Joey Logano snatches a 2024 Playoff spot at Nashville Superspeedway
After several dramatic overtime attempts Joey Logano wins at the Nashville Superspeedway.
NASCAR arrived at the Nashville Superspeedway this weekend for the 19th round of the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series. Last weekend it was Christopher Bell who won the USA Today 301 in adverse conditions at the New Hampshire Motor Speedway.
However, this weekend it was all about the Ally 400 for the 300-lap race around the 1.33-mile oval circuit. Denny Hamlin qualified on pole yesterday and is looking to turn his fortunes around after finishing 38th, 24th and 24th in the last three races.
Hamlin led the race for the opening 17 laps until he was blocked by Justin Haley, who was a lap down. Christopher Bell took advantage of Hamlin being blocked and grabbed the lead.
The first set of pit stops began on lap 37. Alex Bowman, Austin Dillon, Kyle Busch Austin Cindric, Ross Chastain and Riley Herbst were the first drivers to dive into the pitlane. It was on lap 39 that Bell and Hamlin found their way to pitlane for their first stops of the 300-lap race.
Michael McDowell inherited the race lead after the first pit stops as he decided to stay out on track until the end of his pit window, which was lap 77. Even though the timing screen had McDowell in the lead Bell would get the lead back after McDowell pitted.
After 90 laps the first stage came to an end, and it was Bell who led the field across the line as he claimed the extra 10 points. Hamlin and Tyler Reddick followed Bell through and second and third place.
At the end of the first stage, the leaders came onto pit road for fresh tyres for the second stage. It was Hamlin who came out in first place ahead of Bell and Larson.
The first proper caution of the race came out on lap 116 as John Hunter Nemechek spun out of 37th place at turn four. Every car dived into the pits and Bell got the advantage as he took the lead and Hamlin dropped down to seventh place. On the restart, Bell kept the lead from Brad Keselowski and Chris Buescher.
However, the caution flags soon came back out as Ty Gibbs slid onto the grass on lap 126. With weather concerns as a storm was on the way the drivers and teams would want to reach lap 150 as soon as possible so a race result could be called if necessary. The race restarted on lap 131 with Bell once again taking the lead from Reddick and Kyle Larson.
The rain arrived on lap 136 and the red flag was shown. As half race distance had not been reached the race would have to restart to at least reach the 151st lap so it could be a final result.
After over an hour of delays, the Cup Series race restarted under the caution flags. Once the race got back underway after the rain delay it was Bell who once again got the lead ahead of Reddick and Larson.
At the end of the second stage, it was Bell who went two for two as he claimed his second stage win of the day. Reddick ended the second stage in second with Larson remaining in third. From the restart in the final stage Bell led the way from Hamlin and Reddick.
On lap 202 the caution flags returned after Riley Herbst ended up in the wall following contact from Corey Lajoie. On the restart the caution flags came straight back out after Erik Jones hit the wall after a front right puncture. On the next restart it was not Bell who grabbed the lead it was Reddick who hit the front. But Bell stuck side by side with Reddick fighting for first place.
The eighth caution of the race came out after Chase Elliott spun out all on his own. With 75 laps to go Blaney got the lead on the restart after not pitting under the yellow flags.
Huge moment for Bell as he spins around and hits the wall after leading 132 laps. Blaney once again led from the restart ahead of AJ Allmendinger and Ross Chastain.
The race went down to a race of fuel saving as multiple cautions late on caused many drivers to be running on fumes. After several failed attempts at finishing Overtime Joey Logano snatched the race win and secured his spot in the Playoffs.
Zane Smith finished second with Tyler Reddick having to settle for third place. Ryan Preece and Chris Buescher then rounded out the top five.
Ryan Blaney, Bubba Wallace, Kyle Larson, Daniel Hemric and Noah Gragson round out the top ten today.