After five DNFs and some frustrating close calls, Ryan Blaney finally finished the job in 2025, winning the Cracker Barrel 400 at Nashville Superspeedway on Sunday (June 1). It marks the first win of 2025 for Blaney and the 14th of his Cup Series career.
The concrete surface at Nashville was easier on tires but also made it tougher to pass. As a result, many crew chiefs decided on fuel only or two-tire stops, including one such call that played a critical role in Blaney’s victory.
No. 12 Crew Dials Up Different Strategy Calls
Blaney did not have the best of qualifying efforts, rolling off the starting grid in 15th. However, when the opening stage went completely green, it opened the door for No. 12 crew chief Jonathan Hassler to dial up a different pit strategy.
While most teams made their first pit stop of the day somewhere between laps 39-50, Blaney, alongside Penske teammate Austin Cindric, waited until lap 70 of the 90-lap opening stage to put on four tires and add fuel. By the end of the first stage, Blaney had ascended to seventh, a gain of eight positions from his starting spot.
The later green flag pit stop set the table for Hassler to make a call for two right side tires under caution on lap 93, which allowed Blaney to exit pit road with the lead. Blaney remained at or near the lead the rest of the way.
Pit Road Police
Here is a summary of notable pit road penalties in The Music City:
- Bubba Wallace went too fast entering pit road during his first green flag pit stop on lap 43, serving a pass through penalty and going one lap down. Since it was an early penalty, Wallace managed to bounce back for a sixth-place finish, snapping a streak of three straight finishes of 30th or worse.
- On lap 70, during the same first round of green flag stops, Justin Haley also got hit with a speeding penalty. Unlike Wallace, Haley did not recover well from the penalty, finishing one lap down in 32nd.
- Two Ford teams got hit with penalties under the post stage two stops on lap 189. Josh Berry’s No. 21 crew went over the wall too soon, while Brad Keselowski’s run of bad luck in 2025 continued with a too many crew members over the wall penalty. Berry and Keselowski finished 30th and 23rd, respectively.
Pit Crew of the Race: No. 22 Team Penske Ford
While one Penske pit crew enjoyed the spoils of victory, another one had a great day in their own right.
Joey Logano, the defending Cup Series champion and last year’s Nashville race winner, started from ninth and finishing stage one in that same spot. He then made the leap from the back half of the top 10 into the top five with a fuel only stop under the race’s second caution.
But that is not why the No. 22 crew is this week’s pit crew of the race. Rather, it is clutch move under the post stage two pit stops on lap 189. Fueler Nick Hensley disengaged the fuel can just in time before Logano left pit road and then tire carrier Jeremy Ogles kept Hensley — and the fuel can — from going over the front white line of the pit box.
That would have been a penalty for equipment leaving the pit stall, but instead, Logano left pit road and restarted as the race leader. While Logano ultimately acquiesced the lead to his teammate Blaney, he still maintained a top-five finish in fourth.
“We did the details well, all but the one restart,” Logano said post-race. “Good execution, proud of Team Penske. My guys were great on pit road today as well. That was a solid, hard-earned top five.”
Logano and the No. 22 team are the defending Cup champions for a reason, and it was on full display in that lap 189 pit stop.
I want to give an honorable mention to Kyle Larson and the No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports crew. After struggling in practice and qualifying back in 28th, Larson fell back on lap 3 and then had to pit for a loose wheel on lap 124.
Despite all that and making more pit stops than any other team, Larson took the checkered flag in eighth. Sunday’s race will not be one for the highlight reel, but it is an example of Larson, crew chief Cliff Daniels, and the No. 5 pit crew showing off their championship pedigree.
Look Ahead to Next Week
The drivers of the Cup Series will take on the two-mile Michigan International Speedway with the running of the Firekeepers Casino 400 next Sunday, June 8. Coverage will begin at 1:30 p.m. ET on Amazon Prime Video.
Fuel mileage tends to be a big factor on the high-speed oval at Michigan, so expect crew chiefs up and down pit road to be constantly crunching the numbers and try to make a fuel or tire gamble to gain track position.
Andrew Stoddard joined Frontstretch in May of 2022 as an iRacing contributor. He is a graduate of Hampden-Sydney College, the University of Richmond, and VCU. He works as an athletic communications specialist at Eastern Mennonite University in Harrisonburg, Va.