Dale Earnhardt Jr. reacts to Amazon’s NASCAR broadcast debut at Charlotte
JR Motorsports proprietor and Amazon Prime Video NASCAR analyst Dale Earnhardt Jr. describes Amazon Prime Video’s NASCAR debut at Charlotte final weekend forward of Amazon Prime’s subsequent race at Nashville.
Ryan Blaney gained his first race of the 2025 NASCAR Cup Sequence season at Nashville Superspeedway, main 139 laps.Carson Hocevar’s aggressive driving, together with a bump that ended Ricky Stenhouse Jr.’s race, drew consideration.The NASCAR Cup Sequence heads to Michigan Worldwide Speedway subsequent weekend for the Firekeepers On line casino 400.
A former NASCAR Cup Sequence champion led a race-high 139 laps and gained for the primary time in 2025 Sunday.
And but, Ryan Blaney wasn’t the speak of the Cracker Barrel 400.
That title belonged to Carson Hocevar, who ended Ricky Stenhouse Jr.’s evening with a hard-racin’ bump in Stage 2 and was making hand indicators out his window in Stage 3, all whereas transferring from twenty sixth to a runner-up end at Nashville Superspeedway.
Extra on him in a second.
However first, Blaney.
He claimed a Stage 2 victory after qualifying fifteenth.
“It’s good that it’s lastly occurring,” Blaney mentioned. “I’m able to go have fun.”
Behind him and Hocevar, Denny Hamlin, Joey Logano and William Byron recorded top-five finishes.
Listed below are three takeaways:
1. Ryan Blaney returns to Victory Lane
Blaney had run properly just lately.
Earlier than a Thirty eighth-place end at Charlotte final week, he tallied 4 top-fives in 5 races, with back-to-back thirds at Texas and Kansas. However he had not taken the checkers because the penultimate week of the 2024 playoffs at Martinsville.
“I by no means gave up hope, that’s for certain.” Blaney mentioned. “We’ve had nice pace all yr. It simply actually hasn’t been the very best yr for us, so far as success. However the (Crew Penske No. 12) boys are superior. They keep it up irrespective of the way it goes. It was nice to complete one out tonight.”
The win was his first at Nashville and the 14th of his profession.
Blaney closed it out by a margin of two.83 seconds. Now, he’s headed to the playoffs because the ninth driver to clinch a spot to date this season.
Total, the race featured 18 lead adjustments and 7 cautions. The ultimate 102 laps went off consecutively with no yellow flag.
2. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. warns Carson Hocevar
Uh oh, Carson.
Stenhouse despatched the younger driver of the No. 77 Spire Motorsports automobile a warning after Hocevar knocked Stenhouse to the storage with a rear bump whereas battling for seventeenth on Lap 106. Stenhouse slid into the wall rear-first.
It resulted in his first DNF of 2025.
“I would say it is not out of the norm for him, however I undoubtedly wasn’t anticipating that at that time within the race,” Stenhouse mentioned. “Bummer for us … Undoubtedly can have one thing to do about it at one level.”
Did he plan to speak to Hocevar?
“Oh, I’ll,” Stenhouse mentioned.
Method him after the race?
“No, that prices an excessive amount of cash,” Stenhouse mentioned.
When requested in regards to the incident afterward, Hocevar had not but watched the replay however didn’t view it as nefarious.
“I really feel like that was only a frequent transfer with how huge of a run I had, however I didn’t see it,” Hocevar mentioned. “I’m certain he’ll need to speak about it. I’ll speak about it. We’ll have a look at the replay.”
In the meantime, he tied his career-best end of second. He beforehand reached that spot at Atlanta in February.
Earlier than Sunday, Hocevar had cracked the highest 10 solely twice this season.
“Hopefully, this can be a step in the suitable path,” he mentioned.
3. Up subsequent: NASCAR motors to Motor Metropolis
Earlier than heading south of the border on Father’s Day weekend, NASCAR heads north. Approach north, by NASCAR requirements, to the Detroit space for a tripleheader weekend.
It begins with an ARCA race Friday, with the Truck Sequence in a Saturday starring function earlier than Sunday’s Firekeepers On line casino 400 at Michigan worldwide Speedway. It’s going to be yet one more weekend off for the Xfinity Sequence, which had a two-week break in Might.
Tyler Reddick gained final yr’s race at Michigan, which was host to 2 Cup Sequence races a yr till 2021.
— Ken Willis contributed to this report
