Sweet sound: Chase Elliott strums a great tune en route to second Cup win of year at Nashville
Editor’s note: Final results, race notes and updated driver standings follow at the end of this story. Also, due to technical difficulties, we will not have What Driver's Said until Monday.
If Chase Elliott was a country music singer, he might think about recording a song like, “Mama’s, PLEASE Let Your Babies Grow Up To Be Racers.”
For it was at Nashville Superspeedway, in the home of country music, that Elliott solidified even more of his stranglehold on the top spot in the NASCAR Cup standings, earning his second win of the season, by capturing Sunday’s Ally 400.
Graphic courtesy Dylan Bauerle Racing
The race, which started shortly after 5 pm ET, was stopped three times due to either reports of lightning within an eight-mile radius of the race track, or due to rain, and didn’t finish until just before midnight.
At one point when the rain grew heavy after stoppage following Lap 124, there was a question whether the event would restart – or potentially be pushed back to finish Monday.
But Mother Nature and NASCAR both waited it out and Elliott was able to complete all 300 laps en route to taking the lead on Lap 262 and held on through Lap 300 to take the checkered flag for the 15th time in his Cup career.
“So proud of our team,” Elliott said in what was Hendrick Motorsports’ sixth overall win this season. “We had a kind of a setback about halfway, but was able to get the NAPA Chevy back dialed in and get back in the mix. It was a long day, a fun day. Thank you guys so much for hanging out in there, fired up.
“We’ve had a pretty rough month, month and a half. It’s just nice to get back going in the right direction. Getting a win’s always huge and to do it in a really cool city like Nashville is even better.”
Elliott’s win leaves nine races left for four other winless drivers in 2022 to clinch a spot for the upcoming 10-race playoffs.
Elliott also becomes the fifth driver to win two races this season – no other driver has won more than two – with seven other drivers having earned one win apiece.
“I’m looking forward to getting home and seeing my family, seeing my mom and dad, and hopefully enjoy this this week,” Elliott said. “These things (wins) are hard to come by. You have to enjoy them and never know when or if you’ll ever get another one.”
Chase Elliott plays a victory tune -- well, at least he did a good job of faking it, given he admitted after the race he doesn't play the guitar but now wants to learn -- after winning Sunday's Ally 400 at Nashville Superspeedway. (Photo by Jim Fluharty/HHP for Chevy Racing)
The win was Elliott’s second on an all-concrete surface this season. The other was six weeks ago at Dover Motor Speedway. He has led the NASCAR Cup standings since the fifth race of the season – ironically, at his home track of Atlanta Motor Speedway.
Kurt Busch finished runner-up, followed by Ryan Blaney, Kyle Larson and Ross Chastain rounded out the top-five.
Sixth through 10th were pole-sitter Denny Hamlin, followed by Austin Cindric, Christopher Bell, Joey Logano and Kevin Harvick.
Speaking of Harvick, he holds a nine-point edge over Stewart Haas Racing teammate and 17th-ranked Aric Almirola for the cutoff line for the 16th and final playoff spot. Ironically, all four SHR drivers – Harvick, Almirola, Cole Custer and Chase Briscoe – remain winless in what has been an obviously very difficult season for the veteran team co-owned by NASCAR Hall of Famer Tony Stewart.
Who knows, given what Stewart showed in Saturday night’s Superstar Racing Experience race at South Boston, Virginia, proving that he can still wheel a race car – and, more importantly, still win – at the age of 51, maybe the pride and joy of Indiana might consider a Cup comeback to get the obviously struggling SHR back on the right track.
Okay, just kidding. Let’s get back to more seriousness: Tyler Reddick is 18th in the standings, 52 points behind Harvick for the final playoff spot, while Austin Dillon is 53 points back in 19th and Erik Jones is 20th, 58 points back.
The NASCAR Cup Series now moves on next Sunday, July 3, to the longest road course on the schedule, the 4.014-mile, 14-turn layout at Road America in central Wisconsin.
