Latest news with #NashvilleSuperspeedway
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21 hours ago
- Automotive
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Ryan Blaney won NASCAR Nashville race after nothing 'funky' happened
LEBANON − Ryan Blaney broke his NASCAR Cup Series Cracker Barrel 400 pattern on June 1 and broke through with his biggest race of the year at Nashville Superspeedway. Blaney finished 37th in Nashville with brake trouble in 2021 and then was third in 2022. He lost control and hit the wall in 2023 and did not finish and then was sixth after leading 26 laps in 2024. Advertisement This was not supposed to be his year. It had not been Blaney's year in any way before June 1. He had five DNFs in the first 13 races. Blaney won the Nashville NASCAR race on the 1.33-mile concrete oval for his first win of the year. His last win came on Nov. 1 at Martinsville in 2024. "It's been pretty rocky this year — had a lot of misfortune and down times with crappy things happening to us," Blaney said. "It's like, 'What do we have to do finish these races or close one out and have things go our way. I don't want to say this was relief, but finally nothing crazy happened and we were able to run our own race, bring the speed and do our job very, very well." It was the 14th career win for the 2023 NASCAR Cup Series champion. Advertisement It came after Blaney, in the No. 12 Team Penske Ford, regained the lead after pitting for the last time and held off Carson Hocevar, who matched his career-best finish with a second-place finish. Denny Hamlin, in his 700th career start was third, 2024 Nashville race champion Joey Logano was fourth and William Byron finished fifth. "I didn't do anything different than I have all year," Blaney said. "It didn't get sideways for us. Everything kind of went like a normal race should go. We executed like we should and our speed in our car was good. "It feels like those races for our team are hard to come by. Like nothing funky happening or nothing playing out the normal way. It's nice it finally went that way tonight. The fastest car won the race and nothing whacky happened to keep us from winning the race." Blaney was definitely fast. He led for 139 of the 300 laps the last 32. Advertisement Hocevar stayed in second for long stretches, but never threatened to pass Blaney. He did not lead a lap. Hamlin took the lead with 45 laps to go before pitting five laps later. Hamlin moved back to fifth with 34 to go and third with 25 left. POINTS: NASCAR points standings: Cup Series points update after Nashville race More: NASCAR Nashville winners and losers: Carson Hocevar is fast, but not making friends WHO WON? NASCAR Nashville results: Ryan Blaney is winner, plus full leaderboard for Cracker Barrel 400 "I just couldn't run with (Blaney) there in the super long run," Hamlin said. "After 40 laps, I could maintain with him, but then after that he just pulled away and stretched it on us." Advertisement Byron remained in the top five for much of the race, but never believed he had the speed to catch Blaney or Hamlin. "I felt like our car potential was probably third, behind (Blaney) and (Hamlin)," Byron said. "We just never really got to restart with clean air. I think if we could have restarted with clean air, maybe we could have held them off, but it just seemed like we had to do too much to our car to keep up with those guys." Reach Mike Organ at 615-259-8021 or on X @MikeOrganWriter. This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: NASCAR Nashville race: Ryan Blaney wins first 2025 race
Yahoo
a day ago
- Automotive
- Yahoo
Denny Hamlin races at Nashville hoping birth of his third child holds off
LEBANON, Tenn. (AP) — Denny Hamlin chose to race Sunday night in the NASCAR Cup Series at Nashville Superspeedway to try to take advantage of his starting spot spot beside pole-sitter Chase Briscoe. Whether Hamlin would chase his third win this season had been in question with his third child, a boy, due Sunday. Advertisement Hamlin said Saturday he didn't have a timeline for a final decision. His biggest challenge is needing an eight-hour window to travel home. He came into this race as the BetMGM Sportsbook's odds' on favorite to win. He's currently sixth in the points race for Joe Gibbs Racing. He practiced and qualified well, so Hamlin crawled inside his No. 11 Toyota. Joe Gibbs Racing had Ryan Truex on standby in case Hamlin got the call that his fiancee was in labor. Tyler Reddick beat Hamlin, a co-owner of his 23XI Racing team, to new parent status. Reddick announced on social media earlier Sunday that his family welcomed their second son at 2:20 a.m. on May 25. Reddick followed up that delivery by racing and finished 26th that night in the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte. Advertisement Punishment and more penalties possible? AJ Allmendinger started at the back of the field and also had to perform a stop-and-go penalty after the green flag for an unapproved adjustment to the splitter during Saturday's practice. His No. 16 Chevrolet was sent back to the garage and then the scanning station before practice and qualifying. Allmendinger also lost pit stall selection, and his crew chief Jaron Antley was ejected for the rest of this weekend with his hard card confiscated. The No. 66 Ford of Chad Finchum failed inspection twice leading to engineer Austin Webb's ejection. The Garage 66 team also lost pit stall selection. ___ AP auto racing: Teresa M. Walker, The Associated Press

Associated Press
a day ago
- Automotive
- Associated Press
Denny Hamlin races at Nashville hoping birth of his third child holds off
LEBANON, Tenn. (AP) — Denny Hamlin chose to race Sunday night in the NASCAR Cup Series at Nashville Superspeedway to try to take advantage of his starting spot spot beside pole-sitter Chase Briscoe. Whether Hamlin would chase his third win this season had been in question with his third child, a boy, due Sunday. Hamlin said Saturday he didn't have a timeline for a final decision. His biggest challenge is needing an eight-hour window to travel home. He came into this race as the BetMGM Sportsbook's odds' on favorite to win. He's currently sixth in the points race for Joe Gibbs Racing. He practiced and qualified well, so Hamlin crawled inside his No. 11 Toyota. Joe Gibbs Racing had Ryan Truex on standby in case Hamlin got the call that his fiancee was in labor. Tyler Reddick beat Hamlin, a co-owner of his 23XI Racing team, to new parent status. Reddick announced on social media earlier Sunday that his family welcomed their second son at 2:20 a.m. on May 25. Reddick followed up that delivery by racing and finished 26th that night in the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte. Punishment and more penalties possible? AJ Allmendinger started at the back of the field and also had to perform a stop-and-go penalty after the green flag for an unapproved adjustment to the splitter during Saturday's practice. His No. 16 Chevrolet was sent back to the garage and then the scanning station before practice and qualifying. Allmendinger also lost pit stall selection, and his crew chief Jaron Antley was ejected for the rest of this weekend with his hard card confiscated. The No. 66 Ford of Chad Finchum failed inspection twice leading to engineer Austin Webb's ejection. The Garage 66 team also lost pit stall selection. ___ AP auto racing:
Yahoo
a day ago
- Automotive
- Yahoo
Richard Childress Weighs In on Kyle Busch's Nashville Spin With Austin Dillon Advice
Richard Childress Weighs In on Kyle Busch's Nashville Spin With Austin Dillon Advice originally appeared on Athlon Sports. Kyle Busch joined Richard Childress last weekend at Charlotte Motor Speedway and announced that he had signed an extension to continue racing for the organization through the 2026 season. Shortly after the announcement, the No. 8 car had a steering issue and failed to make a lap during practice. Advertisement The two-time Cup Series champion qualified 24th and finished 15th in the race. A week later at Nashville was an improvement – sort of. He at least made it onto the track for practice. Unfortunately, during the session the 40-year-old lost control of his Chevrolet and went for a spin. Kyle Busch during practice at Nashville Nelles / The Tennessean / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images 'Happened to just get loose over the bump,' crew chief Randall Burnett said over the team radio. 'I was loose before the bump,' Busch corrected. 'Spinning out on entry. It was all on the right rear through the corner, and then it hit the bump and spun out.' 'Copy that,' the crew chief responded. A short time later, team owner Richard Childress chimed in on the conversation. 'Hit anything Derek or just spun?' Childress questioned spotter Derek Kneeland about the No. 8 driver's incident. Advertisement 'No, just half spun,' Kneeland responded. 'He caught it. Went straight through the grass.' 'Yeah, Austin (Dillon) said when he hit it, you hit it wrong, it'll just turn sideways on you,' the 79-year-old relayed. Childress listening and commenting on the team radio isn't anything new. He's done it for years. For Busch, he knows this. And he also understands after last week's news, he'll get to hear it for at least a couple more years. Related: Kyle Busch and Team Upset With NASCAR on Day That Goes From Bad to Worse This story was originally reported by Athlon Sports on Jun 1, 2025, where it first appeared.
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Climate
- Yahoo
NASCAR Saturday schedule at Nashville Superspeedway
The Xfinity and Cup series will be on the concrete of Nashville Superspeedway for nearly eight hours of nonstop practice, qualifying and racing Saturday. The action on the 1.333-mile oval will begin at 2 p.m. with Xfinity practice leading into qualifying. The Cup cars will be on track from 4:35-6:30 p.m. for practice and qualifying for Sunday's race. Advertisement The Xfinity race will begin at 7:30 p.m. Defending winner John Hunter Nemechek is absent from the entry list, but 2022 winner Justin Allgaier is in the field along with Cup veteran Ross Chastain, who won the Coca-Cola 600 this past Sunday. Nashville Superspeedway schedule (All Times Eastern) Saturday, May 31 Garage open 11 a.m. - 7 p.m. — Cup 12:30 p.m. - 12:45 a.m. — Xfinity Track activity 2 - 2:55 p.m. — Xfinity practice (CW App) 3:05 - 4 p.m. — Xfinity qualifying (CW App) 4:35 - 5:35 p.m. — Cup practice (Prime, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) 5:45 - 6:30 p.m. — Cup qualifying (Prime, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) 7:30 p.m. — Xfinity race (188 laps, 250.04 miles, Stage 1 at Lap 45, Stage 2 at Lap 90; CW, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) Weather Saturday: Mainly sunny with a high of 83 degrees and winds from the north-northwest at 10 to 15 mph. It's expected to be 79 degrees with a 7 percent chance of rain at the start of the Xfinity race.