Photo: Nigel Kinrade Photography
By Aaron Bearden
After each NASCAR race weekend, Motorsports Beat will share a piece breaking down the stories and takeaways from the weekend. This is a report on the 2021 return weekend at Nashville Superspeedway.
NASCAR Cup Series
Race: Ally 400
Who Won?
Kyle Larson. Again. The No. 5 team seems unstoppable right now, having collected its fourth-consecutive win with the inclusion of the All-Star Race at Texas Motor Speedway.
Who Won the Stages?
Kurt Busch and Kyle Larson.
Top Stories
When will it end?
Fans of college football are used to the feeling of inevitability surrounding certain games.
Whenever the Alabama Crimson Tide, Clemson Tigers or Ohio State Buckeyes come to town, the outcome feels all but certain. Fans of the local team just watch the show and hope for a glimmer of hope – something to provide even a slight opportunity at a rare upset of one of the sport’s top powers.
If any of them have watched NASCAR of late, it wouldn’t be a surprise for them to feel the same sensations watching Kyle Larson and the No. 5 team.
There’s no way to sugarcoat the way things have gone over the past month. In the words of my southern father (albeit with a bit less colorful diction) Larson’s taken the field out to the proverbial woodshed and whooped up on them for four straight races.
The Californian has led 648 out of a possible 792 laps in the past three points races, defying all strategies and odds to avoid issues and win dominantly each time out. Even in the All-Star Race, when he appeared to finally be snookered, Larson found a way from the second row to the lead on a restart at the tricky Texas Motor Speedway to bring home a million-dollar win.
Recent weeks have seen utter dominance from the No. 5 team, and the sad thing is this season should have actually been worse. Larson had a win in the bag at Dover International Speedway before losing the lead on pit road. He was in prime position to prevail at Circuit of the Americas before rain forced the event to an early end and allowed teammate Chase Elliott to snag a victory despite not having enough fuel to get to the scheduled distance.
Larson wrecked himself out of a potential Daytona road course win. He got caught up in an accident for Christopher Bell in a Bristol dirt race he was favored to win. He led 269 laps at Atlanta Motor Speedway but didn’t quite have what he needed at the end.
It’s fair to say the No. 5 team’s given up at least two or three wins in the opening 17 races, but they’re still sitting at a series-best four victories with six top-two runs in a row.
This sort of dominance isn’t altogether new for the Cup Series – particularly at Hendrick Motorsports. But that’s perhaps what makes the current run most memorable. In his first year at the sport’s all-time winningest organization, Larson is echoing the best seasons of its greatest stars.
These numbers are approaching ‘Jimmie Johnson ’07’ territory. If they go much further, they could even draw close to Jeff Gordon’s utterly ludicrous 1998 season, where he one had 15 top-three runs in a 17-race stretch.
That significance isn’t lost on Larson amid his current run of form.
“It’s awesome to get multiple wins in a row now in the Cup Series,” Larson said after Sunday’s triumph. “I mean, really it’s four wins in a row. Just cool to do that. Didn’t think that was possible ever for me in the Cup Series anyways. I’ve gone on streaks in dirt racing and stuff before, but never been close to doing anything like that in Cup.
“It’s been awesome. To get to now double-digit point paying wins is great. I’d like to keep winning and keep inching my name up the winner’s list not only at NASCAR but at Hendrick Motorsports, too. I think that’s important to me.”
What separates Larson a bit from his peers’ past dominance is that it isn’t the only thing on his plate. Larson has found his Cup success while also stopping at dirt tracks around the country, picking off victories and strong finishes in dirt midgets, sprint cars and late models. He triumphed twice in the All Star Circuit of Champions’ Ohio Sprint Speedweek between his All-Star Race win and trip to Nashville for the ensuing NASCAR weekend.
He believes it helps endear him to the passionate racing fanbase – even if they slowly get fatigued watching him win so frequently.
“I think fans can appreciate me because I do it in all different types of forms of racing, not just NASCAR,” Larson said. ”You don’t know what car I’m going to be in on what day of the week. I could be in a sprint car like I will be tomorrow, in a late model middle of the week some other day, then a Cup car on Sunday.
“I think fans, because I’m a little bit different than your normal race car driver, I think that’s why fans so far seem to still cheer me on and like to see me winning.”
In the past team owner Rick Hendrick was known for keeping his drivers from doing such things with frequency and taking the risk of injury and significant time out of the car. But Hendrick has a respect for Larson’s passion, and with the improved safety of all race cars over time he’s grown more comfortable with the idea – though he may have Larson tone things down come playoff time.
“He just eats, sleeps and drinks racing,” Hendrick said of Larson. “He wants to win every race.
“I think about him getting tired. But if you run 600 miles, go win another race that night, win two more races, his stamina is unbelievable. But I’ve never seen anybody more intense that wants to race every minute of every day, and he wants to win.”
At the moment all he seems to do is just that – win.
Unlucky brakes
If there was one thing that arose as a potential issue for the Cup Series field at Nashville, it was the brakes being utilized by the field.
Numerous drivers encountered brake issues over the course of the afternoon, from Team Penske star Ryan Blaney and Stewart-Haas Racing rookie Chase Briscoe to Spire Motorsports’ Justin Haley.
Blaney was one of the earliest ones out, pounding the wall early and dropping out of the event in 37th.
“It was not a very good start to our day and not a good end, either,” Blaney said. “We had an issue before the race and had to come and fix it. Then we had some brake trouble and we came in and pulled tape, and then on the restart I’m not sure if I broke a rotor — I think that’s what happened because something exploded into one and then no brakes and took a pretty big lick.
“It’s a shame. Just not a very good day for us and hate that it ended early.”
Perhaps the one impacted most by braking problems was Chris Buescher. He didn’t lose his brakes, but fell victim to Haley’s issues after appearing to run over a piece of debris from his car and blowing a tire, crashing into the outside wall seconds after Haley did.
The accident carried extra significance for Buescher, who sits on the playoff cutline at the moment due to his consistency in the 2021 season to date. Buescher crashed out in 36th, suffering just his second DNF of the year after the season-opening Daytona 500.
“We were just getting going there, but right before I left pit road it looks like probably a piece of debris from the 77 cut our tire down on the way into the corner,” Buescher said.
“It’s definitely unfortunate. It’s one of those luck things. It’s not like we did something wrong to cause our own DNF. That’s a bummer.”
Buescher holds a 24-point edge on Kurt Busch for the final Cup playoff spot with nine races remaining in the 2021 regular season.
Much-needed speed
Blame it on the brake-fueled attrition or old-school racing of a near-intermediate track (1.33 miles) with the 750hp package, but Sunday’s race in Nashville provided some strong results for teams that direly needed one.
Leading the group of surprising frontrunners was Ross Chastain, who shook off a season of frustration for Chip Ganassi Racing with a late drive up to second in Nashville. The result was one of Chastain’s first promising runs on an oval, a nice reprieve in a season where he’s excelled primarily on road courses.
“It’s finally on a circle track, that’s all I’m happy about,” Chastian said. “I’m happy about the road courses, I just don’t really know why it’s happening.”
It was a much-needed shot of confidence amid a difficult year for Chastain, who sits 20th in the championship standings. Runs like Sunday’s provide hope that he can topple the stars he hopes to share the spotlight with each weekend.
“I just want to compete, that’s the biggest thing,” he said. “I’m racing with my heroes. I want to compete with them and I want to beat them.”
Chastain was the top underdog in Sunday’s race, but he wasn’t the only one near the front. After a brutal run of form over the course of 2021, Aric Almirola claimed the pole at Nashville and led Kevin Harvick as the teammates finished fourth and fifth at race’s end.
“We had a good car and finally ended some of the bad luck that has been dealt our way this year,” a jubilant Almirola said. “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-five and at least be in the mix, so it feels good. We’ll just keep building on it.”
Ricky Stenhouse Jr. delivered a strong performance in sixth, claiming his first top-10 since the Mississippian rallied to second in the Bristol dirt race. Stenhouse held pace with Larson at one stage early on, but was “glad” to finish in the top-10 after struggling in the race’s middle stages.
Last among the front-running surprises was Daniel Suarez, whose seventh-place effort gave the newly-launched Trackhouse Racing its third top-10 of 2021 in an area the team intends to call home.
“The car was good enough to finish right there in the top-10,” Suarez said. “I don’t know what it was, but in the last couple of runs, we lost some grip in the front. I don’t know if it was the race track, or what; but the guys did a very good job of making adjustments. The car was fast; we showed that a couple of times. We’ve just got to continue.”
Notes
- Chase Elliott would have taken a playoff point and strong points overall away from another top-10 day, but his No. 9 Chevrolet was disqualified after it was observed with five unsecured lug nuts after the race.
- Elliott’s loss was Kurt Busch’s gain. He picked up his first stage win of 2021 as a result of Elliott’s disqualification after initially holding on to second with a strategy play in the opening stage.
- It was overshadowed (again) by his teammate Larson’s dominance, but William Byron finished a strong third to score his seventh top-five finish of 2021. That’s two higher than he’s managed in any prior season.
- It’s worth noting that Chastain’s late rise to second did keep Hendrick from going 1-2 in Nashville, the first time the team has failed to do so in the past five races.
- Brad Keselowski is on an unfortunate run of late, having finished outside of the top-10 for the past six races. That’s his worst streak since a run from the end of 2010 through 2011 that stretched for 12 races with a best result of 13th.
- Corey LaJoie’s been on a good run with Spire Motorsports over the past month, finishing 20th or better in each race. Sunday’s 15th-place resulted lifted his average finish on the year to 25.5 – .1 better than the 25.6 he had last year with Go Fas Racing despite LaJoie having four DNFs early in 2021.
Race Results
- Kyle Larson
- Ross Chastain
- William Byron
- Aric Almirola
- Kevin Harvick
- Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
- Daniel Suarez
- Kurt Busch
- Christopher Bell
- Joey Logano
- Kyle Busch
- Austin Dillon
- Ryan Newman
- Alex Bowman
- Corey LaJoie
- Michael McDowell
- Anthony Alfredo
- Tyler Reddick
- Erik Jones
- Bubba Wallace
- Denny Hamlin
- Martin Truex Jr.
- Brad Keselowski
- Matt DiBenedetto
- Garrett Smithley
- Josh Bilicki
- J.J. Yeley
- B.J. McLeod
- Joey Gase
- Cole Custer
- Chase Briscoe
- Ryan Preece
- Chad Finchum
- David Starr
- Justin Haley
- Chris Buescher
- Ryan Blaney
- Quin Houff
- Chase Elliott
Stage 1
- Kurt Busch
- Kyle Larson
- Daniel Suarez
- Kyle Busch
- Austin Dillon
- Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
- Brad Keselowski
- Joey Logano
- Matt DiBenedetto
- Denny Hamlin
Stage 2
- Kyle Larson
- Austin Dillon
- Chase Briscoe
- William Byron
- Kyle Busch
- Denny Hamlin
- Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
- Aric Almirola
- Kevin Harvick
- Kurt Busch
Next up: A busy week lies ahead for the Cup Series field, with the lone doubleheader weekend of the year set for June 26-27 at Pocono Raceway.
NASCAR Xfinity Series
Race: Tennessee Lottery 250
Who Won?
Kyle Busch. It wasn’t as easy as many of his now-100 Xfinity Series wins, but Busch fended off Justin Allgaier and survived late restarts to pick up a milestone series win.
Who Won the Stages?
Austin Cindric and Kyle Busch.
Top Stories
Keep it 100
The racing industry is among the busiest in all of sports. Teams are in a constant grind, working tirelessly from one week to the next in an effort to improve on the prior week and find success. Win or lose, the time spent soaking up any one result is fairly small and insignificant.
Because of that, it’s easy to let statistics like wins slowly pile up without realizing how large the totals might get. But on occasion, a special milestone comes about that proves worth soaking in.
Such was the case for Kyle Busch on Saturday at Nashville Superspeedway, as he hit one of the rarest stats in racing – the century mark.
Busch picked up his 100th Xfinity Series win in the tour’s return to Nashville for the first time since 2011, becoming the first driver to hit a triple digit win total in NASCAR’s second tour and only the third to do so in any national series, following Richard Petty (200) and David Pearson (105) in Cup.
That result is an impressive one, not just for the significance of the number 100, but because second-place Mark Martin is a full 51 wins back on the list with 49. Busch now has 219 total victories in NASCAR national series action, including a series-best 61 in the Camping World Truck Series and lofty 58 wins in Cup.
“I remember growing up as a kid and watching (NASCAR Hall of Famer) Mark Martin win every week in that 60 car, just the domination he had,” Busch said.. “And he’s No. 2 with 49 wins. Wanted to give a huge shoutout to Rowdy Nation out there, we appreciate you.’
The result carried added significance for Busch, because it could be coming toward the end of his time in the series. As his win total grew over the years and NASCAR progressively allowed Cup drivers fewer opportunities to run with the tour — they can compete in only five per year at the moment, with no playoff or Dash4Cash races allowed — Busch once quipped that he’d retire from the Xfinity Series if he hit 100 wins.
Whether or not that happens remains to be seen, but Busch indicated on Saturday that his understanding was that Joe Gibbs Racing had not sold any races for him to drive in the series for 2022.
“This might be it,” Busch said, noting that he was content with the thought. “Two more. Finish out this year.”
Asked for why he’d considering giving up racing in a series where he so frequently succeeds, Busch joked about his infamy in the tour.
“Did you hear the crowd? Nobody likes me here,” Busch said. “So peace out, Goodbye. If you want me to pay me to quit on the Cup side, bring it on, I’ll be gone.”
If 2021 truly is Busch’s last year in Xfinity, he’ll leave the series with a wins list that would be nearly impossible for anyone other than a dominant series regular to match.
He’ll get at least two more chance to add to it – Road America on July 3 and Atlanta Motor Speedway on July 10.
Allgaier’s denial attempt falls short
While Busch did storm off to another Xfinity Series win, his historic accomplishment didn’t come without a challenge.
Justin Allgaier hounded Busch for much of the race’s final stage, even briefly passing the Nevadan for the race lead at one stage. At the time the local crowd cheered, seeing potential for a different winner to emerge. But another caution flew shortly thereafter.
Busch retook the lead on the ensuing restart and never looked back, surviving a host of late restarts and short runs to bring home the victory. He made note of the crowd’s reaction afterward.
“I actually did look up,” Busch quipped. “That’s pretty cool. I passed him back for the lead and they all sat down. I was like ‘ha-ha.’”
Allgaier wound up crossing the line in second, playing the role of bridesmaid to Busch for the second consecutive race after a similar failed challenge at Texas.
“Running second sucks, I’m not going to lie to you,” he said. “When we took the lead from Kyle I thought we were good, we were able to drive away. But then all those restarts at the end, he just held me down really hard in the middle of (Turns) 3 and 4 and we got loose and I think that was the difference-maker.
“After that we just didn’t have the speed.”
Notes
- Saturday was Josh Berry’s final planned start for JR Motorsports this year, with Sam Mayer set to take over the No. 8 Chevrolet for the second half of the season. Berry qualified back in 22nd, but was up to third when an unfortunately-timed caution flew just after he pitted. Berry still recovered to finish fourth at race’s end, wrapping up his successful Xfinity tenure on a high note. Now he waits to see if more opportunities open up down the road.
- Myatt Snider had top-10 pace early in Saturday’s race, but it wound up being a difficult stay in Tennessee for his Richard Childress Racing team. He suffered power issues early and wound up 31st after a trip behind the wall.
- Brandon Brown has joined Jeremy Clements in keeping himself in playoff contention despite not running for one of the sport’s power teams this season. But Brown had brake issues relegate him to 35th in Nashville, dropping the ace 48 points below Clements on the cutline.
- Riley Herbst picked up his first top-10 since Talladega Superspeedway in April with a 10th-place effort in Nashville. It was a small step in the right direction for his No. 98 Stewart Haas Racing team, which currently finds itself behind Brown and below the playoff cutline heading into the summer stretch run.
Race Results
- Kyle Busch
- Justin Allgaier
- Harrison Burton
- Josh Berry
- AJ Allmendinger
- Brandon Jones
- Jeb Burton
- Noah Gragson
- Austin Hill
- Riley Herbst
- Jeremy Clements
- Michael Annett
- Daniel Hemric
- Will Rodgers
- Tyler Reddick
- Ryan Sieg
- Alex Labbe
- Ryan Vargas
- Justin Haley
- Tommy Joe Martins
- Josh Williams
- JJ Yeley
- Brett Moffitt
- David Starr
- Matt Mills
- Natalie Decker
- Jesse Little
- Kyle Weatherman
- Landon Cassill
- Bayley Currey
- Myatt Snider
- Austin Cindric
- Jade Buford
- Joe Graf. Jr.
- Brandon Brown
- Stefan Parsons
Stage 1
- Austin Cindric
- Kyle Busch
- Daniel Hemric
- Harrison Burton
- Justin Allgaier
- Brandon Jones
- AJ Allmendinger
- Jeb Burton
- Josh Berry
- Myatt Snider
Stage 2
- Kyle Busch
- Justin Allgaier
- Daniel Hemric
- Harrison Burton
- Michael Annett
- Josh Berry
- Brandon Jones
- Austin Cindric
- Justin Haley
- Noah Gragson
Next up: The Xfinity Series will host a Sunday race as part of the Cup Series doubleheader weekend at Pocono Raceway.
NASCAR Camping World Truck Series
Race: Rackley Roofing 200 at Nashville Superspeedway
Who Won?
Ryan Preece. In his first Truck start, Preece got the better of Grant Enfinger in a late battle to pick up the win.
Who Won the Stages?
Derek Kraus and Chandler Smith, each securing their first stage win of the year.
Top Stories
A showcase of worth
When Ryan Preece was announced to run Friday’s Truck Series race at Nashville Superspeedway, it understandably came as a surprise. He’d never entered a Truck race before, after all.
It was a bit less surprising when Preece made his way to victory lane at night’s end.
Driving for David Gilliland Racing, Preece became just the fifth driver in Truck Series history to win on his debut – joining Mike Skinner (1995), Robert Pressley (2002), Kasey Kahne (2004) and Ryan Newman (2008).
It was the perfect ending to a night Preece entered without lofty expectations.
“I didn’t know what to expect, really,” Preece said. “I didn’t know anything. I was just taking the guidance from my teammates. I told them I’d do better in the race than I did in qualifying and practice, and I lived up to that.”
Beyond the simple joys of a win and unique guitar trophy from Nashville Superspeedway, Preece was also able to issue a reminder of his ability behind the wheel with the statement result. He currently competes for JTG-Daugherty Racing in the NASCAR Cup Series, where he has a career-best 21.6 average finish to date but has just two top-15 runs in the past 13 races.
Amid an uncertain future in 2022 and beyond, Preece is happy to have moments like Friday’s that showcase what he believes he can do in the right situation.
“I’ve lived year-to-year, or really week-to-week. That’s been my MO for my entire racing career,” Preece said. “But when I do get these opportunities, I capitalize. I think I’ve shown that.
“All I can do is try to go out and win races. Like I tell everybody. Where it’s a Modified, a Cup car, an Xfinity car, a Truck, a go kart.
“It doesn’t matter what it is, I’m going to drive it to what I can get out of it and try to win, because I like winning.“
Disappointment for Derek Kraus
Heading into Friday’s race, the statistics favored a Derek Kraus breakthrough. Kraus had placed his No. 19 on pole in a rare 2021 qualifying session for the tour, positioning himself to start where the four winners prior to the track’s former closure had won from in 2010 and ’11.
Early on Kraus even looked up to the task, putting together the best statistic drive of his Truck Series career. The 2019 K&N Pro Series West (now ARCA Menards Series West) champion led the opening 48 laps in a dominant early performance, claiming the opening stage with ease.
But things began to go awry shortly afterward. On the ensuing round of pit stops under the stage break, Kraus’ team had issues and gave him a slow stop, resulting in lost track position.
Kraus climbed back to third in Stage 2, but early in Stage 3 he saw his day come to an end after contact with Josh Berry at the exit of Turn 2 resulted in a trip to the wall and a flat tire. Kraus pounded the outside barrier again shortly afterward in Turn 3 and suffered enough damage to end his night.
Take a look at the contact that sent @derek9kraus into the wall. pic.twitter.com/UaPS2I9oUi
— NASCAR Camping World Trucks (@NASCAR_Trucks) June 19, 2021
He wound up 35th at race’s end, ahead only of William Byron after the Hendrick Motorsports ace suffered motor issues. It was a difficult result amid a trying year for Kraus, who finds himself 64 points below the playoff cutline and in need of a victory to keep his postseason opes alive.
Pre-race penalties
Two teams saw their days shaken up before they could even begin at Nashville due to pre-qualifying inspection failures.
Tanner Gray’s No. 15 DGR-Crosley Ford and Todd Gilliland’s No. 38 Front Row Motorsports Ford each failed sections Sections 20.4.2a; 20.4.b; 20:4:1b; 20.20.a of the NASCAR Rulebook, indicating that the relevant body parts failed to meet specifications.
Both drivers were issued 25-point penalties in both the driver and owner standings as a result of the issues. Their crew chiefs — Seth Smith for Gray, Chris Lawson for Gilliland — were ejected for the evening, and the pair were each required to start at the tail for the 150-lap race.
The setback may have been the difference for Gilliland, who mounted a fierce late charge to challenge his temporary teammate Preece even after suffering another setback from a pit road commitment line violation.
He made a look under Preece at one point, but ultimately got too loose to make a move. Gilliland settled for second with father David Gilliland atop the box as his replacement crew chief.
“It stings not to get that last spot, especially because I was under the 17 (Preece) and got too loose, but that’s racing,” Gilliland said.
Thanks for subbing in atop the box tonight, @DavidGilliland! pic.twitter.com/6mNHV1c85F
— Front Row Motorsports (@Team_FRM) June 19, 2021
Notes
- As hard as it is to believe in mid-June, the conclusion of Friday’s event leaves just three races remaining in the Truck Series regular season. You can catch more on the postseason storylines in Playoff Points, but to cover the basics – it’s looking like a three-way fight for two spots between Carson Hocevar, Chandler Smith and Johnny Sauter, with the younger two drivers having an edge on the 2016 champ.
- To that point, John Hunter Nemechek needs only to avoid disaster if he wants to claim the regular season title. Nemechek finished 10th in Nashville and holds a 70-point edge over Ben Rhodes for the points lead.
- William Byron made a rare trip down to the Truck Series to gain experience for Sunday’s Cup Series debut at Nashville. But his night ended much like his title hopes in his lone full-time Truck season – over early due to motor woes.
- Passing was predictable difficult on the difficult 1.33-mile oval, but there was one wild moment in the form of a four-wide battle.
HOW DID THEY MAKE IT THROUGH????? pic.twitter.com/kYgBvUD6jS
— NASCAR Camping World Trucks (@NASCAR_Trucks) June 19, 2021
Race Results
- Ryan Preece
- Todd Gilliland
- Grant Enfinger
- Zane Smith
- Stewart Friesen
- Matt Crafton
- Ben Rhodes
- Ty Majeski
- Austin Hill
- John Hunter Nemechek
- Jack Wood
- Johnny Sauter
- Chandler Smith
- Sheldon Creed
- Chase Purdy
- Carson Hocevar
- Parker Kligerman
- Tanner Gray
- Josh Berry
- Tate Fogleman
- Hailie Deegan
- Ross Chastain
- Tyler Ankrum
- Drew Dollar
- Spencer Davis
- Ryan Truex
- Austin Wayne Self
- Dawson Cram
- Timmy Hill
- Danny Bohn
- Cory Roper
- Kris Wright
- Trey Hutchens III
- Lawless Alan
- Derek Kraus
- William Byron
Stage 1
- Derek Kraus
- Austin Hill
- Chandler Smith
- Grant Enfinger
- Jack Wood
- Ryan Preece
- Zane Smith
- Johnny Sauter
- William Byron
- Tyler Ankrum
Stage 2
- Chandler Smith
- Zane Smith
- Derek Kraus
- Johnny Sauter
- Matt Crafton
- Ben Rhodes
- Jack Wood
- Tanner Gray
- Grant Enfinger
- Ryan Preece
Next up: The Truck Series will return to action at the Tricky Triangle, participating in a busy weekend at Pocono Raceway on June 26.
