Kyle Larson continues winning streak at Nashville

Kyle Larson and Hendrick Motorsports continued their recent dominance of the NASCAR Cup Series on Sunday in the inaugural Ally 400 at Nashville Superspeedway.

Sunday’s win was the third-consecutive Cup Series points-paying race win for Larson and the fifth-straight for Hendrick. It was the fourth and sixth-consecutive wins for driver and organization if you count the victory in the NASCAR All-Star Race exhibition event a week earlier at Texas Motor Speedway.

While Sunday’s race was the first, ever, for the Cup Series at Nashville Superspeedway, it was the first in the Nashville area since 1984. Hendrick Motorsports picked up where it left off in Nashville with the running of the 2021 Ally 400. HMS, then known as All-Star Racing, won the last race at the short track at the fairgrounds in downtown Nashville with Geoff Bodine as driver of its #5 entry 37 years ago.

Sunday’s win was Larson’s fourth official victory of 2021, making him the winningest driver through the first 17 races of the season. It was Hendrick’s eighth win, so far, this year.

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Larson, along with several other frontrunners, was in fuel conservation mode late in the race. Larson and others made their pit stops during a lap-218 caution for Darrell “Bubba” Wallace Jr. their final stops of the race, opting to stay out when the yellow flag waved for the final time for Chase Briscoe on lap 227. Their final stops looked to be outside the pit window to go the remaining distance on fuel, but the Briscoe caution helped stretch fuel milage. Even so, some pitted for splashes of fuel in the final 10 laps and others ran out of fuel in the final laps.

“We had enough rubber and fuel leftover to do a good burnout there at the end,” Larson said. “I can’t say enough about everybody at Hendrick Motorsports, HendrickCars.com, Valvoline, and thanks to everybody who has been a part of this team this year. I just hope we can keep it going.”

Ross Chastain, who was one of the few to pit during the final caution, was able to throw caution to the wind. Without having to save fuel, Chastain moved up to second and closed on Larson in the closing laps.

William Byron finished third, Aric Almirola was fourth, and Kevin Harvick was credited with fifth as he ran out of fuel.

Larson dominated the race, leading 264 laps of the 300-lap distance. As he continued to run up front in the final stretch of the race, he collected some debris on his grille. His crew wasn’t concerned about the position of the debris, but the driver was able to use the lapped car of J.J. Yeley to clear his grille on lap 244.

“It was a great day. We never really had to run behind people, so I don’t know,” Larson said.” If one of my teammates got out front again, it probably would have been hard to pass them. This Valvoline Chevrolet was really good. It cut the middle of the corner really well, and our pit crew did an awesome job, again. That number one pit stall helps a bunch, too. This crowd is awesome.”

Larson’s dominance didn’t include a stage-one win. Instead, one of his HMS teammates, reigning Cup Series champion Chase Elliott, took the opening stage win on lap 90. Larson gave up the lead to pit during a lap-78 caution for an incident involving Chris Buescher and Justin Haley. 

“My feeling are hurt right now more than anything,” Buescher said. “The FIfth Third Bank Mustang was pretty good. We were wrapping the bottom and able to do so pretty well. We were just getting going there, but right before I left pit road, it looks like probably a piece of debris from the 77 [Haley] cut our tire down on the way into the corner. It’s definitely unfortunate. It’s one of those luck things. It’s not like we did something wrong to cause our own DNF. That’s a bummer. I’m proud of these guys. This was a good weekend. We were strong. We had a good qualifying and practice was good. The race was gonna be a really good one, as well, so that one is gonna hurt as we look at the next handful of races heading to the playoffs, as well, so we’ll go out there and go win a race.”

Elliott, meanwhile, was among seven lead-lap drivers to stay out to restart with the lead. Larson, on new tires, restarted eighth but was up to third by the end of the stage. Having pitted just a few laps earlier, Larson stayed out at the end of stage one and restarted with the lead.

Larson led 66 laps of the opening stage, taking his first lead from Kyle Busch on a lap-six restart. Almirola started on the pole but lost the lead to Busch on the opening lap, just before the yellow flag waved for the first time for Quin Houff.

Stage-one cautions also included a yellow flag for Tyler Reddick, interrupting a cycle of green-flag pit stops on lap 46. Larson and Busch had already pitted and were first and second when stops completed under yellow, but Busch was the leader. His lead was short-lived, though, as Larson retook the top spot a lap after the race returned to green.

Larson won the second stage at lap 185. Pit strategy cost him the lead late in the stage when he came out of the pits third after a four-tire change during a caution for a Cole Custer tire problem on lap 173. Larson retook his lead on lap 182, one lap after the race restarted.

Busch ran second to Larson through a significant portion of the first two-thirds of the race. But in the final third, Busch drifted outside the top-20 of the running order, leaving crew members scratching their heads. He recovered to finish just outside the top-10 in 11^th.

The yellow flag waved 11 times throughout the race, including a caution for Ryan Blaney on lap 55. Blaney’s struggles began before the race even started when he was forced to pit road by a mechanical issue during the pre-race pace laps.

“It was not a very good start to our day and not a good end, either,” Blaney said. “We had an issue before the race and had to come and fix it. Then, we had some brake trouble, and we came in and pulled tape, and then, on the restart, I’m not sure if I broke a rotor. I think that’s what happened, because something exploded into on, and then, no brakes and took a pretty big lick. It’s a shame. Just not a very good day for us and hate that it ended early. I hate it for Menards and everybody in our group and Ford, but we’ll come back strong at Pocono next week.”

Ricky Stenhouse Jr. finished sixth, Daniel Suarez was seventh, Kurt Busch was eighth, Christopher Bell ninth, and Joey Logano rounded out the top-10.

“I feel like we were probably a back half of the top-10 car, so we finished where we should have,” Bell said. “It was a lot of work though. I hope to make it a little bit easier in our Dewalt Camry next time.”