Nashville Superspeedway

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 15^th 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.

Ross Chastain capped off a “perfect” race weekend, hitting all the right notes in Music City to earn the winner’s guitar trophy in Sunday’s Ally 400 at Nashville Superspeedway – his first NASCAR Cup Series race victory of the season, a day after claiming his first career pole position.

But before hoisting his new guitar, the 30-year old Chastain had a watermelon to smash – his trademark victory celebration – a nod to his family’s multi-generation watermelon farm in rural Alva, Florida. And the sold-out Nashville crowd – home to his race team owner Justin Marks – roared with enthusiasm for the long smoke-filled victory burnout he did in front of the grandstands to his enthusiastic melon drop.

“This is incredible,” a grinning Chastain said. “This is why every little kid out there, anyone in the world, when you get criticized and you’re going to if you’re a competitor, they will try to tear you down and you’ll start believing it and you can’t do that.

“Go to your people. Trust in the process. Read your books and trust in the Big Man’s plan upstairs. And just keep getting up and going to work on it.

“A lot of self-reflection through all this, but I had a group that believed in me and they didn’t let me get down,” he said of his challenges in 2023.

Chastain certainly proved that resilience and his faith in the process. He led early Sunday and then led late – thanks to incredibly fast pit stops from his Trackhouse Racing team helping position him for the race lead on the final round of stops of the night.

It’s the first race win of 2023 for Chastain, who led the championship standings for seven weeks early in the year, and the first win of the year and first pole position ever for Trackhouse Racing.

Ultimately Chastain had to hold off Joe Gibbs Racing teammates Martin Truex Jr. and Denny Hamlin by .789-second for the win – leading a race best 99 of the 300 laps, including the final 34.

Lapped traffic was a factor for Chastain to overcome all night. He lost his early race lead to Tyler Reddick after Noah Gragson raced Chastain hard trying not to be lapped. There is a history between Gragson and Chastain, who had a physical confrontation at Kansas Speedway in early May. Reddick went on to win Stage 1 after Chastain was unable to clear Gragson easily, but Reddick – who started the race alongside Chastain on the front row – spun out on pit road on a caution shortly thereafter and ultimately was not a factor for the win.

In the closing laps – with Truex hot on his bumper – Chastain had to navigate traffic again; and again cars held him up in an effort not to get lapped.

Fortunately for Chastain, some of that traffic made things difficult for Truex as well and the “Melon Man” as Chastain is nicknamed was able to pull away some in the final 20 laps.

It was a clean race – only two short extra caution flags beyond the two scheduled Stage breaks. Reddick took his third stage win of the season in Stage 1 and Hamlin notched his fourth in Stage 2.

“I just think we had a third place car,” Hamlin said. “I thought the 19 [Truex] was a little better and obviously the 1 [Chastain] came on really strong there at the end.

“Just didn’t have quite a fast enough car to go for the win,” he added.

With his runner-up showing Truex maintained the NASCAR Cup Series championship lead, now up by 18-points on both Hendrick Motorsports’ William Byron and Chastain.

“Just needed to get the lead. Once we lost it, just too loose on the long runs, just could never get off the corner good to make a move,” Truex said, adding, “Just needed a little bit. Had a lot of speed. … overall a good night.”

The 1.33-mile Nashville oval has been a good place for Chastain. He finished runner-up in 2021 and was fifth last year. And having won his first career pole position on Saturday, he went into Sunday’s race feeling optimistic.

“I trust in my people, my family back home, the agriculture industry and all the people Justin Marks has in place,” Chastain said, adding, “It’s absolutely incredible the fight that we have.”

Chase Elliott, the 2022 Nashville winner, finished fourth, followed by his Hendrick Motorsports teammates Kyle Larson and Byron. Joe Gibbs Racing’s Christopher Bell, Legacy Motor Club’s Erik Jones, Richard Childress Racing’s Kyle Busch and Kaulig Racing’s A.J. Allmendinger – who won the Nashville NASCAR Xfinity Series race on Saturday – rounded out the Top-10.

In a race twice delayed by lightning, Chase Elliott stole the thunder from a contingent of Toyota drivers who showed early dominance.

After a late caution slowed the action in Sunday’s Ally 400, Elliott remained on the track and led the field to a restart with four laps left at Nashville Superspeedway.

Elliott pulled away from runner-up Kurt Busch and powered his No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet across the finish line with a margin of .551 seconds.

In fashioning his second NASCAR Cup Series victory of the season, his first at Nashville and the 15^th of his career, Elliott overcame a long pit stop on Lap 120 that dropped him to 25^th in the running order.

“I’m so proud of our team,” Elliott said. “We had a setback about halfway, but we were able to get the NAPA Chevy dialed back in and get back in the mix. It was a long day, a fun day… I’m so proud of our team. We’ve had a pretty rough month, month-and-a-half. It’s just nice to get back going in the right direction.

“Getting a win is always huge. To do it in a really cool city like Nashville is even better. I’m looking forward to that guitar (trophy).”

Elliott beat three Toyota drivers—pole winner Denny Hamlin, Martin Truex Jr. and Kyle Busch—who collectively led 250 of the 300 laps at the 1.33-mile concrete track.

It might be more accurate to say that the Toyota drivers beat themselves by pitting during the 10^th and final caution on Lap 291, the result of a blown engine in Josh Bilicki’s Chevrolet.

While Elliott and Kurt Busch stayed out under caution, along with eight other drivers, Kyle Busch, Truex and Hamlin all came to pit road for tires. Of the three, only Hamlin advanced over the final four laps, finishing sixth behind Ryan Blaney, Kyle Larson and Ross Chastain.

Kyle Busch and Truex ran afoul of heavy traffic on the final lap and came home 21^st and 22^nd, respectively.

Hamlin, who led a race-high 114 laps, was out front for the first 41 circuits before lightning halted the action for one hour 27 seconds. After the resumption and two more cautions, Truex passed Hamlin for the lead on lap 66 and help through the end of Stage 1.

Truex, who led six times for 82 laps, also won the second stage, but Elliott’s car came to life in the final third of the race. Elliott had a one-second lead over Kyle Busch, with Hamlin and Truex trailing in third and fourth place, when Bilicki’s engine failure caused the final caution with nine laps remaining.

Kurt Busch’s only regret about his runner-up finish was not being more aggressive on the final restart.

“I wanted to throw some fenders, but I didn’t get the job done,” said the driver of the No. 45 23XI Racing Toyota. “Everybody will be smiling, but I let them down. I should have come up with a better plan.

“We were going to stay out no matter what, and I needed to start throwing fenders to move people around. I didn’t get after it, and I made too many mistakes and didn’t stick with our strength. I’m not going to say what our strength was, but we did a lot of things good.

“We didn’t have one exceptional item. We’re second with our Toyota Camry. I want to do it over, but you don’t get those at this elite level and Chase got the job done.”

The second lightning delay, which also brought rain and necessitated track drying, lasted two hours, eight minutes. It occurred on Lap 139, just 11 laps short of halfway.

Austin Cindric, Christopher Bell, Joey Logano and Kevin Harvick ran sixth through 10^th, respectively. Elliott leads the series standings by 30 points over Chastain.

Kyle Larson continued his streak of superiority Sunday afternoon winning the Ally 400 at Nashville Superspeedway - his third consecutive win, following three consecutive runner-up finishes. He hasn't finished worse than second place in a NASCAR Cup Series race since May 2.

It's a high performance mark the series hasn't seen in more than a decade when former Hendrick Motorsports driver Jimmie Johnson won four straight points-paying races in 2007. Larson's win Sunday was his third straight points-paying victory but he also won the All-Star Race $1 million-to-win exhibition last week at Texas Motor Speedway.

Larson's No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet led Ross Chastain and Chip Ganassi Racing's No. 42 Chevrolet across the Nashville finish line by 4.335-seconds. He paced the field by as much as 5 seconds in the closing 10 laps of this inaugural event. And that fourth winner's trophy is a series best on the season.

There were 14 lead changes among seven drivers, but only two other drivers led double digit laps - Chase Elliott (13) and Kyle Busch (10).

"It was a great day," Larson said, smiling at the understatement. "We never really had to run behind people, so I don't know if one of my teammates got out front again, it probably would have been hard to pass them.

"This Valvoline Chevrolet was really good. It cut the middle of the corner really well and our pit crew did an awesome job again. I just hope we can keep it going."

Larson led 264 of the 300 laps at the 1.333-mile Nashville track in the first NASCAR Cup Series race in the city since 1984. The effort marked the fourth time this season Larson's led at least 200 laps in a race and the fifth time he's led more than half the total laps in a race.

Only 17 races into the 36-race season, Larson has already eclipsed his previous season-best laps led. He's been out front 1,426 laps. His previous season-best total was 1,352 laps led in 2017.

Larson, who now has 10 career NASCAR Cup Series wins, has led 82 percent of all laps run during this current three-race winning streak. His Hendrick teammate Elliott - who was disqualified for having four loose lug nuts - won Stage 1 and Larson answered with the Stage 2 victory - his 12th of the season, which is double that of any other driver.

Larson's Hendrick Motorsports teammate William Byron looked to give the team its fifth straight 1-2 finish, rallying from the rear of the grid. He was running second until the final 10 laps when Chastain got around him. Byron finished third, followed by polesitter Aric Almirola and his Stewart-Haas Racing teammate Kevin Harvick.

The fourth-place finish was Almirola's best of the season. Harvick's fifth place run was his best in the last six races.

"We had a good car, just, my goodness, we don't have anything for those Chevrolets right now," said Almirola, who drives the No. 10 SHR Ford. "They're making grip and they're getting up off the corner. It's so hard to race with them.

"But," Almirola added, "We have made huge strides to close the gap. Our race team is doing a great job scrounging and scrapping to build better race cars and it's nice to come here and run up front, run in the Top-5 and at least be in the mix."

Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Daniel Suarez, Kurt Busch, Christopher Bell and Joey Logano rounded out the Top-10. It marked Stenhouse's second Top-10 of the season and the third for Suarez in the new No. 99 Trackhouse Racing team, which hosted co-owner, superstar performer Pitbull, at Nashville.

NASCAR Cup Series championship leader Denny Hamlin had to pit for fuel with two laps remaining dropping from a Top-10 result. He finished 22nd - the second time he's finished outside the Top-10 in the last six races and now holds a slim 6-point championship lead over Larson.