Ross Chastain won in Nashville arriving in victory lane to end the weekend festivities. The Ally 400 at the Nashville Superspeedway was pushed back to a 7 pm Eastern start time on Sunday as weather threatened the start of the race. The weekend festivities included Hall of Fame driver Carl Edwards being honored on the Walk of Fame. Edwards had six appearances in Victory Lane in Nashville over the course of his career. In between concerts, there was some racing that took center stage.
Trackhouse Racing’s No. 1 Ross Chastain captured his first career pole at Nashville Superspeedway. Trackhouse Racing’s other car the No. 99 Daniel Suarez spun during his qualifying run. This caused enough damage that he had to go to a backup car and start in the rear of the field. The Michael Jordan and Denny Hamlin-owned 23XI No. 45 Tyler Reddick would start on the front row alongside Chastain.
Chastain was able to clear Reddick at the start of the race and go ahead to lead the first 42 laps. On lap 43 Chastain and others would start making the first of the green flag pit stops. Chastain returned to the lead after the pit stops cycled through. On lap 61 Tyler Reddick would be able to pass Chastain, after Chastain was held up by Noah Gragson. Gragson was racing hard attempting to stay on the lead lap. Reddick would go on to win stage one with Chastain finishing in 2nd.
Stage 1 Results per Toby Christie
During the stage break No. 24 William Byron won the race off pit road claiming the lead. Chastain would beat Reddick out of the pits moving the Stage one winner back to third place. Martin Truex Jr would force three wide racing on the restart for 3 laps until finally getting past both Chastain and Byron for the lead. On lap 138 Truex Jr would relinquish the lead as the start of green flag pit stops would ensue.
However, on lap 139 Tyler Reddick who had just pitted, attempted to come back down pit road and spun bringing out the caution. As he was backwards in the grass on pit road his right rear would fly off the car. This caused Reddick to be two laps down and would never get back on the lead lap. Truex Jr would regain the lead due to the Caution and everyone coming in for tires.
The race would restart again on lap 147 only for the Caution flag to come out again. The third-place car No. 6 Brad Keselowski would have trouble getting up to speed causing all the cars to make evasive maneuvers. The No. 12 Ryan Blaney checked up and the No. 8 Kyle Busch rear ended him causing both cars to go spinning. Both cars went into the grass and Busch came out safely back on the track. Blaney came off the grass and the tires gained traction and proceeded to collide head on into the inside wall. Blaney was able to get out of the car and take his mandatory visit to the infield care center, ending his day.
Race would restart again on lap 152. No. 11 Denny Hamlin and No. 19 Martin Truex Jr would race side by side until lap 157 when Hamlin would finally clear Truex Jr and take the lead. Hamlin would go on to win stage two.
Stage 2 results per Toby Christie
Racing would resume on lap 192 as Hamlin would clear his teammate Truex Jr for the lead. 40 laps later on lap 232 Chastain would clear Hamlin to take the lead. On lap 239 the No. 4 Kevin Harvick would get a flat tire at the start finish line. Everyone proceeded to hold their breath as Harvick limped around the mile-and-a-half track with no caution coming out. Brad Keselowski, Kyle Busch and Alex Bowman would all lead laps as they stayed out longer on old tires hoping for a caution flag as track position is more important with the next-generation car.
On lap 267 of 300 laps everyone would finally make their green flag stops and Chastain would regain the lead. The race would stay green the remainder of the way. Ross Chastain holding off Truex Jr and Hamlin for his first win of the season potentially locking him into the playoffs.
16 spots are available for the playoffs and there are currently 11 different winners. Normally a win will guarantee a playoff spot. With nine races remaining, it is possible to have 17 different winners. That could cause a driver that has won to miss a playoff spot. The 2022 season saw 16 different drivers win, with Kurt Busch relinquishing his playoff spot due to injury. Only time will tell how it all shakes out.
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