Team Penske's Ryan Blaney put his rough start to the 2025 season in the rearview on Sunday night with a comfortable 2.83-second win over Spire Motorsports' Carson Hocevar. Blaney led a race-high 139 of the 300 laps and dominated the second half of Sunday night's NASCAR Cup Series race in Music City to pick up his first win of the season after producing five DNFs through the first 13 races.
The win is Blaney's 14th of his Cup Series career and guarantees all three Team Penske drivers, plus Wood Brothers-affiliated driver, Josh Berry, a playoff berth 14 races in. Behind Blaney and Hocevar in the top five were Joe Gibbs Racing's Denny Hamlin, Team Penske's Joey Logano and Hendrick Motorsports' William Byron.
Updated Cup Series standings after Cracker Barrel 400 at Nashville
Driver Standings | Points | Behind |
|---|---|---|
1. William Byron | 547 | 0 |
2. Kyle Larson | 499 | -48 |
3. Christopher Bell | 459 | -88 |
4. Denny Hamlin | 443 | -104 |
5. Chase Elliott | 442 | -105 |
6. Tyler Reddick | 429 | -118 |
7. Ryan Blaney | 417 | -130 |
8. Joey Logano | 380 | -167 |
9. Ross Chastain | 377 | -170 |
10. Bubba Wallace | 343 | -204 |
With Byron scoring top-five stage points all night and finishing a solid fifth, he extends his points lead (+48) over teammate Kyle Larson, who did not score any stage points at Nashville. After his Stage 1 win and 53-point night, Denny Hamlin sees the biggest move in the top 10, vaulting ahead of Chase Elliott and Tyler Reddick to fourth. Hendrick Motorsports' Alex Bowman experiences the biggest drop of the top-10 drivers, falling two spots to 12th after his night was cut short in the Lap 114 crash with Front Row Motorsports' Noah Gragson.
Notable drivers outside the top 10 include Talladega winner Austin Cindric (13th), Richard Childress Racing's Kyle Busch (15th), Hocevar (17th), Berry (20th) and Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing's Brad Keselowski (32nd), who officially claimed the final spot for NASCAR's new In-Season Challenge. Keep in mind, a win will most likely guarantee a driver a playoff berth with 16 spots up for grabs. After Nashville, Larson, Christopher Bell, Hamlin, Byron, Blaney, Joey Logano, Cindric, Berry and Ross Chastain are the season's nine winners.
Following his amended penalty earlier in the week, RFK Racing's Chris Buescher currently holds the 15th spot in the playoff standings (+8) while Busch is two points ahead of Buescher's RFK Racing teammate Ryan Preece for the 16th and final spot. Obviously, things are going to change, but that is the position drivers currently find themselves in after Nashville.
One thing to keep in mind is the importance of both regular-season points standings and playoff standings. While drivers with wins vault to the top of the points standings and guarantee themselves a playoff spot, assuming there are no more than 16 winners, the overall points are equally important. The regular-season champion by season's end will earn an additional 15 playoff points, second place will get 10 and drivers third-to-10th in points will receive points in descending order down to one point for 10th.