Ryan Blaney, Team Penske's driver, roared to his first win of the NASCAR Cup Series season at the Nashville Superspeedway. This anticipated victory finally came after a series of disappointments earlier in the year; his triumph at the Cracker Barrel 400 was marked by his dominant performance, as reported by Sports Illustrated, as he led a staggering 139 of the 300 laps.
Blaney's win, which was his first since Martinsville in November, came amidst five DNFs in the first 13 races of the season and a spate of what he described as "crappy things happening to us", he reiterated the sentiment on finishing without mishap, "It's like, 'What do we have to do finish these races or close one out and have things go our way," he said, as per The Tennessean, adding, "I don't want to say this was relief, but finally nothing crazy happened and we were able to run our own race, bring the speed and do our job very, very well."
The victory at Nashville marks Blaney as the ninth different winner of the season and the fifth to clinch a win at the track over as many races. This achievement adds to Team Penske's reputation, giving them a second consecutive Cup win at the 1.33-mile concrete track, as detailed by WSMV.
Blaney holding off Carson Hocevar by 2.83 seconds, Denny Hamlin finishing third in what was his 700th career Cup Series race, and the early night for Ricky Stenhouse Jr. who exited the race due to a collision were some of the notable moments from the race; these were moments in the sprint to the finish under green which forced teams and drivers to pick and choose went to pit, Blaney led 107 laps when he went to the pits under green flag on lap 248, a detailed account by WSMV.
