After a long triple-header weekend, the time has finally come. The race weekend main event in Music City was the Cracker Barrel 400 at Nashville Superspeedway, about thirty miles west of Broadway and downtown. Last year, this race was a wild one, concluding with a historic 5 overtime attempt finish. Joey Logano was the one standing tall at the end of all that chaos. Logano, who was riding somewhat of a wave of momentum in recent weeks, was looking to replicate that success here tonight.
Fans also had their eyes on NASCAR’s most popular driver, Chase Elliott. Of the four Hendrick cars in 2025, Elliott has been the quieter third wheel. He’s not been as fast as his teammates William Byron and Kyle Larson this year but has been somewhat consistent, finding himself in the bottom half of the top ten most weeks by the time the checkered flag is displayed. With it being over a year since his last victory, he was hoping to shatter that ceiling tonight and get back to victory lane. He had a good start at it, rolling off tonight in the top 10.
There were many other things to look out for tonight. So, with no further ado, let’s break it all down. Here are the 3 biggest takeaways from tonight’s primetime Music City throwdown on Prime!
Something to note about tonight’s race was just how fast the Penske Fords were. All three of them, at one point or another, were running solidly inside the top 10 and top 5. Early in the race, Joey Logano was battling in the top 3, riding a wave of momentum. But, once the checkered flag flew at the conclusion of tonight’s Cracker Barrel 400, it was Ryan Blaney who was standing tall in his Menards number 12 for Team Penske. Blaney has been the only driver who has consistently displayed race-winning speed from the stable. But something would always go wrong–a mechanical failure, being in the wrong place at the wrong time, or just, on ocasion, generally being off.
Whatever they have done, they’ve turned something on in that Penske stable. Blaney was the class of the field tonight, constantly in contention. And, in the end, it all worked out. Blaney scored his first win of 2025 tonight, locking him into the NASCAR Playoffs.
Despite a strong start to the year, recently Bubba Wallace and the entire 23XI race team has been on a downward trajectory as of late. In fact, just in the last three races he has a best finish of 33rd. Whatever mojo Bubba and the flagship team had back at Homestead and Martinsville, where he achieved back-to-back 3rd-place finishes, they seem to have lost it. Heading into tonight’s race, Bubba was 12th in points and in serious danger of falling below the cutline for playoff contention.
Things didn’t get any better tonight as Bubba’s night got off to a rocky start. Bubba started in 12th, which was modest enough. But he started to fade as the stage went on and came down pit road, clamoring for adjustments. During the first green flag pit stops of the race, Bubba Wallace was clocked for speeding during pit exit. This meant that he had to serve a pass-through penalty, which put him a lap off the pace. He was able to eventually regain the lap but still ran towards the back of the field for the remainder of the first and second stages, having lost all of his track position.
He was able to rally to finish a solid 6th-place.
Riley Herbst has been so bad this year that many fans are wondering whether or not he even deserves the opportunity to be a NASCAR Cup Series driver. Even when Bubba and Reddick are running towards the back of the pack, it’s often the case that Herbst is running last. In 13 races, he has a best finish of 14th, which he achieved earlier this season at Texas. Outside of that singular top 15 run, the 35 Monster Energy crew has been the worst of the worst. Heading into tonight’s race, Riley Herbst is sitting 34th in points. That’s the third worst of all the full-time drivers, better only than Cole Custer in a neutered Haas Factory Team and Cody Ware. He’s in must-win territory and has an average finish of 24.9.
Tonight was more of the same. He rolled off tonight’s race in the 38th starting position. That wasn’t dead-last, to his credit, but it almost was. He finished 28th in Stage 1, 1 lap down. In Stage 2, he finished 31st. That’s with no on-track issues or mechanical problems. He was just that slow. He was able to catch the National Debt Relief free pass and get his lap back. But his average running position didn’t improve. All night long, he hovered between 29th and 35th.
All of that said, while Herbst has been uniquely bad this year for 23XI, he certainly wasn’t the only 23XI driver to have issues in Music City.
When it comes to 23XI Racing, the 45 and 23 cars have been neck-and-neck when it comes to sheer race speed and pace. I would say that Reddick and his 45 crew slightly edge out the 23 but nevertheless, it’s been pretty comparable between the two. Hey, at least Reddick his in the top 5 in points and has a little bit of a cushion when it comes to playoff eligibility. In fact, he showed speed early in tonight’s race as well in qualifying yesterday. He started tonight’s race in 4th and battled for the lead with his team owner, Denny Hamlin.
About halfway through that initial run, Reddick radioed in and informed his team that he was having some brake issues. He ultimately fell to Hamlin, who went on to win the opening stage. It was during the second stage, however, when Reddick’s big issues really started. After a round of green flag pit stops, Reddick brought his 45 Toyota back down pit road. He had a flat right rear tire. Fortunately, though, he was saved from going an additional lap down by the unluckiest member of the 23XI stable.
Fortunately, Reddick was able to continue grinding. He brought it home 9th after a hard-fought day.
In the off-season, 23XI Racing signed a driver development deal with NASCAR Truck Series driver, Corey Heim. As a part of this agreement, he would make a number of starts for the team in a fourth entry as well as serve as their designated sim and relief driver. He made his first start for the team in 2025 at Kansas this spring. He impressed many, bringing home his number 67 Toyota in 13th position. He outperformed his teammate Riley Herbst by a country mile. To many, with that and his Truck Series performance taken into consideration, putting him in the 35 car was a no-brainer.
However, this week is was reported by the Daily Downforce and several other sources that 23XI’s 2026 lineup is expected to look the same. For an extra kick in the pants, Heim made a rookie mistake tonight when, coming out of turn 4, he attempted to squeeze Brad Keselowski into the wall. He simply wasn’t clear. As a result, he lost control of his number 67 Toyota and backed into the outside SAFER barrier. This incident ended his race, and he was credited with an unceremonious 36th-place finish.
Last Sunday couldn’t have gone worse for Kyle Larson as he attempted to become only the second driver to complete the Indy500/Coke 600 Double. Last year, Mother Nature ended his chances prematurely. This year, his chances were ended early due to driver error. He crashed out at Indy and he crashed out in Charlotte (granted, after leading a handful of laps early).
The Double hangover carried into tonight’s race in Music City. He was slow all day on Saturday. Uncharacteristically slow. He started tonight’s race all the way back in the 28th position and, surprisingly, did not march his way forward. He continued to run back there, the car far from his liking. They made seven pit stops in the opening stages alone, going under the hood multiple times because the 5 car was so ill-handling for Larson. And, to make matters worse, when you that deep in the pack, you run the risk of being caught up in someone else’s mess. That was what happened when Noah Gragson and Alex Bowman got together. Larson got collected. Luckily, the damage was minimal and the HMS team was able to work on that car to get it more drivable for driver number 5.
Once the appropriate adjustments were made, Larson became one of the fastest cars on the track. He was able to work his way into the top 10 and hang on for a respectable finish.
Going into tonight’s race, there were murmurs that Denny Hamlin might not start tonight’s race at all. Ryan Truex was tapped as a potential relief driver in the event that his wife, Paige, goes into labor with their son. However, as the start time inched forward, Truex shed the fire suit for street clothes and Hamlin attended the driver’s meeting and driver intros. It was clear that he was going to start tonight’s race. That was a big deal because tonight marked Hamlin’s monumental 700th career Cup Series start.
Hamlin, 44 going on 45, hasn’t experienced the same kind of late-career fall-off that many drivers face this late in their careers. In fact, Hamlin looks as racy as ever. He’s already got two wins on the year and has clinched a playoff berth. He was racing hard tonight for the race lead and even won the opening stage. It was shaping up to be a great week for Hamlin. After some frustrating runs in the month of May, Hamlin was once again showing race-winning speed. On top of that, he was set to welcome a baby boy this week. Things are looking up in the Hamlin household, for sure.
That does it for our coverage of the Cracker Barrel 400 from Nashville Superspeedway. What did you think of that race, race fans? How did your favorite driver do? And what did you make of that long green flag run to end the race? Let us know what you think! And be able to keep tuning in here at DailyDownforce.com as we gear up for NASCAR’s annual stop in Motor City, Michigan International Speedway.
