NASHVILLE, TN – After surviving a NASCAR record five overtimes that extended the race to 331 laps, Joey Logano was somehow able to summon the fuel he needed to hold off Zane Smith and Tyler Reddick on fumes to win the Ally 400 at Nashville Superspeedway.
His margin of victory over second-place Zane Smith was .068 of a second.
This was Logano’s 33rd career NASCAR Cup Series victory, his first of the season and his first at Nashville.
This was Ford’s 732nd all-time NASCAR Cup Series victory and its fourth of the season.
This was Ford’s first NASCAR Cup Series victory at Nashville.
There were 15 caution periods for a total of 79 laps. Twenty-four of the 38 drivers in the race finished on the lead lap.
Kyle Larson remains the championship leader after Nashville with a 20-point advantage over second-place Chase Elliott.
Stage 1 Winner: Christopher Bell of Joe Gibbs Racing (Toyota)
Stage 2 Winner: Christopher Bell of Joe Gibbs Racing (Toyota)
Stewart Haas Racing Finish:
- Ryan Preece (Started 22nd, Finished 4th / Running, completed 331 of 331 laps)
- Noah Gragson (Started 16th, Finished 10th / Running, completed 331 of 331 laps)
- Chase Briscoe (Started 19th, Finished 21st / Running, completed 331 of 331 laps)
- Josh Berry (Started 2nd, Finished 26th / Accident, completed 327 of 331 laps)
Stewart Haas Points:
- Chase Briscoe (16th with 421 points, 243 out of first)
- Josh Berry (19th with 368 points, 296 out of first)
- Noah Gragson (24th with 325 points, 339 out of first)
- Ryan Preece (25th with 308 points, 356 out of first)
Preece earned his first top-five and second top-10 of the season. It was also his first top-10 in three career NASCAR Cup Series starts at Nashville.
“We just kept moving forward, and we had fresher tires,” said Ryan Preece, driver of the No. 41 HaasTooling.com Ford Mustang Dark Horse. “Just really happy with how these guys kept fighting all day. It didn’t look like it was going to be very pretty, but another chaotic 10 or 15 laps there at the end, and we salvaged a good day. Thanks to Stewart-Haas, Ford Performance, and all my supporters – Morton Buildings, HaasTooling.com, United Rentals, RaceChoice.com, Mohawk Northeast – it helps a lot on a day like today.”
This was Preece’s best finish so far this year. His previous best was ninth, earned April 7 at Martinsville (Va.) Speedway.
This was Preece’s second straight finish of 11th or better. He finished 11th last Sunday at New Hampshire Motor Speedway in Loudon.
Gragson earned his sixth top-10 of the season, and his first top-10 in two career NASCAR Cup Series starts at Nashville.
Gragson finished 10th in Stage 2 to earn one bonus point.
“We just saved a ton of fuel to end up 10th. 110 laps on a tank of fuel,” said Noah Gragson, driver of the No. 10 Bass Pro Shops/Winchester Ford Mustang Dark Horse. “We pushed it to the absolute max and got another top-10. Proud of the work everyone puts into this racecar.”
“It was kind of a worst-case scenario from a strategy standpoint how it played out,” said Chase Briscoe, driver of the No. 14 Rush Truck Centers/Cummins Ford Mustang Dark Horse. “We just had to go all the way back to 30th or something just because of how the strategy played out and how the cautions fell. We were able to drive back from 30th to 15th or so. And there, in the end, you don’t expect to have three or four green-white-checkered. I ran out of fuel and took the white flag. That definitely stinks whenever you’re in contention there. I think on that second-to-last one we had a good shot to potentially win the race. Frustrating, but part of it, and we go on.”
“Yeah, today was a tough day,” said Josh Berry, driver of the No. 4 Overstock.com Ford Mustang Dark Horse. “Just started off really tight and couldn’t figure out the balance, but my team worked hard to get me the car I needed and we finally found it after the rain delay. We got a bunch of spots back and had a much more competitive No. 4 Ford Mustang Dark Horse. It was just chaos there at the end trying to navigate that many restarts and eventually, I just got caught up in it. It was a bummer that we didn’t finish that well this week. Nashville is my home race, but we learned a lot. Thank you to Overstock.com for continuing to support our race team. We will regroup and head to Chicago next week, fully prepared to compete for a win.“
Next Up:
The next event on the NASCAR Cup Series schedule is the Grant Park 165 on Sunday, July 7 on the streets of downtown Chicago. The race begins at 4:30 p.m. EDT with live coverage provided by NBC and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.
