stage 2 but dropped behind Joey Logano after pit stops at the stage break. Blaney then drove by Logano on a restart on Lap 199 and held the top spot for the majority of the final 100 laps.
The final pit cycle completed under green, with Blaney holding a sizeable lead over second-place Carson Hocevar and third-place Denny Hamlin.
Hocevar finished in second for the second time this season, tying his career-best finish in the Cup Series.
Here are the winners and losers from Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series race at Nashville:
NASCAR Nashville winners and losers:
Hocevar is a future star in the sport, and always a part of the story. Sunday’s race had the best and worst of Hocevar, all in 300 laps.
In Stage 2, Hocevar drove hard into turn 3 and bumped Ricky Stenhouse Jr., sending the No. 47 Chevrolet spinning and into the wall. Stenhouse did not finish, credited with 39th, then told Amazon in an interview that retribution could be coming.
But Hocevar finished the second stage in the top 10, then worked the strategy late to end up second after the final pit cycle completed with about 30 laps to go.
Hocevar couldn’t cut into Blaney’s lead at the end, but was able to hold off Hamlin to finish second. It ties a runner-up finish at Atlanta earlier this season as his career-best in the Cup Series.
Bubba Wallace needed a good finish badly, but probably did not think he would get one early in the race.
Wallace was penalized for speeding on the first stop of the race, on Lap 44. He lost a lap, and wasn’t able to get it back at the stage end.
Wallace did get the free pass on Lap 104 as a group of cautions helped the bottom of the running order, then steadily climbed the leaderboard.
The No. 23 Toyota entered the top 10 early in the final stage, and Wallace drove up into sixth on the final run.
Wallace entered Nashville with three straight DNFs, dropping out of the top 10 in points. Sunday’s result should help Wallace and his 23XI Racing team reset positively as the second half of the regular season begins this month.
Alex Bowman’s stretch of poor finishes continued on Sunday in Nashville after wrecking alongside Noah Gragson early in Stage 2.
Bowman’s 36th-place finish is his fifth finish of 29th or worse in the last seven races, and it puts into question his playoff status with 12 regular-season races left.
To give context on Bowman’s struggles: He finished second at Homestead and was third in points through six races. After Nashville, Bowman is in 12th in points.
Stenhouse was on the receiving end of Hocevar’s too-aggressive bumping on Lap 106. (That incident comes up a couple times, doesn’t it?)
The No. 47 Chevrolet was a model of consistency throughout the first 13 races, coming into Nashville at 13th in points despite just two top-10 finishes but no finishes outside the top 25.
But Hocevar’s contact sent Stenhouse into the wall, out of the race and down the standings and the playoff picture.
