CUP: Ricky Stenhouse, Jr.’s first DNF of 2025 is his first last-place finish in four years
by Brock Beard / LASTCAR.info Editor-in-Chief
PHOTO: Steven Taranto, @STaranto92
Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. picked up the 12th last-place finish of his NASCAR Cup Series career in Sunday’s Cracker Barrel 400 at the Nashville Superspeedway when his #47 NOS Energy Chevrolet crashed after 110 of 300 laps.
The finish, which came in Stenhouse’s 450th series start, was his first of the season and first in a Cup Series race since July 11, 2021 at Atlanta, 137 races ago. In the Cup Series’ last-place rankings, it was the 37th for the #47, the 686th from a crash, and the 870th for Chevrolet. Across NASCAR’s top three series, it was the 58th for the #47, the 1,419th from a crash, and the 1,992nd for Chevrolet.
When Stenhouse was last featured here, he was completing just his second season with what was then JTG-Daugherty Racing. In the NextGen era that’s followed, he’s remained a persistent contender on the superspeedways, scoring a victory in each of the last two seasons – a landmark Daytona 500 crown in 2023, then last fall’s Talladega race, where he narrowly maintained control in the day’s biggest wreck to win in a damaged car. The offseason that followed saw sponsor Kroger make the jump to RFK Racing, and a rebrand of the single-car #47 team to Hyak Motorsports.
This 2025 season has seen Stenhouse off to a solid, though unspectacular start. He’d yet to fail to finish any of the first 13 points-paying races, earning a season-best 5th in the second round in Atlanta, then a second top-ten finish with a 6th-place run just last month in Texas. His consistency has kept him on the right side of the Playoff cutline for the three races since Texas, capped by an 11th-place showing in last Sunday’s Coca-Cola 600. But in his four previous Cup starts at the Nashville track, he’d finished worse each time, dropping from a 6th in 2021 to just 30th last year, the result of a crash.
This past weekend at Nashville, Stenhouse ranked 18th in practice with a best lap of 29.973 seconds (159.744mph), then improved to 13th in qualifying with a lap of 29.588 seconds (161.822mph). It was his best-ever qualifying run for a Cup race at the track, improving on his 14th from 2021.
Securing the 39th and final starting spot was Chad Finchum, who carried returning backing from Aires, which debuted last month on Garage 66’s #66 Ford during Finchum’s last-place run in the All-Star Open at North Wilkesboro. He’d be joined at the tail end by A.J. Allmendinger, whose #16 LeafFilter Gutter Protection Chevrolet was pulled out of line in practice after the team made an unapproved adjustment to the splitter. After ten minutes, Allmendinger returned to practice, where he ranked 11th, then took 17th in qualifying. But he was then handed both a tail-end penalty and a stop-and-go after the start of Sunday’s race.
Before Allmendinger could serve either penalty on Sunday, there was trouble for the 38th-place qualifier. J.J. Yeley secured sponsorship from the Fanatics Sportsbook for NY Racing Team’s #44 Chevrolet, but the car wouldn’t fire at the command to start engines. As the cars around him prepared to roll off pit road, the crew lifted the hood and tried to address the issue, then pushed him out of line, turned him around, and pushed him backwards behind the wall at the start/finish line. Yeley reported a loss of power, and the crew continued to work through the remainder of the pace laps. It wasn’t until the pace car pulled off the track in Turn 4 that Yeley’s engine showed 3200rpms, and the crew dropped the hood. NASCAR told the team Yeley owed a stop-and-go, which he served by stopping alongside Tyler Reddick’s spot at Stall 16. Yeley exited pit road just as the leaders rushed past into Turn 1, putting him a lap down in last place.
— Brandon Crosslin ⚪️ (@CrosslinRacing) June 2, 2025
Behind Yeley, Allmendinger came down to serve his stop-and-go in Stall 38 near the Turn 4 side of pit road. He crossed the stripe 20.24 seconds back of the lead in 38th, then lost a lap, but still about a half-lap ahead of Yeley for the “Lucky Dog” spot and running eight-tenths of a second faster. But most importantly, they were in the race, and the #44 seemed to be handling well. “You’re doing good, man,” he was told on Lap 11. “That car looks better than it did yesterday.” Yeley was also tracking down Finchum, who by now had fallen well back of the field, struggling to put the power down off the corner. Finchum lost a lap on the 20th circuit, and on Lap 26 was caught and passed by Allmendinger, dropping the #66 to 38th. Yeley reported his car was “tighter and tighter at both ends,” and was himself catching Finchum. On Lap 32, both Yeley and Finchum were caught by the leaders in Turn 4, causing Chase Briscoe and Denny Hamlin to weave between them in their ongoing battle. With those two cars pulling away, Yeley then got under Finchum in Turn 1 and dropped Finchum to last on Lap 33.
Still under green, Carl Long discussed changes for Finchum’s car. On Lap 40, the call was for one half-round out of the right-rear, which was done when he came in on Lap 52. He returned to the track between three and four laps down, and Long had his team prepare another set of tires. By Lap 64, one lap after Yeley finally made his first stop, Finchum was now five laps down with Yeley in 38th showing three down. On Lap 84, Finchum moved up the track in Turns 3 and 4 when the leaders whistled past once again, putting him six laps down. Stage 1 ended six laps later. Under the ensuing yellow, Finchum said he was still loose, and the changes made under the Lap 52 stop didn’t help the condition. The call then came for air pressure adjustments and one down on the left-rear.
Back under green on Lap 98 to start Stage 2, Finchum remained the last-place runner, six laps down, with Yeley in 38th now shown two down. All 39 starters were running until the next caution fell on Lap 106. That time by, Stenhouse was running around the 27th spot ahead of the #77 Zeigler Auto Group Chevrolet of Carson Hocevar. Heading into Turn 3, Hocevar pulled to Stenhouse’s inside as Stenhouse appeared to pull down, causing Stenhouse to cross Hocevar’s nose. The #47 then skated up the track and struck the outside wall with the right-rear corner, buckling the rear decklid. Under caution, Stenhouse made three pit stops. After a quick first stop, the second saw the team evaluate the toe end on the right-front while another crew member hopped on the bent rear decklid. The third stop saw the crew work under the hood. He returned to the track in 35th, and had managed to stay on the lead lap. But the crew told him to pull into the garage for additional repairs in the designated “Damaged Vehicle Policy” spot. He pulled behind the wall on the Lap 112 restart, and dropped behind Finchum into last place on Lap 117. But by Lap 118, Stenhouse was out of the car, and the team stopped their work. “Nah, we’re gonna shut it down,” said someone on the team. “They aren’t gonna let us go back out.” On Lap 126, NASCAR declared Stenhouse out of the race.
Declared out on the same lap was Noah Gragson, whose #4 Rush Truck Centers Ford clobbered the Turn 3 wall with the right-front after Alex Bowman’s #48 Ally Chevrolet broke loose underneath him. Gragson immediately went to the garage soon followed by Bowman, who remained 37th for much of the race. According to Prime’s coverage, the most time-consuming repair was at NASCAR’s request, replacing the rear bumper cover. By the time Bowman returned to the track with 82 laps to go, he was 105 laps down. He only gained one spot, passing Corey Heim’s #67 Chief’s Toyota, which crashed off Turn 4 after crossing the nose of Brad Keselowski’s Ford. Fincchum rounded out the Bottom Five, 12 laps down to the winner, but 100 laps ahead of Bowman.
Jones mixes it up with the leaders
Sunday’s race saw Erik Jones enjoy perhaps his best race of the season, taking 5th in Stage 2 after a door-banging battle with Christopher Bell into Turn 1, then remaining among the leaders for much of the night. Jones’ #43 Dollar Tree Toyota came home in 7th – his second-best finish of the season behind his 5th in Texas. Jones has now finished 19th or better in four of his five Cup starts at Nashville with Sunday’s finish his best yet at the track.
LASTCAR STATISTICS
*This marked the first last-place finish for the #47 in a Cup Series race at the Nashville Superspeedway.
*Ironically, the 110 laps completed by Stenhouse are the second-fewest of a Cup Series last-place finisher at Nashville. The record remains 49 laps by Alex Bowman on June 26, 2022.
THE BOTTOM FIVE
39) #47-Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. / 110 laps / crash
38) #4-Noah Gragson / 112 laps / crash
37) #67-Corey Heim / 130 laps / crash
36) #48-Alex Bowman / 188 laps / running
35) #66-Chad Finchum / 288 laps / running
2025 LASTCAR CUP SERIES OWNER'S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) Kaulig Racing, Legacy Motor Club (2)
2nd) 23XI Racing, Garage 66, Hyak Motorsports, Joe Gibbs Racing, NY Racing Team, Penske Racing, RFK Racing, Rick Ware Racing, Spire Motorsports, Trackhouse Racing (1)
2025 LASTCAR CUP SERIES MANUFACTURER'S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) Chevrolet (6)
2nd) Ford, Toyota (4)
2025 LASTCAR CUP SERIES DRIVER'S CHAMPIONSHIP
