NASCAR Cup Series Race Report - Dover

July 21, 2025

Autotrader EchoPark Automotive 400 - Dover Motor Speedway
Dover, Del. - July 20, 2025

AUSTIN CINDRIC No. 2 AUTOTRADER FORD MUSTANG

START: 26TH  
STAGE 1: 19TH  
STAGE 2: 16TH   
FINISH: 16TH  
POINTS: 19TH

RACE RUNDOWN: Austin Cindric and the No. 2 Autotrader Ford Mustang Dark Horse team turned in a gritty performance Sunday at Dover Motor Speedway, shaking off a deep starting spot to finish 16th in the rain-impacted Autotrader 400. With Saturday's qualifying session rained out, Cindric lined up 26th based on the NASCAR rulebook. He settled into a rhythm early as the track started to level off before pitting for four tires, fuel and an air pressure adjustment under the competition caution on Lap 35. He restarted 23rd but reached the top 20 by the end of Stage 1, finishing 19th. Cindric continued to make forward progress in Stage 2, contesting inside the top 20 and ultimately finishing the segment in 16th. He returned to pit road for a four-tire service stop and lined up 18th for the restart. After the final stint got underway, the Autotrader driver informed the team that the balance hadn't improved, or worsened. As weather moved into the area late, Cindric pitted under green just before a caution for rain on Lap 338 for fresh tires and an adjustment. A heavy rain-shower forced the red flag, but the race resumed with eight laps to go after the completion of track-drying, setting up a chaotic finish. Cindric avoided trouble and gained a handful of positions in the final restarts to record a 16th-place result.

CINDRIC'S THOUGHTS: "With where we had to start I'm definitely proud of the effort from everybody here on this No. 2 Autotrader Ford Mustang. We kind of just clawed our way up and we had one restart where the field got split up under green flag cycles and I got parked and pretty much lost all of the progress I had made throughout the entirety of the day. We clawed back a few there on those late restarts, but, overall, I'm happy to finish one of these a little better than we have the last few weeks, but we definitely want more."

RYAN BLANEY No. 12 MENARDS/LIBMAN FORD MUSTANG

START: 31ST  
STAGE 1: 16TH  
STAGE 2: 9TH  
FINISH: 8TH  
POINTS: 7TH

RACE RUNDOWN: Ryan Blaney and the No. 12 Menards/Libman Ford Mustang Dark Horse went from 31st to eighth Sunday afternoon at Dover as Blaney and the 12 team notched their ninth top-10 finish of the 2025 season. After rain washed out practice and qualifying Saturday, Blaney lined up 31st to begin the 400-mile event as he worked his way into the top-20 just 60 laps in before crossing the line 16th at the end of Stage 1. Blaney continued his charge towards the leaders in the second segment before he was brought to pit road on lap 184 during the green flag pit cycle, eventually cracking the top-10 with 32 laps remaining in Stage 2 en route to a ninth-place result. After taking the green flag from ninth with 140 laps remaining, Blaney continued to maintain top-10 pace as the threat of rain began to enter the conversation, prompting crew chief Jonathan Hassler to call Blaney to pit road on lap 327 with the leaders for what was thought to be the final stop of the afternoon. However, a caution for rain moments later trapped all but nine cars at least a lap down, as Blaney was forced to take the wave around prior to the ensuing restart with 57 laps to go. A larger cell of rain hit the track with 14 to go - causing a 56-minute red flag - but once drivers returned to their cars and the race was back under yellow, Blaney was the first of the leaders to hit pit road from eighth in the running order for right side tires only to gain an advantage on those up front prior to the final run. After taking the green flag from 11th, Blaney navigated his way through a pair of incidents on the final two restarts and made up a few positions along the way en route to an eighth-place finish.

BLANEY'S THOUGHTS: "It was a fun day. I thought on long runs we were really good. I would have personally liked to have seen it go to the end before the rain caution came out because we had a really good long run car and I thought I might have been able to get up to fifth. We came in and got two tires, and I didn't pick a good lane on the restart and gave a lot of track position away, but, overall, it was a good day from where we started."

JOEY LOGANO No. 22 SHELL-PENNZOIL FORD MUSTANG

START: 8TH  
STAGE 1: 9TH  
STAGE 2: 13TH  
FINISH: 14TH  
POINTS: 11TH

RACE RUNDOWN: Joey Logano made his 600th career NASCAR Cup Series start Sunday at Dover as the No. 22 Shell-Pennzoil Ford Mustang Dark Horse took the checkered flag 14th. Logano became the 34th driver all-time to reach 600 Cup Series starts while breaking a 52 year-old record held by Richard Petty  to become the youngest to reach the milestone (35 years, one month, 26 days).
After practice and qualifying were rained out Saturday, Logano took the green flag in the Autotrader 400 from eighth and worked his way up to sixth by the time of the competition caution on lap 35. Logano fought issues with rear grip on the following run, maintained top-10 pace to come away with a ninth-place finish in Stage 1. Following a four tire stop during the stage caution that saw the 22 crew gain Logano a pair of spots on pit road, he lined up seventh for the restart before settling into 12th in the running order. Logano ultimately crossed the line 13th in Stage 2. The Shell-Pennzoil Ford worked back into the top-10 by lap 325 on the following run before Logano was called to pit road two laps later with the rest of the leaders, but a pit road speeding penalty in section three resulted in a pass-through, relegating the No. 22 two laps down. A caution for rain allowed Logano to take the wave-around, but heavier rainfall shortly after put the race under a red flag while scored one lap down in 21st. After drivers returned to their cars just before 6:30 p.m., Logano took the wave around to rejoin the lead lap before the field took the green with eight to go. A pair of cautions on the following two restarts allowed Logano to make his way up to 14th on fresher tires before taking the checkered flag.

LOGANO'S THOUGHTS: "It was a cool weekend reaching 600 Cup starts, just wish we had a better showing for it. We had pretty good pace throughout the day and kept working on it but that speeding penalty halted the momentum we had going. Still proud of our guys for staying with it and getting us to a decent finish at the end."

The NASCAR Cup Series heads to Indianapolis Motor Speedway for the Brickyard 400 presented by PPG on Sunday, July 27. Coverage from Indianapolis begins at 2:00 p.m. ET on TNT, IMS Radio Network, and Sirius XM NASCAR Radio Channel 90.