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Ross Chastain Earns First Win Of 2023 At Nashville Superspeedway

by racerx55 June 28, 2023 1 comment

By: Trish McCormack

LEBANON, Tenn. – Ross Chastain won the Ally 400 on Sunday at Nashville Superspeedway and took home the coveted Gibson Guitar trophy. The win marks his first win of the 2023 season.

Chastain started the race from the pole and ran top-10 most of the race. He led a race high of 99 laps en route to the victory. Chastain had come close to winning several times earlier this season. His driving style even sparked controversy, but Chastain kept the loyalty of his team and now finally earned his first win of the season.

“I got to tell you, a lot of self reflection throughout all this,” Chastain said. “I had a group that believed in me and they didn’t let me get down. They bring rocket ships and I just try to point them to Victory Lane.”

Chastain has not finished outside of the top-5 in the past three races at Nashville Superspeedway, the home track for Trackhouse Racing that was formed in Nashville. Chastain celebrated the win with his signature smashing of a watermelon post-race.

Martin Truex Jr finished second, making it his ninth top-10 of the season and his best finish at Nashville. Prior to Nashville, Truex won Sonoma before NASCAR’s off weekend, his second on the season with Dover being his first. On Sunday, Truex was leading in Stage 2 until the caution came out for Tyler Reddick who lost a tire and was sitting on pit road.

“I was disappointed not to get the stage win there,” Truex said. “We had it wrapped up until the tire got away on the 45 (Reddick). That’s how these things play out. We weren’t quite good enough to take the lead. That was our issue, burning the tires off too much, getting too loose in the long runs.”

Denny Hamlin finished third after winning Stage 2 and leading 81 laps throughout the race. This is his second top-5 finish at Nashville.

“I think we really had a third-place car,” Hamlin said. “The entire race I thought the 19 (Truex) was better. The 1 (Chastain) obviously came on strong there at the end. It’s all we had with our FedEx Toyota.”

Chase Elliott, Kyle Larson, William Byron, Christopher Bell, Erik Jones, Kyle Busch, and AJ Allmendinger rounding out the top-10.

There were four cautions for a total of 24 laps, two of which were end of stage cautions. 

The most notable caution came during a restart when Kyle Busch and Ryan Blaney spun through the infield shortly after the green flag waved. Busch was able to get control of his car and continue; however, Blaney hit an inside solid concrete wall with no SAFER barrier.

“I don’t know why there’s no SAFER barrier there,” Blaney said. “That’s pretty ridiculous, honestly. Hardest hit I’ve ever had in my life.”

Truex now leads William Byron in the standings by 18 points.

The NASCAR Cup Series will race at the inaugural Chicago Street Course in the Grant Park 220 on Sunday July 2. Live coverage will air on NBC at 5:30 p.m. ET.

Photo Credit: Mitchell White/TheFourthTurn.com