Who… should you be talking about after the race?
After an hour and 19-minute rain delay, the Ally 400 at Nashville Superspeedway became a game of strategy. A caution on what teams thought was the edge of their fuel window, followed by a record five overtime restarts at the end of that window, changed the game again and again.
Denny Hamlin had the race in hand until Austin Cindric spun, triggering the first overtime. Hamlin was down to what his team thought was one overtime worth of fuel. He stretched it to three before being forced to pit after Kyle Larson ran out on the restart, forcing the caution yet again.
One by one, the cars playing the fuel game called “uncle” until Joey Logano led the field, over 100 laps already drained from a fuel cell with a window of what teams thought was 75-80 laps. Chase Briscoe challenged him with just a few less laps on his final tank. On the fifth and final overtime restart, Logano had enough left to just barely hold off a charging Zane Smith and Tyler Reddick for the win after Briscoe’s car ran dry.
The win is Logano’s first of 2024, a welcome lock into the playoffs after hovering around the bubble for the last several weeks.
And don’t forget Smith. Smith was one of a handful of drivers who stayed out when most of the field pitted for the last time under green. That cost track position at the time, but it bought Smith an insurance policy through the series of overtimes that ruined the day for the drivers who stopped earlier.
Smith was in great position on the final restart and was able to charge to second on the final lap, narrowly beating Reddick to the line. It’s Smith’s career-best Cup finish and Spire Motorsports’ best finish since Justin Haley won at Daytona International Speedway in 2019.
What… is the big question leaving this race in the rearview?
For the second week in a row, the race was interrupted by rain and lightning. The storm that oved through the Nashville area was small and fast-moving, and officials were able to get the track dried quickly. The track is too fast for teams to safely race with wet-weather tires, but it does have lights, and with the race shy of official at the halfway point, waiting out the rain was a certainty one way or another.
With summer temperatures rising, summer storms are bound to pop up at many locations. Is there any way for NASCAR to avoid weather delays and postponements?
Well, sort of. Rearranging…
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