Tag: Nashville Superspeedway

‘I don’t want to wreck myself; I want to win races’ – Chastain

Over a month removed from the highly publicized and criticized crash between Ross Chastain and Kyle Larson at Darlington Raceway, the Trackhouse Racing driver continues to evolve. Chastain was criticized by Larson’s team owner Rick Hendrick in the …

Over a month removed from the highly publicized and criticized crash between Ross Chastain and Kyle Larson at Darlington Raceway, the Trackhouse Racing driver continues to evolve.

Chastain was criticized by Larson’s team owner Rick Hendrick in the intermediate aftermath of the incident, which took both drivers out of contention for the victory. Trackhouse owner Justin Marks also spoke out, telling SiriusXM NASCAR Radio there were difficult conversations taking place, including with his driver.

In the three races since, Chastain has earned one top-10 finish and led just one lap. He’s gone from the points lead into a tie for third in the championship standings with Ryan Blaney.

“I’m definitely going to learn from Darlington,” Chastain said at Nashville Superspeedway. “I don’t want to wreck myself; I want to win races. Whatever I can do to wreck less and win more will definitely be top of mind and priority.

“I take what people say to heart, though, especially my boss, my owner. The guy that hires me and guides me. He’s a racer himself, so we’ve talked as just racers and buddies just as much as we’ve talked as owner and driver. People can think what they want. I know what our path is, has been, and is currently in what we’re planning, and I’m totally comfortable in the spot we’re in.”

When pressed on whether he’s finding a different approach of rhythm on the racetrack, Chastain said, “I’m trying to find victory lane. … I was there (Friday) night with Carson Hocevar, and I’ve got to get back myself. That’s all we’re trying to find.”

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Chastain has not won a Cup Series race since April of last season. Some of the criticism thrown his way in recent months is that his driving style has cost the No. 1 team opportunities to capitalize on fast race cars. However, from the outside looking in after Darlington, some would argue he’s been more conservative behind the wheel.

On Saturday at Nashville Superspeedway, Chastain earned his first career pole in the Cup Series and the first for Trackhouse Racing. It came at their home track.

“Personally, it’s a day that I will truly never forget,” Chastain said after qualifying. “No matter how the weekend goes or the rest of the year, I will always have a memory of today. We all have key, core memories within our lives and in our minds.”

Time will tell if the pole win is a positive step in momentum for Chastain to regain his footing.

“I don’t really know how this changes in the spotlight and things like that,” he said. “I’m me. Trackhouse gets the good and the bad, and our sport as a whole gets me for who I am. Everybody expects me to just be, like, very repeatable and robotic, I feel like — that I should just be one way or the other. I’m human; I’m going to do things different each time and try to be better.

“I’m not going to do the same thing over and over because if I want to do that, I’d be really good at failing and I don’t like failure. I don’t like crashing. I want to win. I will continue to evolve to do that. I’ve got a really good group around me that gets me through the bad days. We celebrate the good days and work through the bad ones, and keep working in the good ones, as well.”

Allmendinger heads back to Xfinity victory lane at Nashville

Kaulig Racing’s A.J. Allmendinger held off an especially spirited field in double overtime to claim his first oval race victory of the season in a dramatic Tennessee Lottery 250 at Nashville Superspeedway Saturday afternoon. The popular veteran led …

Kaulig Racing’s A.J. Allmendinger held off an especially spirited field in double overtime to claim his first oval race victory of the season in a dramatic Tennessee Lottery 250 at Nashville Superspeedway Saturday afternoon.

The popular veteran led the final 20 laps and got an impressive final restart to launch his No. 11 Kaulig Racing Chevrolet from the pack and drive off to a 1.323s win over runner-up Riley Herbst in a race that included a record-tying 11 caution periods and 17 lead changes among 11 different drivers.

The caution-punctuated ending was perhaps suitable for a race that saw three yellow flags within the first 20 laps. Fifteen cars in the 38-car field had been involved in incidents before the Stage 2 break.

Yet ultimately it came down a veteran’s purposeful, patient afternoon-long pursuit. And the 41-year old Californian Allmendinger was up for the challenge, claiming his 17th victory in the NASCAR Xfinity Series and second of the season.

“I love winning on ovals because I know a lot of people doubt me on an oval,” a smiling Allmendinger said, a nod to his former open-wheel days and his reputation as one of the best road course drivers in the history of the sport.

Certainly his experience paid off on Saturday with an especially active day. Ty Gibbs, the 2022 NASCAR Xfinity Series champion and now a NASCAR Cup Series rookie, won the first Stage and showed himself among the class of the field. But on the next restart his No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota was hit while racing for the lead with one of this year’s championship favorites, Austin Hill, who was restarting up front on older tires. Allmendinger’s Chevy also suffered a little damage in the five-car melee near the front of the pack, but he – and Hill – were able to continue, while Gibbs’ car suffered too much damage.

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Chandler Smith, Allmendinger’s Kaulig Racing teammate won the race’s second stage and kept the lead pack honest for most of the day. He and Allmendinger exchanged the lead and ran 1-2 for much of the second half of the race around the 1.333-mile oval.

After a series of final scheduled pit stops, Parker Kligerman settled in for the biggest strategic gamble of the day. While the lead cars were making their way back through the field following stops, Kligerman kept his No. 48 Big Machine Racing Chevrolet out front willing to take a chance on a fuel-saving strategy. But with 12 laps remaining, Kligerman’s team told him to drop in line behind Allmendinger to start conserving and Allmendinger passed him for the lead with 11 laps of regulation to go.

JR Motorsports driver Sam Mayer finished third with Hill fourth and JR Motorsports’ – and Tennessee native — Josh Berry rounding out the top five.

“That was the most up and down day I’ve ever had in racing,” Mayer said, managing a smile on pit road afterward.

John Hunter Nemechek finished sixth in the No. 20 JGR Toyota. Although he never led a lap his rally forward after a 21st starting position was good enough for him to hold onto the championship lead by nine points over Hill.

Reigning NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series champion Zane Smith turned in an impressive seventh-place finish in the No. 28 Ford. Allmendinger’s Kaulig teammate Daniel Hemric was eighth. Herbst’s Stewart-Haas Racing teammate Cole Custer was ninth followed by rookie Parker Retzlaff.

“We got a little fortunate there, when the accident happened, it didn’t really do anything too bad to the quarter panels … and the guys did a good job of fixing it there,” Allmendinger said of the early damage, noting that the rash of early cautions actually helped his team have time to restore his car competitively.

“I will be honest, I was shocked on the initial start, I went down and made it three wide and thought nothing on it, didn’t even drive my car that hard and started wrecking so that kind of raised my eyebrows, it’s a lot slicker than I expected,” Allmendinger said. “So the next couple starts, just tried to chill and get into the rhythm of the race.

“I just knew more than anything I needed a good re-start and to get in Turn 1 clean,’’ he said of the final restart and ultimate winning move.

The NASCAR Xfinity Series moves to the Midwest next week for Saturday’s inaugural The Loop 121 on the Chicago Street Race course (5 p.m. ET, USA Network, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

RESULTS

NASCAR’s next area of growth needs to be Canada – Keselowski

The NASCAR schedule is becoming less predictable each season, as evidenced by the sport’s first street course race next weekend in Chicago. Former Cup Series champion Brad Keselowski knows what he wants to see next. “I’ve been pretty steady on this, …

The NASCAR schedule is becoming less predictable each season, as evidenced by the sport’s first street course race next weekend in Chicago. Former Cup Series champion Brad Keselowski knows what he wants to see next.

“I’ve been pretty steady on this, I think, for a number of years, but we have to get to Canada,” Keselowski said Saturday at Nashville Superspeedway. “There is a big market for us there. We need to get to Canada and on an oval in Canada.

“I think that particular market is underserved and full of a ton of NASCAR fans that would help us branch out somewhat internationally while in a manner I think could control costs for the owners in a respectful way.”

NASCAR visited Montreal, Canada, from 2007 through 2012, with the Xfinity Series running at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve. The Craftsman Truck Series also visited Canadian Tire Motorsports Park from 2013 through 2019, and the race even once served as a playoff race.

But Keselowski notably said an oval race.

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“I think the layup for us as a sport is to find these road courses in different countries, and that’s better than nothing,” Keselowski said, “But it’s not the way I would prefer to show what NASCAR’s capable of.”

NASCAR’s top stars running an oval race in Canada would not be completely new. Buddy Shuman won a Grand National race at Stamford Park in Niagara Falls, Ontario, in 1952. While it was an oval race, it should be noted it was a half-mile dirt track that was mostly used for horse racing.

The race at Stamford Park is said to be the first NASCAR race run outside of the United States.

Lee Petty won a Grand National race in 1958 at Canadian Exposition Stadium in Toronto, Ontario — a 0.333-mile paved oval.

NASCAR’s current presence in Canada is through the popular Pinty’s Series. The schedule features a mix between ovals, road courses, and dirt tracks.

Keselowski’s support of Canada comes from first-hand knowledge. Once a full-time Xfinity Series driver for JR Motorsports and Team Penske, Keselowski ran three races at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve and saw how it was a good market for NASCAR.

“Just the passion out of the fans,” Keselowski said of what stood out. “When I go to races, go through the infields over the years, meet our fans, there’s just a significant fan base in Canada that I think just has a big desire to be a part of our sport and would embrace it in a way that we really need.”

Briscoe reunites with veteran crew chief to try and turn season around

Acknowledging something wasn’t clicking with his Stewart-Haas Racing team, Chase Briscoe felt it was time for a change for the second half of the NASCAR Cup Series season. It comes in the form of reuniting with crew chief Richard Boswell beginning …

Acknowledging something wasn’t clicking with his Stewart-Haas Racing team, Chase Briscoe felt it was time for a change for the second half of the NASCAR Cup Series season.

It comes in the form of reuniting with crew chief Richard Boswell beginning this weekend at Nashville Superspeedway. Earlier this week, Stewart-Haas Racing announced that Boswell would replace Johnny Klausmeier, who’s been serving a six-week suspension for a counterfeit part on the No. 14 Ford.

Briscoe and Boswell won eight races together in 67 starts in the Xfinity Series. The two last worked together in 2020.

“Boswell might not be the answer,” Briscoe said of a turnaround, “but I feel like could help me right away from a driver’s standpoint. Hopefully, the results will start showing. I feel from a speed standpoint, we’re off right now. But in general, our cars aren’t really good, so we’re trying to keep our expectations realistic and know what we need to do to improve our cars. Hopefully, we can do that.”

Briscoe is 31st in the championship standings with four top-10 finishes and lost 120 points from the penalty. His average finish is 19.8.

“When I came up from the Xfinity Series, it was something I’d ask for, and it probably didn’t make the most sense at the time and it was a 50-50 decision if we were going to go that direction with Richard,” Briscoe said of promoting Boswell. “It just didn’t really work out to have that happen. Truthfully, even in the offseason, we talked about making a change and just felt like with how good we finished last year, if we could start off on that same foot, we’d be in a really good place for the season. When that didn’t really work out and then the penalty happened, it probably expedited things a little bit.

“I think Johnny did an incredible job. That guy is one of the nicest individuals. He’s been working with Richard two or three hours a day just trying to get him in line to help Richard kind of shorten that learning curve, and for a guy that just got removed from the job, he didn’t have to do any of that. But that’s just the type of person Johnny is, and I respect Johnny a ton for that.

“We did have a lot of success. We were five laps away from making the final four — won my first Cup race with him. It was a hard decision, but at the end of the day, I had a lot of confidence with Richard. We won as many races as we did together, and I felt like, down deep, that’s the change that needed to be made. Whenever the penalty came out and how our season was, it made sense to do it so we can get a leap start on next year.”

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Although they didn’t graduate into the Cup Series together, Briscoe believes it worked out for the best. The two stayed in contact over the years, talking two or three times a week, and Briscoe described them as “super close.” The former Cup Series rookie of the year is confident he and Boswell are both in better positions to succeed once again on the same team.

But Briscoe also understands it’s going to take time to get where the team needs to be, and Boswell is good at keeping him focused. In the few days they’ve been back together, Boswell has already sent Briscoe a “ton” of notes, providing help on the study side of the sport.

Being kept accountable is a big thing for the driver, and Boswell does that. Furthermore, Briscoe described his new crew chief as a guy “that’s not afraid to get onto you if you’re doing something wrong.”

When Briscoe was “bummed” after the car’s performance in practice, Boswell reminded him a turnaround isn’t going to happen in three days. But the season can be salvaged, said Briscoe.

“You can always get there,” he said. “It’s no secret all the Fords, in general, are off, but we need to be the best Ford, and that’s something that right now is our goal. We’re not the top Ford, so we need to be the best Ford, and if we’re not the best, we need to at least be in the top two or three. Instead, we’ve been one of the worst two or three every single week. I think from that side of things, just manage our expectations. We know we don’t have the speed to go win, but let’s try to be the best Ford. And once we’re the best Ford, then we can focus on winning more.

“That’s all we’re trying to do right now is re-establish everything and lay a new foundation. Obviously, we got off the rails a little bit these last two or three months, and we just need to re-establish what a baseline setup is and rebuild from scratch again, truthfully. So it’s going to take time. That’s the frustrating thing – as a race car driver, you want to see results in two or three days, especially when you bring in new change and things like that. But truthfully, it is going to take time.

“At this point, if we can run better than 30th, it’s an improvement (compared to) what we’ve had the last couple of weeks. We just need to make our car better each and every week, and hopefully a month from now we’ll be up there in the top two or three Fords. But right now, we have to manage our expectations. We have a lot to learn right now, not only from the car standpoint but even a team dynamic standpoint. Things are so different, bringing a new guy in… We’re just trying to learn.”

Hocevar grabs hard-fought second Truck Series win at Nashville

Carson Hocevar took the lead with 40 laps remaining in Friday night’s NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Rackley Roofing 200 at Nashville Superspeedway and held off every challenge necessary in the closing laps – including a frantic push from his …

Carson Hocevar took the lead with 40 laps remaining in Friday night’s NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Rackley Roofing 200 at Nashville Superspeedway and held off every challenge necessary in the closing laps – including a frantic push from his competitors on a re-start with three laps remaining – to earn his second career victory.

Hocevar held off reigning series champion, Front Row Motorsports’ Zane Smith and Friday’s polesitter Nick Sanchez by a slight 0.271s margin in a tightly-contested final push toward the finish line among the trio. The win for the 20-year old driver of the No. 42 Niece Motorsports Chevrolet makes him the fourth multi-race winner of the season. And it’s an impressive fifth consecutive top-five for Hocevar.

Ironically, Hocevar’s first career win came after Smith and Sanchez wrecked at the front of the field on the final lap of double overtime at Texas Motor Speedway. This time, the only drama was the Michigan-native’s impressive pace out front in the closing laps.

“I’m so excited I can finally put that other to rest,” Hocevar said of the circumstances of his first win, adding, “And hopefully I can win a lot more races for them (Neice Motorsports).”

The young driver’s effort earned him not only the one-of-a-kind Nashville winner’s guitar but also an extra $50,000 as part of the Truck Series’ Triple Truck Challenge program. He joins Ben Rhodes and Grant Enfinger as the three recipients of the three-race bonus money this season.

Corey Heim and Bayley Currey rounded out the top five on Friday. Heim led the most laps — 57 of the 150 on the night — and won stage two in the No. 11 TRICON Garage Toyota. He also leads the championship by 16 points over Smith.

Although he missed out on his first trophy, it was still an impressive night for Sanchez, who earned his third pole position of the season.

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In the opening laps, Sanchez and Rajah Caruth set the pace out front; the former ARCA competitors and NASCAR Drive for Diversity graduates running nose-to-tail and door-to-door throughout the opening stage. Sanchez, 22, led the opening 35 laps in his No. 2 Rev Racing Chevrolet. And after multiple spirited duels between the two, the 21-year old Caruth finally got around Sanchez on lap 36 to lead his first career lap in NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series competition — only to slow and have to pit his No. 24 GMS Chevrolet a lap later and relinquish the lead. He returned to the race many laps down and ultimately settled for a 32nd place finish.

The opening stage concluded in similar drama when Smith got by Sanchez in the closing laps to claim his second stage win of the season.

“At the end of the day, it was a good points night, but I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t disappointed,’’ Sanchez said.

Chase Purdy, Matt DiBenedetto, Tyler Ankrum, Ben Rhodes and Jake Garcia rounded out the top 10.

It was a tough day for veteran Stewart Friesen, who was involved in two incidents that brought out caution periods. He dropped from ninth to 11th in the standings with only three regular season races remaining to set the 10-driver Playoff field.

Sanchez’s effort at Nashville combined with Friesen’s tough-luck night moved the Miami rookie into that all-important 10th place position with a six-point advantage on Friesen.

The series takes a week off and resumes with some road course racing July 8 — the O’Reilly Auto Parts 150 at Mid-Ohio at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course (1:30 p.m. ET, FS1, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

RESULTS

Gragson feeling normal and rested ahead of Nashville return

Noah Gragson felt as good as ever in his Friday return to his Legacy Motor Club Chevrolet at Nashville Superspeedway. He was cleared to return to competition earlier this week after missing the last NASCAR Cup Series race with concussion-like …

Noah Gragson felt as good as ever in his Friday return to his Legacy Motor Club Chevrolet at Nashville Superspeedway.

He was cleared to return to competition earlier this week after missing the last NASCAR Cup Series race with concussion-like symptoms. He did not compete June 11 at Sonoma Raceway, and the off weekend gave a further  weekend to continue his recovery.

Friday’s practice session was an extended one for teams with 50 minutes of track time. Gragson, who was 32nd fastest in the session, doesn’t believe it made much of a difference regarding his re-acclimation process but it was still nice to have.

“I feel mentally sharp, as good as I felt before we wrecked,” Gragson said. “The main thing was to feel we’re 100 percent, and even when I felt 50 percent, I was like, ‘Man, I feel 100.’ Then a few days later, I got to 100, and it was really 95 percent.

“I feel ready to go and excited to get back behind the wheel.”

Gragson was injured on June 4 in St. Louis at World Wide Technology Raceway when he hit the Turn 1 wall with the driver’s side. A brake rotor failure going into the corner caused the incident, which saw Gragson try to spin through the inside grass to slow his car down.

The symptoms began to appear Tuesday after the St. Louis race. When they continued and worsened into Wednesday, Gragson acknowledged he needed to seek medical attention and was glad to have the time to rest and get back where needed.

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“I knew something wasn’t right when we got to Wednesday,” Gragson said.

It was not a tough decision to speak up about his condition. He initially told Legacy Motor Club he was going to do his best to race at Sonoma, but as the symptoms lingered, he realized it wasn’t like other hard hits in the past.

“It was one of those deals where I made the decision and told the guys,” Gragson said. “I didn’t feel any self-guilt or anything. I wasn’t too bummed out; I knew Grant (Enfinger) would do a good job.

“The way this year’s been going, I think it made the decision a little easier compared to years past. Competing for a championship in the Xfinity Series and going to the racetrack knowing you’re going to have a really good shot to win the race every weekend, battling for the points lead, that’s a different situation. But with that being said, it’s what we came up with and were ready to regroup this weekend.”

Through the process, Gragson talked to drivers who suffered similar injuries, such as Tyler Reddick, Alex Bowman, ad Dale Earnhardt Jr. At the suggestion of the doctor, he was working with, Gragson also put himself in busy environments to get his brain used to the stimulation. One of those was Game 5 of the NHL playoffs when his native Las Vegas Golden Knights clinched the Stanley Cup.

“That was Tuesday after Sonoma, so I was starting to feel pretty close to 95 percent,” said Gragson. “I’d say this past week, I started feeling 100 percent … not getting as bad of headaches or feeling fatigued. I’ve taken a lot of hard hits throughout the Xfinity Series cars, last year in the Cup Series cars, and never have I had the feeling of symptoms that lasted so long throughout the week leading up to the next race.

“Normally, it’s the next day you’re pretty sore, and Tuesday you’re ready to get back to it. But these symptoms, they kept getting worse Tuesday, got worse Wednesday, and it was the first time I needed to go get help and treatment.

“A big thanks to NASCAR and their protocol, the team for believing in me, and Grant for filling in. It definitely was not a good position, but it was good to get some rest, and I feel good now.”

Reddick leads Cup field in rare Friday practice at Nashville

Tyler Reddick was fastest in a rare extended Friday practice session for NASCAR Cup Series teams at Nashville Superspeedway. He clocked in at 162.25mph (29.51s) in his 23XI Racing Toyota, running a total of 46 laps. Martin Truex Jr.’s Toyota was …

Tyler Reddick was fastest in a rare extended Friday practice session for NASCAR Cup Series teams at Nashville Superspeedway.

He clocked in at 162.25mph (29.51s) in his 23XI Racing Toyota, running a total of 46 laps.

Martin Truex Jr.’s Toyota was second fastest behind Reddick. Truex’s fastest lap was 161.408mph.

Ross Chastain was third fastest at 161.37mph, Erik Jones fourth at 160.99mph, William Byron fifth at 160.914mph, Bubba Wallace sixth at 160.795mph and Denny Hamlin seventh at 160.763mph.

Chase Elliott, the defending race winner, was eighth fastest in practice with a run of 160.714mph.

Chris Buescher was ninth at 160.66mph and AJ Allmendinger completed the top 10 at 160.585mph.

There was one incident during practice.

Kyle Busch went for a single-car spin off Turn 4 and through the frontstretch grass. He had no contact with the wall and did return to the track to finish practice. Busch was 21st fastest.

Reddick was also fastest in the best 10 consecutive lap average. Chastain, Truex, Byron, and Larson were the rest of the top five in the category.

There are 36 drivers entered in the Ally 400 at Nashville Superspeedway.

Busch sees strengths overcoming unknowns in NASCAR’s second half

Kyle Busch is one of two NASCAR Cup Series drivers with a series-leading three victories as the summer push to the playoffs begins at Nashville Superspeedway. Busch is sixth in the championship standings and enters Nashville (Sunday, 7 p.m. ET, NBC) …

Kyle Busch is one of two NASCAR Cup Series drivers with a series-leading three victories as the summer push to the playoffs begins at Nashville Superspeedway.

Busch is sixth in the championship standings and enters Nashville (Sunday, 7 p.m. ET, NBC) working on a stretch of four consecutive top-10 finishes. In his first season driving the No. 8 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet, the two-time series champion has merged his style with those already in play with the group led by crew chief Randall Burnett.

In addition to his three wins, Busch is tied with four other drivers for the most top-10 finishes in the series (nine). While he and his team can contend on a near-weekly basis, Busch found it hard to say how close they are to being championship contenders.

“Looking at the last 10 weeks of the schedule, I would say that we feel pretty confident about how we can go about those weeks and those races,” Busch said Friday. “The only one that you kind of circle right now – maybe two – is obviously Bristol and Martinsville with the short track package and us not being great with that. But the rest of the races I’m actually looking forward to; I feel like there is an even slate there for us to be as good as we’ve been this year and go out there and score good strong runs.”

Busch finished eighth at Phoenix Raceway, 14th at Richmond Raceway, and 21st at Martinsville Speedway with the short track aero package. In the non-points All-Star Race at North Wilkesboro, which used the same package, he was never a contender and was so far off the pace was lapped by the dominant Kyle Larson.

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The final 10 races comprise the postseason and have the two proper short-track races Busch mentioned (Bristol and Martinsville). Phoenix does use the short-track package. There are five intermediate races, a superspeedway (Talladega), and the Charlotte road course. Busch won at Talladega earlier this year and finished second in the two road course races (Circuit of The Americas and Sonoma).

“So, championship caliber team? I would say our guys are super good at building some really good cars. We’ve had some really good stuff,” Busch continued. “The job that each member on the team has been doing has been top-notch. I get in the car, all my stuff’s there, the windshield tear-offs are right, the blackout is good. Details.

“It comes down to the details and so, to me, from what I can tell, it’s where we need to be. Praises to them, and I’m looking forward to racing out the rest of the year with the way that we’ve had our start.”

There have been 10 different winners through 16 races, and 10 races remain in the regular season. Busch hasn’t seen any one driver or team that has stood out or separated themselves from the field as far as being the leading championship contender.

“Honestly, last year the No. 22 (Joey Logano) won the championship, and he came out of nowhere,” Busch explained. “They were terrible through the summer, and it kind of looks the same right now. So, anything can happen.

“That’s why it’s hard for me to answer that question: are you a championship-caliber team? Well, yeah, but I think there are probably 12 others. There are a lot more unknowns with the Next Gen car and how you go to these racetracks and with just how sporadic finishes can be and people running into each other. You think somebody is going to go out and win a race and they get wrecked, and then somebody else does that’s a surprise winner.

“You just never know. You just got to play it out.”

See Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s, Jeff Gordon’s dueling paint schemes for Alex Bowman’s Nashville car

Fans can vote for Dale Jr.’s or Jeff Gordon’s paint scheme to be on the No. 48 car at Nashville Superspeedway.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Jeff Gordon retired from full-time NASCAR racing in 2017 and 2015, respectively. But the two former Hendrick Motorsports drivers are back to competing against each other, this time in an internet contest.

And current HMS driver Alex Bowman will be the real winner no matter what.

Earnhardt and Gordon each designed their own paint scheme specifically for the No. 48 Chevrolet, which Bowman now pilots, taking over this season after another Hendrick legend, Jimmie Johnson, retired from NASCAR at the end of the 2020 season.

Fans can vote on Twitter for their favorite of the dueling paint schemes — Neon Lights versus Music Row — and Bowman will race with the winning look in the Ally 400 at Nashville Superspeedway on June 20. (Ally Racing is also the primary sponsor for the No. 48 car.)

(Courtesy of Ally Racing)

However, this is a blind vote, so fans won’t know if they’re voting for Earnhardt’s or Gordon’s design until the winner is ultimately revealed.

But the options are fabulous regardless.

“The tough part right out of the gate is trying to improve on something that’s already really good, and the Ally paint scheme that Jimmie ran in the past has always been really good,” Dale Jr. said in a video about the contest.

“I had to get out of my comfort zone a little bit and be a little more brave and aggressive. … There’s always pressure, especially going up against Jeff. It will sting a little bit to lose to Jeff because we’re competitive and we were teammates and we raced each other hard.”

The former teammates are also part of rival NASCAR broadcasts with Gordon in the booth for FOX Sports for the first half of the season, while Dale Jr. is in the booth with NBC Sports for the second half. And as Earnhardt noted, the Nashville race is NBC’s first of 2021,

So while Dale Jr. said he’d love to talk all afternoon about Bowman running his winning paint scheme, Gordon, obviously, is hoping for the opposite.

“I had these thoughts in my mind of what I thought would be cool,” Gordon said about his design in the video. “So I just want that thing to look like it’s doing 200 miles per hour sitting there. …

“And Dale Jr., I know he likes to bring it. Nothing would be sweeter for me than to be sitting on my couch watching that broadcast and seeing Dale Jr. have to talk about the car that I designed!”

Here’s a look at Earnhardt’s and Gordon’s competing paint schemes, and fans can cast an unlimited number of votes using the two hashtags. The winning design is expected to be revealed about a week prior to the race at Nashville Superspeedway, which is a new addition to the Cup Series schedule this year.