Tag: Nashville Superspeedway

Power: ‘Whoever wins deserves it’

Team Penske title contender Will Power starts fourth for Sunday’s 206-lap season finale at Nashville Speedway, and with a significant 33-point deficit to championship leader Alex Palou, he’ll need all the help he can get to overcome that gap and …

Team Penske title contender Will Power starts fourth for Sunday’s 206-lap season finale at Nashville Speedway, and with a significant 33-point deficit to championship leader Alex Palou, he’ll need all the help he can get to overcome that gap and secure his third NTT IndyCar Series title.

It wasn’t the pole position he’d hoped for, but Power was the recipient of a significant gift as Palou stumbled in qualifying. And with a grid penalty of nine positions looming ahead of the race for an unapproved engine change, the Chip Ganassi Racing driver will start 20 spots behind Power — deep in the field of 27 cars — and be forced to motor forward to maintain his championship lead.

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All Power can do is try and race his way to the front and hope Palou stays mired back in the midfield — or worse — and see where the fortunes fall for his No. 12 Chevy team.

“We’re just gonna do our thing tomorrow, and hopefully have great cars in the race,” Power said. “Couldn’t do any more than I did in qualifying there. That’s all it had. And you know, obviously wasn’t good enough for pole, but we’ll attack tomorrow. It’ll be what it’ll be, and whoever wins deserves it.”

Kirkwood marches to Nashville pole as Palou ends up mired deep

The grid is set for the NTT IndyCar Series’ season finale and Kyle Kirkwood is on pole for the 206-lap Big Machine Music City Grand Prix at Nashville Superspeedway. The driver of the No. 27 Andretti Global Honda (201.520mph) will have Team Penske’s …

The grid is set for the NTT IndyCar Series’ season finale and Kyle Kirkwood is on pole for the 206-lap Big Machine Music City Grand Prix at Nashville Superspeedway. The driver of the No. 27 Andretti Global Honda (201.520mph) will have Team Penske’s Josef Newgarden sitting alongside him on the front row in the No. 2 Chevy (201.352mph).

It’s the American’s second career IndyCar pole; his first at Long Beach in 2023 was followed by the Floridian’s first victory.

“To actually get a pole on an oval is big for me and my confidence,” Kirkwood told RACER. “Good start to this weekend, and I think my racing on ovals has been a lot better. I’ve been finding myself up front quite a bit, but I’m still not fully there, still not doing things that some of the veteran guys are doing. So I’m still figuring that out.”

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Meyer Shank Racing’s Felix Rosenqvist was a strong third in the No. 60 Honda (200.676mph) and he’s got Penske’s Will Power, a distant second in the championship, in fourth with the No. 12 Chevy (200.628mph). AJ Foyt Racing’s Santino Ferrucci was fifth with the No. 14 Chevy (200.497mph), and MSR’s David Malukas completed the top six in the No. 66 Honda (200.479mph).

“It wasn’t the smoothest run,” Rosenqvist said. “But fun laps and a fun track.”

The biggest news in qualifying, other than Arrow McLaren being forced to skip the session with Nolan Siegel as crash repairs were ongoing, was the plight of championship leader Alex Palou who put in a fast 201mph lap on the first of his two tours but fell off badly on the second and ended with an average that left him 15th in the No. 10 Honda (199.532mph).

With a pre-race engine change triggering a nine-spot unapproved engine penalty, the championship leader will start buried deep in the 27-car field once all of the grid penalties are applied.

UP NEXT: Final Practice, 6 p.m. ET (weather permitting as rain is forecast)

RESULTS

Palou, McLaughlin, Rossi, Siegel get grid penalties for Nashville

Another set of grid penalties have been announced for the final NTT IndyCar Series round of the season, and they affect two of the three championship contenders. IndyCar has assessed a nine-position starting grid penalty for the No. 10 Chip Ganassi …

Another set of grid penalties have been announced for the final NTT IndyCar Series round of the season, and they affect two of the three championship contenders.

IndyCar has assessed a nine-position starting grid penalty for the No. 10 Chip Ganassi Racing Honda of championship leader Alex Palou, the No. 3 Team Penske Chevrolet of Scott McLaughlin — who is third in points with a mathematical shot at the title — and the No. 7 Arrow McLaren Chevy of Alexander Rossi for Sunday’s Big Machine Music City Grand Prix at Nashville Superspeedway. All three entries made unapproved engine changes following the Sunday, Sept. 1 race at the Milwaukee Mile.

In addition to the these three entries, IndyCar added a fourth penalty for the No. 6 Arrow McLaren Chevy of Nolan Siegel, who required a new engine following a crash during practice.

The teams were in violation of:

Rule 16.1.2.3.2. A fifth (5th) Engine is eligible to earn Engine Manufacturer points if a Full Season Entrant has completed the Full Season Entrant Engine Mileage with its first four (4) Engines. Otherwise, a fifth (5th) or more Engine does not earn Engine Manufacturer points and will be considered an Unapproved Engine change-out.

According to Rule 16.1.6.1.2., the penalty is a six-position starting grid penalty on road and street course events and nine positions at oval events and are served at the series’ next race.

ED: This article was updated to reflect an additional penalty following practice.

Hocevar penalized for spinning Burton under yellow at Nashville

Carson Hocevar has been fined and docked points by NASCAR for spinning Harrison Burton under caution Sunday at Nashville Superspeedway. The Spire Motorsports driver lost $50,000 and 25 driver points. NASCAR cited sections 4.4B of the Rule Book, …

Carson Hocevar has been fined and docked points by NASCAR for spinning Harrison Burton under caution Sunday at Nashville Superspeedway.

The Spire Motorsports driver lost $50,000 and 25 driver points. NASCAR cited sections 4.4B of the Rule Book, which is NASCAR Member Code of Conduct Penalty Options and Guidelines.

The incident between Hocevar and Burton happened with 58 laps to go in the Ally 400. Under caution, which was brought out for a Brad Keselowski crash in Turn 2, Hocevar hooked Burton in the right rear and spun him on the backstretch. The two had already cleared the crash scene when Hocevar drove up to the rear of Burton’s No. 21 Wood Brothers Racing Ford Mustang and made contact.

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Burton did not hit the wall or make contact with another driver. He finished 28th.

Hocevar and the No. 77 Spire Motorsports team finished 16th. He was not penalized for the incident during the race.

Additionally, Tuesday’s penalty report featured two fines for Craftsman Truck Series crew chiefs. Both were for having one loose lug nut after Friday night’s race.

Jon Leonard, crew chief of the No. 42 for Matt Mills, was fined $2,500. Jeriod Prince, crew chief of the No. 88 for Matt Crafton, was also fined $2,500.

NASCAR explains why Busch’s top-four spot was restored

NASCAR felt Kyle Busch was not involved in the first overtime incident Sunday night at Nashville Superspeedway, and that’s why he was given his top-five position back. Ross Chastain spun in Turn 1 off the bumper of Kyle Larson, which sent the …

NASCAR felt Kyle Busch was not involved in the first overtime incident Sunday night at Nashville Superspeedway, and that’s why he was given his top-five position back.

Ross Chastain spun in Turn 1 off the bumper of Kyle Larson, which sent the Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet toward the outside wall. Chastain led the outside lane on the restart, and Busch was lined up in the row behind him. As Chastain spun, Busch went high to avoid him and bounced off the wall.

Busch slowed to avoid Chastain, who continued to slide with his driver’s side door toward the field. Ty Gibbs ran into Chastain, which sent his car for another spin cycle. As the crash was unfolding, Busch stayed high near the wall.

NASCAR put the No. 8 back in fourth position for the second overtime attempt.

“It’s not so much getting his spot back; his spots weren’t taken away because our rule clearly states that you must maintain a reasonable speed and reasonable speed is for what track conditions [are] at the time,” NASCAR Cup Series managing director Brad Moran told SiriusXM NASCAR Radio. “We don’t want to encourage drivers to stay on the gas and just bang their way through. What he did was he avoided the incident. We deemed him not involved in that incident. He didn’t stop. If he had stopped, he probably would have ended up toward the back of the field.

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“But he was scored in the fourth-place position when that caution came out, and he didn’t get into the No. 1 [Chastain] or the No. 5 [Larson] and made very slight contact with the wall. We would deem that as not being involved in that incident, and that’s why he was able to restart where he was scored.”

Moran said the scoring loop determined the lineup when the field was frozen. Busch did not blend back into the field until after Chastain slid down the racetrack, which, at that point, was when nearly the entire field had passed him.

“It was loop No. 4, and that was the last loop the leaders were scored on,” Moran said. “Really, it comes down to, ‘Do we determine him being involved in that wreck?’ and we did not determine being him involved in the wreck. We determined he avoided being in the wreck.”

Busch’s fortune didn’t last. On the following restart, where he again lined up fourth, he was spun from behind by Chase Elliott coming to the green flag when Larson stacked up the field from the outside of the front row. Busch hit the outside wall, which ended his race.

Crestfallen Reddick just ‘didn’t get the job done’ at Nashville

Tyler Reddick was a man of few words after finishing third Sunday night at Nashville Superspeedway. Reddick and his 23XI Racing team were in a position to win the Ally 400 by being among the safest on fuel mileage. The team pitted for the final time …

Tyler Reddick was a man of few words after finishing third Sunday night at Nashville Superspeedway.

Reddick and his 23XI Racing team were in a position to win the Ally 400 by being among the safest on fuel mileage. The team pitted for the final time before the first overtime attempt, and Reddick was back inside the top 10 by the time the race went into its fifth and final restart.

He was third in the outside lane, sixth position, at the green and was running fourth when the field came off Turn 2 with two laps to go and took a run in the outside lane to second place coming through Turn 4.

It was Joey Logano and Reddick going into Turn 1 at the white flag. The No. 45 again went for the high lane, but Logano blocked the run, putting the 23XI car into defensive mode with Zane Smith down the backstretch.

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Logano blocked another run on the high side from Reddick in Turns 3 and 4, which was enough to propel him to the finish. Smith then nipped Reddick in a side-by-side battle at the checkered flag for the runner-up spot.

“Everything,” Reddick told NBC Sports about what he would have done different on the last lap. “It’s pretty disappointing.”

The disappointment and frustration were evident. When asked how he was handling the emotions, he replied, “I’m trying my best, but it’s tough. I’m trying to keep cool at the moment; I’m really upset about how that ended.”

Reddick led 16 laps and earned his first top-three finish since winning at Talladega Superspeedway (April 21). It was also his fifth top-10 finish in the last six races.

But he wanted no part in any of the silver linings.

“No,” Reddick said. “All the good cars ran out of fuel and we were in position to pass the No. 22 (Logano), who hadn’t been good all day long and didn’t get the job done.”

Logano stumbles his way to victory in extended Nashville wreckfest

Joey Logano was the last man standing through five overtime attempts at Nashville Superspeedway and drove a stumbling, fuel-starved engine across the finish line for his first NASCAR Cup Series victory of the season. Logano’s No. 22 Team Penske Ford …

Joey Logano was the last man standing through five overtime attempts at Nashville Superspeedway and drove a stumbling, fuel-starved engine across the finish line for his first NASCAR Cup Series victory of the season.

Logano’s No. 22 Team Penske Ford Mustang was in seventh position for the first overtime attempt and was the leader by the time the race hit its fourth. He inherited the race lead when Joe Gibbs Racing teammates Denny Hamlin and Martin Truex Jr. had to pit for fuel. Logano then held serve on the fourth and fifth attempts to score the victory in the Ally 400 over Zane Smith and Tyler Reddick.

“That’s a good question for Paul (Wolfe, crew chief),” Logano said of how much fuel he had to make it to the finish. “I know into [Turn] 3, my fuel light came on, and it stumbled across the line, so that was definitely all of it. But I’m so proud of this Shell/Pennzoil Mustang team. It’s been a stressful few weeks trying to get into the playoffs, and being able to win here is huge for our season. It felt great to get that.”

 

The much-needed victory clinches Logano a spot in the postseason. The two-time series champion has been bouncing around the playoff bubble recently and entered Sunday’s race the first driver above the cutline by 13 points.

Hamlin was in control of the race when Austin Cindric spun on the backstretch after contact with two laps to go. On the first overtime attempt, Kyle Larson washed up the track and collided with Ross Chastain, who restarted outside the front row. The second attempt went as far as the backstretch before a multi-car crash brought the caution back out.

On the third attempt, Larson didn’t launch in the outside lane and stacked up those behind him. The accordion effect ended with Kyle Busch getting turned by Chase Elliott.

The fourth attempt was interrupted when Josh Berry spun. Logano cleared Chase Briscoe coming off Turn 4 and was moments away from the white flag when the caution was displayed instead.

On the final attempt, Logano got a clean restart and air-blocked his way to his 33rd career victory. He went 110 laps on his final tank, having pitted for the last time on lap 221, and the race went 331 laps. The fuel window was approximately 80 laps for the 1.33-mile racetrack.

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Smith beat Reddick to the finish line on the heels of Logano. Ryan Preece finished fourth and Chris Buescher finished fifth.

Ryan Blaney finished sixth; Bubba Wallace, seventh; Larson, eighth; Daniel Hemric, ninth and Noah Gragson completed the top 10. Hamlin finished 12th after leading 70 laps.

The late-race carnage followed a 1h20m red flag for severe weather. NASCAR called the caution on lap 136 for lightning, which was quickly followed by heavy rain.

Christopher Bell was leading at the time and claimed both stage wins. Bell led a race-high 130 laps but crashed out of the event with 73 laps to go. At the time, Bell was running mid-pack after taking four tires on a pit stop and got loose in Turn 2 and backed into the outside wall.

The first stage went caution-free, and there were two natural cautions in the second stage before the weather delay. Riley Herbst exited the race in the third stage after contact from Corey LaJoie sent his Rick Ware Racing Ford into the Turn 2 wall.

Chase Elliott spun off Turn 4 to bring the race’s sixth caution. Bell’s incident followed a few laps later. The next caution would be for Cindric, which set up a chaotic ending.

The five overtime attempts are the most in Cup Series history.

RESULTS

Wallace trying to put private Almirola altercation out of his mind

Bubba Wallace did not offer details about the altercation with Aric Almirola that happened before the race at Charlotte Motor Speedway but surfaced in the media this week. “They don’t want me to get into details; keeps some people’s images good,” …

Bubba Wallace did not offer details about the altercation with Aric Almirola that happened before the race at Charlotte Motor Speedway but surfaced in the media this week.

“They don’t want me to get into details; keeps some people’s images good,” Wallace said at Nashville Superspeedway. “I think I said enough at Charlotte last year, so all in all, life is good for me. That [expletive] happened over a month ago and a lot of good has come my way, and that’s what I’m focused on.

“I’m focused on getting our stuff turned back around and off the racetrack I’m focused on my wife and baby that’s growing and growing. That’s all you can really [ask] for, so things are good for me off track. Not so much on track — that’s what we’re focusing on right now. There you go; that’s the only question you’ll get.”

Almirola was suspended internally by Joe Gibbs Racing before the Xfinity Series race at Charlotte (May 25). He was replaced by Ty Gibbs (who found out he’d be driving mid-week) and the only available information at the time was the organization saying it was a “team decision.” Almirola is expected to return to the seat at Indianapolis Motor Speedway next month.

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Joe Gibbs Racing had no report on the altercation becoming public. It was initially reported by The Athletic.

Wallace’s reference to his comments last year stemmed from the Coca-Cola 600. On pit road at Charlotte Motor Speedway during a rain delay, the two got into a heated debate about their on-track competition. It resulted in Almirola shoving Wallace.

“When you walk around with two faces, that’s what you get,” Wallace said at the time.

Joe Gibbs Racing and 23XI Racing have an alliance, including competition meetings with Toyota. Denny Hamlin, the co-owner of 23XI Racing, didn’t have much to add about the situation or detail about what happened between Wallace and Almirola.

“I don’t really have a comment on it because I wasn’t there at the time,” Hamlin said after winning the pole for the Ally 400. “I don’t know what all transpired. It’s all hearsay from my standpoint. And at 23XI, we let Joe Gibbs Racing handle it and they did what they saw fit.

“Again, I don’t know all the details because I didn’t want to get too much into the personal business and I still don’t.”

Nemecheck’s roaring restart leads to another Xfinity win at Nashville

John Hunter Nemechek survived a steamy hot afternoon and held off a highly-motivated field to win the Tennessee Lottery 250 NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Nashville Superspeedway Saturday. It’s the second Xfinity Series win of the season for Nemechek …

John Hunter Nemechek survived a steamy hot afternoon and held off a highly-motivated field to win the Tennessee Lottery 250 NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Nashville Superspeedway Saturday.

It’s the second Xfinity Series win of the season for Nemechek in the No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota – and 11th of his career in the series. The 27-year-old North Carolinian won Stage 2 and led a race best 76 of the 188 laps, including the final 46 after taking the lead on a restart from Cole Custer, who navigated a corner too high allowing Nemechek to get by.

“Feels good to be back in the [No. 20]. We’ve been close to winning a lot this year in this thing,’’ said Nemechek, who will make his first NASCAR Cup Series start at Nashville on Sunday when he competes in his fulltime ride, the No. 42 Toyota for Legacy Motor Club.

“Being able to capitalize on it is huge. … it’s great to get it done here in Nashville.

 

It was a Joe Gibbs Racing 1-2 with Nemechek’s teammate Chandler Smith rallying to a runner-up finish — 1.234s behind Nemechek – on a day that left many in the field standing outside their cars on pit road after the checkered flag taking in water and resting after in-car in-race temperatures neared 130 degrees. Several of the drivers either didn’t wear a “cool suit” or had malfunctions with the one they did use.

Much of the hard work came from the rear of the starting grid where championship contenders such as Jesse Love, Austin Hill and Sheldon Creed rallied to race up front after starting from the rear for technical issues.

Creed’s No. 18 JGR Toyota ran among the top 10 after starting at the back of the 38-car field, only to have engine issues in the closing laps.

Richard Childress Racing teammates Love and Hill certainly had impressive hard-earned finishes in their Chevrolets despite the weather challenges and positions on the starting grid — rallying to third and fourth place finishes, respectively.

NASCAR Cup Series regular and former Xfinity Series title contender Noah Gragson rounded out the top five in the No. 30 Rette Jones Racing Ford – his second start in the car this season.

“I have no idea,’’ a smiling Love said of how he passed 69 cars on the day and finished top five when his cool suit was not working properly.

“Just proud to be part of a team that doesn’t give up,’’ he continued. “That was probably the hottest I’ve ever been. Just proud of my guys.’’

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Another driver suffering from the heat when his cool suit didn’t work was Stewart-Haas Racing’s Riley Herbst, who still managed a sixth-place finish despite the circumstances. The 2023 Nashville race winner, A.J. Allmendinger finished seventh, followed by Justin Allgaier, Cole Custer and Sam Mayer.

Custer holds on to the Xfinity Series championship lead by 15 points over Chandler Smith but was – as expected – frustrated not to come away with his first victory of the season after leading an impressive 64 laps himself. He fell all the way back to fifth, losing the lead to Nemechek on that race-deciding restart, and ultimately had his work cut out to stay among the top 10.

“I think I over-drove on that restart a little bit into Turn 1,’’ said the Stewart-Haas driver. “There’s a couple things I could have done better.

“Everyone’s got dirty air and man it was hard to make speed. I felt like we were solid when we were in the top-three cars but once we got back there it was tough to get the car to handle.

“I can’t say enough about our guys. We’re bringing cars that compete for wins every week, it’s just heartbreaking every week not to win. We’re bringing good cars and leading laps; we’ll get it eventually. We’ll keep digging.’’

The NASCAR Xfinity Series joins the NASCAR Cup Series for a summer-time double-header on the streets of Chicago in next Saturday’s The Loop 110 (3:30 p.m. ET, NBC, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). Custer won last year’s inaugural race from pole position.

RESULTS

Last-out Hamlin beats Berry to pole at Nashville Superspeedway

Denny Hamlin was the final driver to make a time in NASCAR Cup Series qualifying at Nashville Superspeedway and motored to pole at 160.354mph (29.859s) – his second this season and the 42nd of his career. Josh Berry joins Hamlin on the front row for …

Denny Hamlin was the final driver to make a time in NASCAR Cup Series qualifying at Nashville Superspeedway and motored to pole at 160.354mph (29.859s) — his second this season and the 42nd of his career.

Josh Berry joins Hamlin on the front row for his home race, qualifying second at 159.749mph.

Christopher Bell qualified third (159.845mph), Kyle Larson, fourth (159.701mph), Brad Keselowski, fifth (159.536mph) and Tyler Reddick, sixth (159.600mph).

William Byron ran seventh (159.531mph), Ty Gibbs, eighth (159.451mph) after pacing practice, and Chris Buescher, ninth (159.064mph). Austin Cindric completed the top 10 (158.890mph).

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Chase Elliott qualified 13th; Carson Hocevar, 15th; Martin Truex Jr., 17th; Ryan Blaney, 18th; Chase Briscoe, 19th and Ross Chastain, 20th. Chastain is the defending race winner.

Bubba Wallace ended up 24th; Joey Logano, 26th; Kyle Busch, 27th; and Corey Heim, 29th.

Justin Haley made a qualifying lap but only to scuff his tires. Haley will drop to the rear of the field Sunday because the No. 51 Rick Ware Racing team made an unapproved adjustment after passing inspection. Additionally, Haley will have to serve a pass-through penalty at the start of the race. The team also lost its pit stall selection and car chief JR Norris was ejected.

NEXT UP: The Ally 400 (Sunday, 3:30 p.m. ET, USA).

RESULTS