Race Lineup
Ally 400
Sunday, June 30th, 2024
Nashville Superspeedway, Lebanon, TN
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- Thursday, June 27th, 2024
- NASCAR Wire Service - Holly Cain
Hendrick teammates Larson and Elliott lead NASCAR Cup Series to Nashville
As the NASCAR Cup Series moves to the Nashville Superspeedway for Sunday’s Ally 400 (3:30 p.m. ET on NBC, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) the competitive vibe in the garage is getting distinctively different with only eight more races to decide the 16-driver 2024 Playoff field.
One of those circling the Music City visit on the calendar is defending race winner Ross Chastain, who is still looking to score his first win of the season to lock himself into a Playoff position – and do it in front of the team’s hometown crowd.
Chastain won the race on the 1.33-mile Nashville track last year from the pole position – the first pole of his career in the No. 1 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet. Currently, Chastain is ranked ninth in the regular season points and 12th in the Playoff picture – second only to Martin Truex Jr. in points-earned on the season.
“Last year at Nashville was a career highlight for me for sure,” said Chastain, who led a race best 99 of the 300 laps. “It was one of those weekends that you dream about. We went out and performed really well. … I’m really proud of that and I’ve been trying to put something together like that in a lot of weeks since.”
Chevrolet has won all three of the Nashville Cup Series races – including Hendrick Motorsports drivers Kyle Larson and Chase Elliott in 2021 and 2022, respectively.
Team Penske’s Joey Logano and Joe Gibbs Racing’s Truex would certainly love to break that Chevrolet monopoly. Logano, driver of the No. 22 Ford, is holding on to that final Playoff points position entering the Nashville race. Both his Penske teammates have already clinched their Playoff berths with wins this season. The two-time series champion Logano has only one top-10 finish – ninth place in 2022 – in three Nashville races.
Logano holds only a slim 13-point advantage over 23XI Racing’s Bubba Wallace for that 16th and final Playoff position. Stewart-Haas Racing’s Chase Briscoe – who on Tuesday formally announced his move to Joe Gibbs Racing next season – is 25 points behind Logano.
Truex, the 2017 NASCAR Cup Series champion, revealed two weeks ago that he would be retiring from fulltime competition at the end of the season. The driver of the No. 19 JGR Toyota is still intent to cap his fulltime career, however, with a win and a championship shot. He finished 22nd at Nashville in 2021 and 2023 and was runner-up to Elliott in 2022.
Larson and Elliott are involved in their own tight competition – tied atop the series championship standings. Joe Gibbs Racing’s Denny Hamlin is third, 40 points back and Truex is fourth, 48 points behind the Hendrick duo.
Ten drivers have already secured Playoff bids with race victories. Larson, Elliott, Hamlin, last week’s New Hampshire winner Christopher Bell and William Byron all have three wins. Elliott, Tyler Reddick, reigning series champion Ryan Blaney, Brad Keselowski, Daniel Suarez and Austin Cindric all have earned a trophy too.
This week Blaney was nominated for his first ESPY Award for securing NASCAR’s 2023 premier championship. He’s in the “Best Driver” award category along with Formula One’s Max Verstappen, IndyCar’s Alex Palou and the NHRA’s Matt Hagan. Fans can vote for the driver they want to win athttps://www.espn.com/espys/.
Larson, two-time series champ Kyle Busch, Harvick, Truex and seven-time series champion Jimmie Johnson have all won ESPY Awards.
- Saturday, June 29th, 2024
- NASCAR Wire Service - Holly Cain
Denny Hamlin Takes Pole Position at Nashville
Denny Hamlin claimed his second pole position of the season and 42nd of his decorated career Saturday afternoon just bettering his Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Christopher Bell to earn the top starting position for Sunday’s Ally 400 at Nashville Superspeedway.
Hamlin’s No. 11 JGR Toyota turned a fast lap of 160.354 mph (29.859-seconds) around the 1.333-mile oval – only .095-second fastest than Bell – to claim his second Nashville pole position in the four races the track has hosted.
“Felt pretty good about it all day,’’ the 43-year-old Hamlin said, “seems like we definitely have fixed some of the things we weren’t very good with last year.
“I definitely feel pretty good about it and we’ll certainly work on it overnight to make it a little bit better and I feel pretty confident that tomorrow we’ll be in contention,” he added.”
With a new format to set the starting grid, it puts the pole winner in position one and divides the remaining drivers through first five rows by speed and qualifying group, so Stewart-Haas Racing’s Josh Berry – who was third quickest – will start his No. 4 Ford on the outside of the front row Sunday. Bell will start third.
Hamlin is hoping the good start position will translate into a solid finishing position. The three-race winner this season has finished 24th or worse in the last three races and is ready to get back on track before the summer break in competition in three weeks. Hamlin has a pair of top-10 finishes in the three-race Nashville Superspeedway history, including a best showing of third place last year.
Bell will start on the second row alongside Hendrick Motorsports’ Kyle Larson, who co-leads the NASCAR Cup Series championship standings with his Hendrick teammate Chase Elliott and was fastest in the Group A first round qualifiers.
Roush Fenway Keselowski owner/driver Brad Keselowski will start alongside 23XI Racing’s Tyler Reddick on row three with Hendrick Motorsports’ William Byron and Joe Gibbs Racing’s Ty Gibbs on the fourth row and RFK Racing’s Chris Buescher and Team Penske’s Austin Cindric starting their Fords on row five. It’s the best start for Buescher in the last six weeks.
Defending race winner Ross Chastain will roll off 20th. Elliott will start 13th.
Gibbs (159.287 mph), Ryan Blaney, Bubba Wallace and Chastain were fastest in Saturday’s practice session.
Rivalry? What Rivalry?
In the midst of their matching three-win seasons, Hamlin and Larson have raced hard, door-to-door often this season resulting sometimes in hard feelings and damaged race cars. However, the two golfing buddies, have never made it a huge public issue.
Asked about the style of racing between the pair and if it was actually a true rivalry, Hamlin wouldn’t go that far.
“I don’t know I just think there’s different [kinds of rivalries] ones for sure,’’ Hamlin said. “I think there are rivalries that come from drivers that probably don’t respect each other. They have a lot of speed, but don’t like each other or deliberately run into each other.
“I don’t think anyone’s deliberately running into each other, although it does happen. Certainly I’ve had my fair of mistakes and he’s been on the bad end of those but it’s come from competition, wanting to beat him. He’s one of the guys, one of the best in our sport, if not THE best. So I challenge myself more when I get to race with him and it does happen often and it does happen towards the front more times than not.
“We know each other’s driving styles and we do things around one another that combat passing each other and that usually means there’s tight quarters conditions.’’
Chastain Looks To Go Back-To-Back
Defending Nashville race winner Ross Chastain likes his chances to become the track’s first repeat winner. The driver of the No. 1 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet is still racing for his first win of the season, although he is ranked 12th in the current 16-driver Playoff standings based on points.
The 31-year-old Floridian has seven top-10 finishes and a pair of top-fives this season with 118 laps led and one stage win. Yet his consistency – an 12th place average finish – has kept him high in the standings and ranked among those with wins already.
A good showing this weekend is especially important to him and it has been a venue where he has shined. Chastain has never finished worse than fifth in the three Nashville races with a runner-up (2021) and fifth place effort (2022) in addition to his win last year.
“This town means a lot to our team,’’ Chastain said of Nashville, noting that is where Trackhouse Racing team’s executive headquarters is based.
“To finish fifth and first with Trackhouse has been great, there’ve been some good parties at Tootsie’s after these races I can tell you,’’ Chastain said with a smile.
As for securing that first victory of 2024, “Just need a little more speed,’’ he said, adding, “Now the entire sport is trying to do that so it doesn’t matter if you’re leading, you want to be a half-tenth better or if you’re 30th you want to be that half-tenth better.
“For us, I feel like we’re a really consistent 10th-place car. A good restart, we’ll go to sixth and a bad restart, I go to 14th. So, it’s just a little bit, it’s just crumbs now to get to that top five. And then you see it, with top fives then you win. You put yourself in position.”
Berry Looking To Build
Stewart-Haas Racing’s Josh Berry comes to Nashville after tying his best showing of the season with a third-place finish at New Hampshire last week. The Tennessee-native certainly holds high hopes for Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series debut at his home-state venue and for his chances to win before the Playoffs start Sept. 8 at Atlanta Motor Speedway.
The four-car SHR team – as it has operated – announced it would be dissolving at the end of the year and Berry, along with teammates Chase Briscoe, Noah Gragson and Ryan Preece are now left to find work elsewhere. Joe Gibbs Racing announced this week that in 2025, Briscoe will fill the seat in the No. 19 Toyota left by retiring driver Martin Truex Jr. The other drivers, however, are still racing for their futures.
Berry, in his first full season of NASCAR Cup Series competition, believes he won’t only make the Playoffs based on points, but can win a race. And he was optimistic about being able to stay in NASCAR’s premier series going forward, encouraged by his recent pace – four top-10 finishes in the last six weeks.
“I feel good about having a spot in the Cup Series next year, I think our results have been really strong the last couple months,’’ said Berry, who has two top-five finishes in three NASCAR Xfinity Series starts at Nashville. “I don’t really know other than winning a race at this point, is all I can do. We’ve finished in the top five, we’ve led laps, we’ve shown the potential of what we can do.
“I think that’s been a big confidence boost for me and I really think the whole situation for myself and my team, you really find out a lot about yourself when your back is against the wall and everyone’s performing at a really high level.
“We’re fighting together.
“I’m at my best when my back is against the wall and I have to perform,’’ he added.
Heat Wave
Temperatures in the Nashville area have been in the high 90s this week with “feels like” marks well above 100 degrees with a heat advisory issued for the region. Drivers and teams concede it’s the hottest NASCAR race weekend so far, but their concerns are as much for the fans in the grandstands as for themselves. The drivers say they try to always be ready for conditions like this.
“Just a lot of preparation during the week, I’m sure everyone trains a little differently hydrating, training, all the things you think your body needs to do better,’’ Hendrick Motorsports’ driver William Byron said of the weather.
“It’ll be a true test for all of us. I think the weather backs off a little tomorrow and won’t be as bad as today, but you have to do a good job internally to manage that stress and make sure you’re able to make good decisions through the heat.’’
- Sunday, June 30th, 2024
- NASCAR Wire Service - Holly Cain
Joey Logano wins at Nashville after a record five overtime restarts
It took a record five overtime restarts to settle Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series Ally 400 at Nashville Superspeedway, but two-time series champion Joey Logano finally emerged as the race winner, securing his first win of the season and a bid into the 2024 Playoffs in dramatic fashion.
With race leaders falling out of contention with each late race restart – 31 extra laps and 15 total cautions on the day – Logano and his Team Penske team gambled that his No. 22 Ford Mustang had enough fuel for a final push to the checkered flag. Ultimately Logano’s Mustang turned 110 laps with that final tank of fuel.
The reward was the trip to Victory Lane Sunday – the first for Ford at the 1.333-mile Nashville track – and a coveted ticket to the Playoffs for Logano and team.
Logano finished .068-seconds ahead of Spire Motorsports rookie Zane Smith – the best career showing for the former NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series champion. 23XI Racing’s Tyler Reddick was third, followed by Stewart-Haas Racing’s Ryan Preece and RFK Racing’s Chris Buescher.
The 34-year-old Logano said he wasn’t sure how much fuel was left or if he would definitely make it to the checkered, “I know into [turn] three, my fuel light came on and it stumbled across the line, so that was definitely all of it.
’We’ve got to give a lot of credit to Roush Yates, not only building horsepower but building fuel milage – that’s what won today,’’ said Logano, who still had enough fuel to do a brief victory burnout in front of the sold-out Nashville crowd that stayed to the epic end, despite a one hour, 21-minute red flag for rain only 136 laps into the 331-lap race.
“So proud of this team. It’s been a stressful few weeks trying to get in the Playoffs so being able to win here is huge for our season. Felt great to get that. It feels good for our team.
“So much pressure. Trying to make the Playoffs is not easy these days in these Next Gen cars and everyone is so evenly matched,’’ he added. “I made a lot of mistakes, even some tonight and it’s nice to be able to overcome. .. This is a much-needed win for sure.’’
His crew chief Paul Wolfe confirmed Logano’s Mustang ultimately ran out of gas.
“We just got to the point. .. we’ve gotten this far, let’s just stick with it,’’ Wolfe said of the team staying out instead of pitting for fuel. “Fortunately it was enough, but he did run out on the last lap.’’
Even before all the extra laps, the race’s scheduled ending featured an amazing duel between pole-winner Denny Hamlin racing for what would have been a series best fourth victory and the 2023 Nashville winner Ross Chastain, racing for his first win of the season. For 30 laps they raced in front of the field with Hamlin cutting into Chastain’s lead before finally overtaking him with seven laps remaining in the originally scheduled 300-lap race.
But just as Hamlin and Chastain were seemingly settling the trophy, Logano’s teammate Austin Cindric spun out with four laps remaining, forcing the first overtime.
Hamlin and Chastain restarted next to one another on the first overtime, but Chastain was hit from behind by Hendrick Motorsports’ Kyle Larson, whose Chevrolet’s splitter hit the apron and unintentionally moved into Chastain’s car. The accident eliminated Chastain and Hamlin had to hold off the field in two subsequent overtimes before having to pit himself for fuel – a decision the team struggled to make, but ultimately were forced to do.
That left Logano and Stewart-Haas Racing’s Chase Briscoe on the front row for the fourth overtime restart. Smith had moved into second place around Briscoe when the final caution came out for SHR’s Josh Berry.
Only one (Reddick) of the top-11 cars lined up for the fifth overtime restart had won a race this season, but a highly motivated Logano got a stellar jump on the field at the drop of the flag and was able to keep the challengers behind with other incidents happening as the checkered flag flew.
“The winning side of me is pissed with the second place, especially after hearing the 22 [Logano] was going to run out for the past 10 laps, I don’t know how many restarts,’’ Smith said of his runner-up showing.
“But no, I wouldn’t have done anything different. I felt like I chose the right lane and it’s crazy how much different these cars drive with cleaner air. Just proud of our strategy there.’’
Logano’s Team Penske teammate and reigning series champ Blaney finished sixth, followed by 23XI Racing’s Bubba Wallace, Larson, Kaulig Racing’s Daniel Hemric and SHR’s Noah Gragson.
There were nine race leaders and 20 lead changes on the day.
For much of the early day, last week’s winner Christopher Bell looked like he was positioned to earn the first back-to-back victories of his career. But pit strategy put Bell’s No. 20 JGR Toyota the farthest back in the field. He spun out alone in Turn 2, racing in 15th place on the restart with 74 laps remaining.
Bell swept the opening two stage wins to lead the series with nine stage victories on the season and was out front a race-best 131 of the first 229 laps – more than twice as many laps as any other driver in the field at that point.
‘Just put myself in a bad spot, lost my cool, got back in traffic with all those yellow flags and put myself in a really bad spot going into [turn] one,’’ Bell said.
Larson’s eighth place showing was good enough to keep the NASCAR Cup Series championship lead by 20-points over his Hendrick Motorsports teammate Chase Elliott, who was among those who had an incident on the race’s final lap. Hamlin is 43 points back with eight races remaining to decide the regular season champion.
- Drivers Entered: 38
- Laps Scheduled: 300
- Laps Actual: 331 - NASCAR OVERTIME!
- Margin of Victory: 0.068 Seconds
- Time of Race: 4 Hours 3 Minutes 54 Seconds
- Average Speed: 108.298
- Cautions: 15 for 79 laps
- Lead Changes: 20
- Green Flag Passes: 4,299 (17.1 passes per green flag lap)
Race weekend links appear as data becomes available.