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Race report

Larson dominates Nashville for fourth straight NASCAR Cup win

Kyle Larson won the inaugural NASCAR Cup race at Nashville Superspeedway, beating Ross Chastain to claim his fourth consecutive victory.

Kyle Larson, Hendrick Motorsports, Chevrolet Camaro Valvoline celebrates his win

Kyle Larson, Hendrick Motorsports, Chevrolet Camaro Valvoline celebrates his win

John Harrelson / NKP / Motorsport Images

Race winner Kyle Larson, Hendrick Motorsports, Chevrolet Camaro Valvoline
Kyle Larson, Hendrick Motorsports, Chevrolet Camaro Valvoline celebrates his win
Kyle Larson, Hendrick Motorsports, Chevrolet Camaro Valvoline celebrates his win
Kyle Larson, Hendrick Motorsports, Chevrolet Camaro Valvoline celebrates his win

Larson saved enough fuel to make it to the end as Sunday’s Ally 400 ended with a 68-lap green-flag run – the longest of the race, and took the checkered flag 4.335 seconds ahead of Ross Chastain, who reached the runner-up spot in the final laps.

The #5 Hendrick Motorsports driver finished third in the opening stage of the race, following Chase Elliott and Kurt Busch into the following caution period, but on the restart Larson picked up the lead.

With 30 laps remaining in the second stage, Larson had opened a 3.5-second lead over Ricky Stenhouse Jr but, on lap 173, Cole Custer appeared to blow out a brake rotor which started a fire in his right-rear wheel well.

The lead-lap cars all pitted, with Chase Briscoe the first out of the pitlane with a two-tyre pit stop, but Larson passed Briscoe with three to go and held off Austin Dillon to claim the Stage 2 win.

Ryan Preece suffered a brake rotor failure in the final stage and spun, which brought out the ninth caution of the race.

Larson remained on the track as a handful of cars pitted, remaining in the lead when the race returned to green on Lap 203. He was followed by Byron, and the two slid up together in Turn 1 - but Byron was able to retain control of his car and Larson held the lead.

Kyle Larson, Hendrick Motorsports, Chevrolet Camaro Valvoline celebrates his win

Kyle Larson, Hendrick Motorsports, Chevrolet Camaro Valvoline celebrates his win

Photo by: Ben Earp / NKP / Motorsport Images

But after Bubba Wallace spun off at Turn 2 after contact with Michael McDowell and slid through the infield grass, a further caution was produced; most of the lead-lap cars pit but Chastain remained on the track and inherited the lead.

Chastain was followed by Larson, Kevin Harvick and Byron, but Larson quickly powered by Chastain to reclaim the lead as Byron moved into second.

With 40 laps remaining in the race, Larson had a lead over William Byron of around four seconds, which continued to grow.

With five laps remaining, Chastain had moved into the second spot, but trailed Larson by 5.6 seconds - and although the Chip Ganassi Racing driver cut the gap, Larson proved imperious.

The win is Larson’s fourth of the season and fourth victory in a row counting his win in last weekend’s non-points All-Star Race - and led 264 of the 300 laps.

Larson’s Hendrick Motorsports teammate, William Byron, finished third, pole-winner Aric Almirola was fourth and Kevin Harvick ended up fifth despite running out of fuel on the final lap.

Completing the top 10 were Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Daniel Suarez, Kurt Busch, Christopher Bell and Joey Logano. Kurt Busch also ran out of fuel on the final lap.

NASCAR Cup Nashville 400 results - 300 laps

Cla Driver Manufacturer Time Gap
1 United States Kyle Larson Chevrolet 3:30'23.061  
2 United States Ross Chastain Chevrolet 3:30'27.396 4.335
3 United States William Byron Chevrolet 3:30'30.220 7.159
4 United States Aric Almirola Ford 3:30'31.652 8.591
5 United States Kevin Harvick Ford 3:30'32.167 9.106
6 United States Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Chevrolet 3:30'33.477 10.416
7 Mexico Daniel Suarez Chevrolet 3:30'37.180 14.119
8 United States Kurt Busch Chevrolet 3:30'38.789 15.728
9 United States Christopher Bell Toyota 3:30'39.602 16.541
10 United States Joey Logano Ford 3:30'44.342 21.281
11 United States Kyle Busch Toyota 3:30'44.713 21.652
12 United States Austin Dillon Chevrolet 3:30'46.411 23.350
13 United States Chase Elliott Chevrolet 3:30'48.161 25.100
14 United States Ryan Newman Ford 3:30'48.975 25.914
15 United States Alex Bowman Chevrolet 3:30'49.377 26.316
16 United States Corey Lajoie Chevrolet 3:30'53.056 29.995
17 United States Michael McDowell Ford 3:30'53.650 30.589
18 Anthony Alfredo Ford 3:30'54.118 31.057
19 United States Tyler Reddick Chevrolet 3:30'54.761 31.700
20 United States Erik Jones Chevrolet 3:30'55.163 32.102
21 United States Bubba Wallace Toyota 3:30'31.045 1 Lap
22 United States Denny Hamlin Toyota 3:30'36.136 1 Lap
23 United States Martin Truex Jr. Toyota 3:30'43.373 1 Lap
24 United States Brad Keselowski Ford 3:30'52.325 1 Lap
25 United States Matt DiBenedetto Ford 3:30'31.450 2 Laps
26 United States Garrett Smithley Chevrolet 3:30'36.395 2 Laps
27 United States Josh Bilicki Ford 3:30'40.607 2 Laps
28 United States J.J. Yeley Chevrolet 3:30'54.582 2 Laps
29 United States B.J. McLeod Ford 3:30'28.273 5 Laps
30 United States Joey Gase Chevrolet 3:30'44.585 5 Laps
31 United States Cole Custer Ford 3:30'34.137 48 Laps
32 United States Chase Briscoe Ford 2:47'52.549 73 Laps
33 United States Ryan Preece Chevrolet 2:25'55.780 103 Laps
34 United States Chad Finchum Toyota 2:12'32.599 143 Laps
35 United States David Starr Toyota 1:33'57.599 174 Laps
36 United States Justin Haley Chevrolet 58'11.134 221 Laps
37 United States Chris Buescher Ford 55'25.807 223 Laps
38 United States Ryan Blaney Ford 38'00.648 247 Laps
39 United States Quin Houff Chevrolet 3.870 300 Laps

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