Chase Elliott pulled away from runner-up Kurt Busch in the late going of Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series race at Nashville Superspeedway and went on to cross the finish line with a .551 second victory.

It was the Hendrick Motorsports driver’s second victory of the season, his first at Nashville and the 15^th of his career.

It came in a race that was twice interrupted by weather.

“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).”

Ryan Blaney of Team Penske finished third.

Joe Gibbs Racing driver Denny Hamlin, Martin Truex Jr. and Kyle Busch collectively led 250 of the 300 laps at the 1.33-mile concrete track.

Hamlin, who led a race-high 114 laps, was out front for the first 41 laps 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.

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NASCAR Cup Series Race – 2nd Annual Ally 400

Nashville Superspeedway

Nashville, Tennessee

Sunday, June 26, 2022

1. (4)  Chase Elliott, Chevrolet, 300.
2. (19)  Kurt Busch, Toyota, 300.
3. (6)  Ryan Blaney, Ford, 300.
4. (3)  Kyle Larson, Chevrolet, 300.
5. (7)  Ross Chastain, Chevrolet, 300.
6. (1)  Denny Hamlin, Toyota, 300.
7. (24)  Austin Cindric #, Ford, 300.
8. (9)  Christopher Bell, Toyota, 300.
9. (2)  Joey Logano, Ford, 300.
10. (8)  Kevin Harvick, Ford, 300.
11. (23)  Erik Jones, Chevrolet, 300.
12. (30)  Bubba Wallace, Toyota, 300.
13. (18)  Michael McDowell, Ford, 300.
14. (20)  Austin Dillon, Chevrolet, 300.
15. (5)  Daniel Suarez, Chevrolet, 300.
16. (25)  Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Chevrolet, 300.
17. (11)  Aric Almirola, Ford, 300.
18. (16)  Tyler Reddick, Chevrolet, 300.
19. (14)  AJ Allmendinger(i), Chevrolet, 300.
20. (22)  Corey LaJoie, Chevrolet, 300.
21. (36)  Kyle Busch, Toyota, 300.
22. (10)  Martin Truex Jr., Toyota, 300.
23. (21)  Justin Haley, Chevrolet, 300.
24. (33)  Todd Gilliland #, Ford, 300.
25. (26)  Harrison Burton #, Ford, 300.
26. (17)  Cole Custer, Ford, 300.
27. (31)  Cody Ware, Ford, 298.
28. (32)  JJ Yeley(i), Ford, 298.
29. (27)  Brad Keselowski, Ford, 298.
30. (15)  Chris Buescher, Ford, 297.
31. (29)  Ty Dillon, Chevrolet, 297.
32. (35)  BJ McLeod(i), Ford, 295.
33. (34)  Josh Bilicki(i), Chevrolet, Engine, 285.
34. (28)  Chase Briscoe, Ford, 269.
35. (13)  William Byron, Chevrolet, 262.
36. (12)  Alex Bowman, Chevrolet, DVP, 49.

 

Average Speed of Race Winner:  111.22 mph.

Time of Race:  3 Hrs, 35 Mins, 15 Secs. Margin of Victory:  .551 Seconds.

Caution Flags:  10 for 57 laps.

Lead Changes:  18 among 7 drivers.

Lap Leaders:   D. Hamlin 1-65;M. Truex Jr. 66-93;J. Logano 94-96;M. Truex Jr. 97-124;R. Blaney 125;M. Truex Jr. 126;D. Hamlin 127-129;M. Truex Jr. 130;D. Hamlin 131-150;M. Truex Jr. 151;D. Hamlin 152-170;M. Truex Jr. 171-193;K. Busch 194-244;C. Elliott 245-247;D. Hamlin 248-254;K. Busch 255-257;J. Logano 258;K. Busch 259-261;C. Elliott 262-300.

Leaders Summary (Driver, Times Lead, Laps Led):  Denny Hamlin 5 times for 114 laps; Martin Truex Jr. 6 times for 82 laps; Kyle Busch 2 times for 54 laps; Chase Elliott 2 times for 42 laps; Joey Logano 2 times for 4 laps; Kurt Busch 1 time for 3 laps; Ryan Blaney 1 time for 1 lap.

Stage #1 Top Ten: 19,11,12,20,4,5,23,9,18,45

Stage #2 Top Ten: 19,11,18,9,45,5,1,4,12,34

 

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