NASCAR Ally 400: Chase Elliott wins at Nashville Superspeedway
The NASCAR Cup Series' June schedule continued Sunday with the 17th race of the season, as Chase Elliott won the Ally 400 from Nashville Superspeedway after two lengthy lightning delays.
The Ally 400 is a 399-mile-long concrete track race held in Lebanon, Tennessee. The first race took place in 2021, the first Cup event in the Nashville area since 1984.
Here are the top moments.
Green!
Denny Hamlin led the first lap as Kyle Larson took second from Joey Logano. The track was under overcast skies.
Follow the leader
Daniel Suárez took second from Larson with ease and found himself 3.2 seconds back of Hamlin in first.
Caution flags fly
The first yellow flag of the day came when Josh Bilicki fell off the pace after a loss of fuel pressure.
A red flag followed due to lightning in the area, which caused the field to be brought down pit road and the race paused at Lap 41. The running order at the red flag was Hamlin in the lead, followed by Suárez, Ross Chastain, Christopher Bell and Larson rounding out the top five spots.
After a lengthy delay, NASCAR gave the all clear for drivers to head back to their cars, and the race resumed. The green flag was back out at Lap 48, but it was a tough break for Team Hendrick upon the restart.
William Byron said the steering rack on his car broke, which cut his race short.
Chaos ensues
The green flag came back out at Lap 56, where Kevin Harvick was challenging Suárez for second before getting passed on the outside by Martin Truex Jr. But it didn't last long.
It was trouble for Elliott after making contact with Bell coming down the front stretch. Then, the caution came back out again when Chase Briscoe and Ty Dillon got caught up and crashed in Turn 2.
Lead change!
There was another restart at Lap 66 with 25 laps to go in Stage 1. Truex Jr. powered past Hamlin on the high side to take the lead — the first lead change of the day — and held on to it to stage the win in Stage 1.
On the move
The green flag was back at Lap 97, as a three-wide battle involving Hamlin, Harvick and Bubba Wallace emerged. Meanwhile, Truex Jr. and Ryan Blaney had driven away from the rest of the field, while Larson was gaining momentum.
Seeing red
As rain moved into the area, the race went under the red flag for lightning for the second time, with 139 of 300 laps complete. The top 10 drivers at the second stoppage were Hamlin, followed by Truex Jr., Kyle Busch, Harvick, Bell, Blaney, Chastain, Kurt Busch, Michael McDowell and Logano.
And we're back!
After a second delay, the green flag was back out at Lap 151. And once again, Truex Jr. came out on top, winning Stage 2.
Whoops!
It was a tough break for Chris Buescher, who ran in the top 10 during the second half of this race before losing a tire as things came to a close. The green flag was back out with 39 laps remaining.
Down to the wire
Elliott and Kyle Busch were battling on the inside for the lead as the final few laps got underway.
Late caution!
Just when Elliott's lead was growing, there was a huge shift in the race when the caution flag came out with nine laps to go after Bilicki blew an engine.
White flag!
In the end, Elliott was able to hang on to the lead he had built, four tenths of a second ahead of Kurt Busch.
