Lebanon, Tenn. - Ryan Blaney and Team Penske are fast with his No. 12 Ford Mustang this year, but most importantly, let the game slip away.

Not on Sunday night.

Blaney ran around the first cup victory of the year in Nashville Superspeedway on Sunday night, and then celebrated in front of roaring fans after what he called a tough year.

"I'm going to celebrate," Blaney said.

In the first half of the season, the 2023 Cup champions performed well in five top five games. He finally won his 14th professional victory in Victory Lane since Martinsville in November.

"I never gave up on hope that's for sure," Blaney said. "We've achieved a very high pace all year round. It's not our best year in terms of good luck. But (No. 12) the boys are great. They stick with it anyway."

He became the ninth champion of the season and the fifth driver in many races in Nashville. He also gave the team a second straight Cup race at the 1.33-mile concrete track in Nashville.

Blaney, who started 15th, won the second stage and quickly drove to the front line. He easily hit Carson Hocevar for 2.83 seconds. Hocevar complained in the game that his 77th-place Chevrolet was not freed.

"I'm really dramatic, or they really adjusted it well," Hocevar said. "Probably both, but yes, I'm proud of this car. A really hard place where we were able to rank 26 to 2."

Denny Hamlin finished third in his 700th Pro Cup series, with 2013 Darlington's Jeff Gordon finishing the 700th match in third place in Darlington. Joey Logano won fourth place here last year and William Byron ranked fifth.

Hamlin hopes to be more cautious, which is a caution that has never been taken after seven laps of warning.

"It's been super long that I can't run with 12 (Blaney)," Hamlin said. "After 40 laps, I could maintain it with him. But after that, he just pulled it apart and stretched it on us."

When the Green Forced Team and the Driver choose when to attack, when the Green Forced Team and the Driver sprinted. When Blaney went to the pit stand under the 248-lap green flag, he led 107 laps. Hamlin led the way and headed to Pit Road on lap 256.

Captain Jonathan Hassler said they decided to secure Blaney's fifth and last stop to ensure he could return to the cleanest air.

"It's great to finish the game," Hasler said.

Brad Keselowski took the lead when he entered the pit on lap 269, with Blaney leading the final 31 laps.

Waiting for the call

Hamlin played Sunday night in hopes to take advantage of his starting point next to Pole Chase Briscoe. Whether Hamlin will chase the third win of the season, his third child is the same day.

Hamlin practiced and qualified well, so he drove the 11th Toyota, even though Joe Gibbs raced Ryan Truex on standby, just in case Hamlin called on his fiancée to work. Hamlin won the first stage and survived the last period without water or fresh air.

Tyler Reddick beat Hamlin, co-owner of his 23XI racing team, whose parenthood is the new parenthood, Reddick announced on social media earlier Sunday.

His family welcomed their second son at 2:20 a.m. on May 25, and then after a few hours, Reddick finished 26th in Charlotte's Coca-Cola 600.

Morning and night

Ricky Stenhouse Jr. didn't finish his first game this year. He was the first to spin the stenhouse to the wall between rounds 3, warning for the second time in the 106th lap.

Punishment and more penalties?

AJ Allmendinger started behind the field and, after the green flag, made a stay penalty after an unapproved adjustment to the splitter during Saturday’s practice. His No. 16 Chevrolet was sent back to the garage and scanned before practice and qualifying.

Chad Finchum No. 66 Ford's inspection failed twice, resulting in a catapult from engineer Austin Webb. The garage 66 team also lost the base option.

Next

NASCAR heads to Michigan International Motor Speedway to participate in the Cup Series on June 8.