Chase Elliott won the NASCAR Cup Series Ally 400 at Nashville Superspeedway on a long night interrupted by bad weather.
The 300-lap race restarted with five laps to go, with Elliott the only driver in the Top 5 who did not opt to pit after the caution. He led the final 39 laps to earn his second win of the season.
"I'm very proud of our team," Elliott said. "We had a hiccup midway, but we could get back up front with the NAPA Chevy. It was a long day, a fun day… I am very proud of our team. We've had a pretty tough month, a month and a half. It's nice to be going in the right direction again.
"Getting a win is always huge. Doing it in a cool city like Nashville is even better. I look forward to that (trophy) guitar," she added.
The last of the ten cautions came with nine laps to go when Josh Bilicki's car's engine exploded and expired.
Kyle Busch, Denny Hamlin, and Martin Truex Jr., all Joe Gibbs Racing teammates who dominated the race, opted to pit under caution and couldn't recover from challenging Elliott.
On the final restart, Elliott fended off attacking Kurt Busch and Ryan Blaney to earn his 15th career win.
Brad Keselowski and Cole Custer collided at Turn 4 and into the outside wall at Turn 4 on the final lap. Keselowski's car was severely damaged, but the 2012 champion continued without needing caution.
The first two lousy weather delays came on lap 42 after lightning in the area forced a mandatory break.
That delay lasted just over an hour. The second stoppage came with 139 laps completed, 11 laps before the halfway point in the race.
Lightning caused the initial red flag, but heavy rain sprayed the 1.33-mile concrete oval, delaying more than two hours.
Shortly after the first delay, Alex Bowman's day ended prematurely. Corey LaJoie's contact sent his No. 48 Chevrolet Ally spinning into the Turn 2 safety barrier.
Login To Leave a Comment