NASCAR
Stratta’s Six: Who Can Kick Off Summer Stretch with Nashville Superspeedway Triumph?
For the third-straight year, the NASCAR Cup Series heads to Nashville Superspeedway. The Ally 400 has seen Hendrick Motorsports go undefeated in its first two years; can another team rise up in year three? Several drivers are in desperate need of a victory, either to secure a Playoff berth or pad their bonus points. Here are a few ones to watch out for as NASCAR rolls into Music City again this weekend.
Kevin Harvick
A two-time Xfinity Series winner on the 1.33-mile Tennessee concrete oval, Kevin Harvick enters Nashville on a heater. The past five races have seen the 4 finish 11th or better, highlighted with a runner-up at Darlington last month. Across the past two years in the Ally 400, Harvick has been fifth and 10th.
Harvick has more experience than most at Nashville Superspeedway. Aside from the two Cup starts, Happy has four Xfinity starts, all of which were top-10s, plus countless laps of testing. Harvick believes this much familiarity with the unique concrete surface will be an advantage heading into Sunday. Nashville was also a key moment in Harvick’s 2022 season. Tidbits found at Nashville ultimately led the 4 team to victory lane months later.
“I’ve spent a fair amount of time there, so just having that general picture in your mind of how it raced and the things that you did and how it went was definitely good to have,” Harvick said. “It kind of took away some of the questions you might have at a place you hadn’t been to ever before.”
“The track really hadn’t changed. I think a couple of the bumps were a little bit worse than probably what they were before, but nothing drastic. I think the stuff they sprayed on the racetrack added a little bit of grip to the higher lanes in practice, and then for the race it was really back down to the bottom and more traditional like it had been before.”
“For us, (Nashville) was really just a turning point in thought processes and (chassis) setups and kind of validating the things that we knew we could do with the car. It just took different approaches to make the car do those types of things. From that point on in the season, we were really able to be competitive. It just took a little bit to get everything going, but it was definitely the turning point in the season, for sure.”
Coming off a huge announcement about the 4 team’s future, it would be very fitting for Harvick to win this weekend. At fifth in points, Harvick’s trending ever so closer to breaking into victory lane.
Kyle Larson
The inaugural Ally 400 winner, Kyle Larson is one of only two drivers with two top-fives at Nashville. After having to rally late last year, the 5 took the checkers in fourth. Larson led a whopping 264 of 300 laps in Music City just two years ago. Unlike Larson’s 2021 beatdown though this year’s Ally 400 will be ran at night, presenting a new set of challenges for everyone.
“I think more night racing is better,” Larson said. “It’s a better show for the fans. You get some sparks and stuff like that. It should be cooler at night too, so that will be good. I do love night racing.”
It’s been a few weeks since Larson’s comments about this season feeling similar to 2021. While recent results for Larson have been mixed, the 5 has still shown speed just about everywhere. Many are quick to forget that Larson’s 2021 domination was slow to start and picked up steam over the summer. Nashville proved to be a key point in Larson’s march to the championship. History may repeat itself for the 5 team in Tennessee.
Denny Hamlin
A year ago at Nashville, Denny Hamlin led a race-high 114 laps before falling back to finish sixth. While they were shut out of victory lane, Middle Tennessee proved very kind to Toyotas. Hamlin and two other teammates led a combined 250 of 300 laps. Returning to the site of a very strong run, Hamlin is optimistic for another chance at the Guitar trophy.
“Nashville is a fun racetrack and a great market for us to go to,” Hamlin said. “The track is a lot different than anywhere else we race at being that size and a concrete surface. I felt like the Next Gen car raced really well there last year. We were able to have a long back-and-forth battle for the lead, and it seemed like there were multiple grooves, so I feel like this week should be no different. I’m looking forward to going there and hopefully we can put ourselves in contention at the end of the race.”
Since his Kansas win, Hamlin has been close to more victories but struck out every time. The last outing at Sonoma was a pure encapsulation of the 11’s bad luck; starting on the pole and looking fast only for an unforced error and last-place finish. Nashville was one of Hamlin’s best showings in 2022, with the 11 coming to life under the lights. Sunday looks to be another strong night for the 11 team.
Chase Elliott
Last year’s Ally 400 winner, Chase Elliott is facing a possible must-win scenario to make the 2023 Playoffs. Elliott’s hot summer stretch may have begun at Nashville, but he stole this win from the Toyotas. Elliott only took the lead inside the final 60 laps, but was unbeatable when it mattered. Now entering Nashville at the defending winner, Elliott must regain ground from 27th in points.
“Much like Dover and the other concrete tracks, it’s very tough to get the balance right,” Elliott said. “It doesn’t feel as fast as a place like Dover. Nashville actually feels kind of slow, to me at least. The corners are sharper than similar track layouts we race at. That kind of stood out to me last year. I was like, ‘man, the corners are sharper than I remember them being,’ but we got that figured out.”
While a win solves many problems, Elliott must simultaneously gain points on the cut line. The 9 team came in clutch in a big way at Nashville last season. Elliott left Tennessee with more points than anyone else, and needs to repeat this feat if not score another victory. Elliott heads to Nashville with an 84-point deficit to the top-16, look for that gap to shrink significantly on Sunday.
Kyle Busch
Despite four Nashville victories across Xfinity and Trucks, Kyle Busch is 0-2 in Cup. Even with laps led in each of the past two years, Busch has yet to even crack the top-10. For one reason or another, Busch has just not had any luck in either of the past Ally 400s. Rowdy only rivals Kevin Harvick with track time on the concrete. This immense level of experience could pay off big for Busch chasing another win on Sunday.
“The big thing about Nashville Superspeedway is its different characteristics from other mile-and-a halves or mile-and-a thirds that we race on, which are primarily asphalt,” Busch said. “Nashville is all concrete so that surface is definitely different than the rest of them and what transpires throughout a run with the tire wear and things like that is definitely interesting. The biggest things that you need to be fast at Nashville are good brakes, good stopping power, being able to get to the bottom of the track, turn the center of the corner, throttle up and exit out of the corner without being too tight or too loose.”
“Being able to have a good car that can roll the bottom has been really good for me at Nashville over the years. A lot also depends on if they put resin down or spray the track with any traction compound, because that also kind of changes whether you let the car move up the racetrack any or not.”
The Ally 400 is one of very few unchecked boxes left in Kyle Busch’s career. Nashville is currently one of three tracks that has not seen Rowdy reign supreme in victory lane. Busch did cross one of these winless tracks off his bucket list a month ago in Gateway. The 8 team should be firing on all cylinders chasing a fourth checkered flag of the season.
Martin Truex Jr
Even though 2022 was a down season for him, Martin Truex Jr. still shined at Nashville. The winner of both Stages, the 19 led 82 laps in 2022, only to fade late and finish 22nd. As the most recent winner, Truex eyes a Nashville retribution and back-to-back victories.
“Nashville is really interesting,” Truex said. “We had a really strong car last year. Led a bunch and won both Stage 1 and Stage 2 and was in really good shape. The rain delay came, the track cooled off and changed a lot and we went from us and the 11 (Denny Hamlin) as the two cars to beat to all of a sudden five or more guys right there with us. I don’t remember exactly how we got shuffled out of the lead but I know it had something to do with the pit cycle and pit stops. Once you lose the lead, you lose the advantage, and some other guys got faster as it cooled off when it was so much later at night and we just couldn’t get back to the front.”
“I feel like we’ve been bringing some really good cars to the track and would expect us to be strong at Nashville this weekend. Looking forward to getting back there with our Bass Pro Shops Toyota Camry TRD and hope to be able to have a stronger end to the race than we did last year.”
Thanks to his Sonoma win two weeks ago, Truex enters Nashville as the points leader. Being atop the standings for the first time in almost two years, Truex hopes to capitalize with another max-points day. Nashville Superspeedway should not go through a huge temperature swing like last season, since Sunday’s race starts at night. With that in mind, the 19 could stink up the show again.
Still a new track to the NASCAR tour, Nashville Superspeedway may be entirely different in year three with the Ally 400 at night. The Tennessee green flag will fly Sunday at 7:00 p.m. ET on NBC, PRN, and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Channel 90. The unofficial start of the summer run to the Playoffs, Nashville will see one driver and team put together a championship-level winning effort.
Written by Peter Stratta
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Photo Credit to Meg Oliphant/Getty Images for NASCAR
