Ryan Blaney wins 1st NASCAR Cup Series race of the year at Nashville

LEBANON, Tenn. — Ryan Blaney kicked off the second half of the NASCAR season by running away down the stretch for his first Cup Series race of the year Sunday night at Nashville Superspeedway.

The 2023 Cup champ had been racing well with five top-five finishes over the first half of this season. He finally got to Victory Lane in the No. 12 Ford Mustang for Team Penske for his 14th career victory and first since Martinsville in November.

He became the ninth different winner this season and the fifth driver to win in as many races at Nashville.

Blaney, who started 15th, quickly drove his way to the front as he won the second stage. He easily held off Carson Hocevar by 2.83 seconds. Hocevar matched his second-place finish at Atlanta in February.

Denny Hamlin finished third in his 700th career Cup Series race, matching the third-place finish by Jeff Gordon at Darlington in 2013 for the best finish in a driver’s 700th race. Joey Logano, who won here last year, was fourth and William Byron fifth.

This race featured seven cautions using up 35 laps.

There was a sprint to the finish under green forcing teams and drivers to pick and choose who went to pit. Blaney had led 107 laps when he went to the pits under green flag on lap 248. Hamlin took the lead before going to pit road on lap 256.

Brad Keselowski had the lead when he went to the pits on lap 269, and Blaney took the lead for the final 31 laps.

Waiting on a call

Hamlin raced Sunday night hoping 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 the same day.

Hamlin practiced and qualified well, so he drove his No. 11 Toyota even as Joe Gibbs Racing had Ryan Truex on standby in case Hamlin got the call that his fiancee was in labor. Hamlin won the first stage.

Tyler Reddick beat his boss Hamlin, a co-owner of his 23XI Racing team, to new parent status, which Reddick announced on social media earlier Sunday.

His family welcomed their second son at 2:20 a.m. May 25, then Reddick followed up hours later by finishing 26th in the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte.

Early night

Ricky Stenhouse Jr. didn’t finish his first race this year. He was the first out when Hocevar tapped his No. 47 Chevrolet, spinning Stenhouse into the wall between Turns 3 and 4 for the second caution of the race on lap 106.

Punishment and more penalties possible?

AJ Allmendinger started at the back of the field and served 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.

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.

Up next

NASCAR heads to Michigan International Speedway for the Cup Series on June 8.