Up to Speed: Ally 400 at Nashville Superspeedway Preview

By David Morgan, Associate Editor

LEBANON, Tenn. – The NASCAR Cup Series is back in Music City for the fourth straight year to take on Nashville Superspeedway and Sunday’s running of the Ally 400.

Prior to its Cup debut in 2021, the track located on the outskirts of Nashville in Lebanon, Tennessee, was no stranger to hosting NASCAR events with both the NASCAR Xfinity Series and NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series running there from 2001 to 2011 before the track was shuttered.

The Nashville track serves as an oddity on the Cup Series schedule, a 1.33-mile D-shaped concrete oval, that is unlike any other track the series visits as it traverses the country throughout the season.

With just eight races remaining before the Playoffs, a number of drivers have yet to capture their first win of the season, including Martin Truex, Jr., defending race winner Ross Chastain, Joey Logano, and Kyle Busch – among others.

 Throw in the fact that 10 of the 16 Playoff spots have already been claimed by race winners and it will be a dogfight from now to Darlington to see which drivers will ultimately make the cut.

Will one of the winless drivers punch their ticket to the postseason or will the rich just keep getting richer? We’ll find out in the Tennessee heat on Sunday afternoon.

By the Numbers

What: Ally 400, NASCAR Cup Series race No. 19 of 36

Where: Nashville Superspeedway – Lebanon Tennessee (Opened: 2001)

TV/Radio: NBC, 3:30 pm ET / PRN and Sirius XM NASCAR Channel 90

Track Size:  1.333-mile D-shaped concrete oval

Banking: 14 degrees in Turns, 9 degrees on front straightaway, 6 degrees on back straightaway

Race Length: 300 laps (399.9 miles)

Stage Lengths: 90 laps (Stage 1), 95 laps (Stage 2), 115 laps (Final stage)

2023 Race Winner: Ross Chastain – No. 1 Chevrolet (Started on pole, 99 laps led)

Track Qualifying Record: Aric Almirola – 29.557 seconds, 161.992 mph – June 2021

Top-10 Highest Driver Ratings at Nashville:

1. Ross Chastain – No. 1 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet – 117.9
2. Kyle Larson – No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet – 115.6
3. Denny Hamlin – No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota – 113.1
4. Chase Elliott – No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet – 108.7
5. Martin Truex Jr. – No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota – 99.5
6. Kyle Busch – No. 8 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet – 95.0
7. Christopher Bell – No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota – 93.1
8. William Byron – No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet – 87.6
9. Joey Logano – No. 22 Team Penske Ford – 84.2
10. A.J. Allmendinger – No. 16 Kaulig Racing Chevrolet – 81.2

From the Driver’s Seat

“I think a big factor this weekend will be managing the heat,” said William Byron. “The first time we raced at Nashville (Superspeedway) with the Next Gen, it was a lightning delayed night race, and then last year was a scheduled night race. Now we’re going there during the day where it’s been super hot.

“You’re going to have a low grip situation in the car, and it’s going to be hot in the car and for the guys working on it. It’s just an added element when most of our notes are from racing there at night, and we should be done well before that this time if we don’t get any weather.”

Byron’s crew chief Rudy Fugle compared the mile-and-a-third oval to Iowa Speedway, explaining that the notes and knowledge gained there could go a long way in helping teams dial in their setups in Nashville.

“I think now that we’ve raced at Iowa, that’s going to compare a lot to racing at Nashville,” Fugle said. “You’ll probably use the brakes more there, but you’ll still have a bit of grip to work with. The track is fairly flat, though.

“From an aerial view it looks like it has a lot of banking, but it’s pretty flat compared to Las Vegas or Charlotte. You don’t have as much banking to hold onto you entering or exiting the corner. You have a tighter turn radius, so it’s harder to turn in the center. It really does have a lot of the characteristics of Iowa, so that’s a positive after we just ran there a couple weeks ago.”

Last Time at Nashville

It was a weekend for the ages for Trackhouse Racing and Ross Chastain last time out in Nashville. The team, which is based out of Music City, has this race circled year in and year out as one they desperately want to win.

Year three in Nashville was finally the ticket for the hometown team to cash in with Chastain scoring the pole and establishing himself as the favorite early on.

Leading the opening 42 laps, Chastain led two additional times before cycling back to the front with 34 laps to go after a lightning-fast pit stop from his Trackhouse crew.

It wasn’t quite a walk in the park from there as he had to hold off the Joe Gibbs Racing duo of Martin Truex, Jr. and Denny Hamlin, ultimately holding them off by 0.789 seconds when the checkered flag flew.

Chase Elliott would follow up his 2022 Nashville win with a fourth-place finish, with Hendrick Motorsports teammate Kyle Larson and 2021 Nashville winner rounding out the top-five.

Celebrating the victory with his trademark watermelon smash, it would kick off a long night of reveling in a hometown win for Trackhouse Racing.

“This is why every little kid out there anywhere in the world, when you get criticized, and you’re going to if you’re competitive, they will try to tear you down. You will start believing you can’t do it,” Chastain said of overcoming the criticism he had to endure early in the season before finally breaking through for the win.

“You have to go to your people, trust in the process, read your books, trust the big man’s plan upstairs, just keep getting up and going to work.

“I got to tell you, a lot of self reflection throughout all this. I had a group that believed in me and they didn’t let me get down. They bring rocket ships and I just try to point them to Victory Lane.”

Weekend Schedule (All Times Eastern)

Saturday, June 29

• NASCAR Cup Series Practice (2:05 pm – USA Network)
• NASCAR Cup Series Qualifying (2:50 pm – USA Network)

Sunday, June 30

• Ally 400 at Nashville (3:30 pm – 300 laps, 399.9 miles – NBC)