Nashville Superspeedway always seems to bring something different. The track was added back to the schedule in 2021 and has seen four different winners in each of the four seasons since its return: Kyle Larson, Chase Elliott, Ross Chastain, and Joey Logano.
Sunday night’s Cracker Barrel 400 airs at 7 p.m. ET on Amazon Prime, PRN, and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio and is a chance for another.
Odds via BetMGM
+350 – Denny Hamlin
+550 – Kyle Larson
+650 – Christopher Bell
+725 – William Byron
+850 – Ryan Blaney
+900 – Tyler Reddick
+1200 – Chase Elliott
+1300 – Ross Chastain
+2200 – Joey Logano
+2500 – Chase Briscoe
Last year’s race was particularly remarkable as it broke the record for most Overtime attempts in NASCAR history, with five. Joey Logano was able to score an Overtime win on fuel mileage to punch his ticket to the Playoffs in a year he would go on to be crowned champion.
Much of this is to do with the track itself. The 1.33-mile concrete trioval puts on unique racing because, as past winner Ross Chastain describes, it’s unlike any other facility on the schedule.
“The track is very unique,” Chastain said. “It feels like it’s a mile-and-a-half but it’s not so it takes me some time to get acclimated.”
Despite that, Chastain has been consistently fast at Nashville, acclimating quickly. Besides his win, he has two top-fives, and was battling for victory late in last year’s race also before a wreck took him out of contention and brought out yet another Overtime. Even with that result, Chastain’s average finish at Nashville is a very solid 8.2.
I’ve had fast cars there to be honest,” Chastain acknowledged. “If my cars aren’t good, I can’t go fast. We’ll look to build off of things we’ve learned more recently about these cars and try to keep moving the needle.”
It’s been a good year for the Trackhouse Racing No. 1 team in all respects, coming off a win in the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway. Another win would give Chastain momentum coming into the summer stretch.
But there’s one driver you can’t ignore at this track, whether you’re Chastain or anyone else that wants to win, and that’s Kyle Larson. Not only has he won, but he has an average finish of 4.5 in four starts, the best of anyone in the field. He’s also the only driver to never have finished outside the top ten at this track.
Other drivers who’ve shown consistent speed at Nashville throughout the last four years include past winners Chase Elliott and Joey Logano as well as Denny Hamlin who’s been very strong at shorter tracks especially.
But don’t sleep on Bubba Wallace, with an average finish of 13.5 in the last four races that puts him in range of the top contenders, or AJ Allmendinger who has an average finish of 13.3 though he’s only competed in three races.
Allmendinger has certain tracks where he tends to outperform, and this is one. Additionally, Kaulig has looked strong: Allmendinger is coming off a fourth-place finish in the most recent race at Charlotte.
The history of Nashville Superspeedway may give some drivers an edge. While the Cup Series headed there for the first time in 2021, the Truck and Xfinity Series had raced at the track in the past before a hiatus. Drivers in those series at the time, like Chris Buescher, have additional time on track.
“I think some of the first laps I ever made in a Cup car when I was 16 or 17 and testing for Roush was at Nashville,” Buescher, who still races for Roush, described.
“I’ve been there when it was eight degrees and there were icicles falling off the catchfence down the backstretch while we were testing and hitting the windshield. That will get your attention. On the flip side, it’s been one of the hottest races I’ve ever been a part of. I don’t know what we’re in for, but we’ve got a lot going on in Nashville during the week and I’m looking forward to it.”
On the other hand, the track can be good to rookies. Most notably, Zane Smith scored a second-place finish at Nashville in his rookie season last year, a much-needed good result at that point in the season. It was not enough for Smith to retain his deal to move to Trackhouse from Spire after that season, though, and he has since been picked up by Front Row Motorsports. After a difficult start to the season for each of its three cars, that whole team could use a finish like that again.
One driver to watch is Smith’s erstwhile teammate at Spire Motorsports, Carson Hocevar. He was battling up front for the win at the Coke 600 last week before his engine let go on a restart, and he’s shown plenty of speed in his two seasons in the Cup Series. He also has carried with him a reputation for aggression from the Truck Series, and he has proven he is willing to do quite a bit to win.
The only thing that’s derailed Hocevar is bad luck at this point, with the engine failure last week the clearest example of that.
“I think we’ll have a good car and hopefully another shot at a win, without the bad luck this time,” Hocevar said. “We’ve reached a point where it doesn’t matter what type of track we go to, we are consistently up front and running some of the fastest lap times.
“Eventually everything balances out and we’ll start having the finishes to match those runs. Nashville is a really fast track and I think it plays into my driving style, having to keep up with the track changes and making moves when the opening is there. I feel like we’re going to have another really good race.”
Practice will air at 4:30 p.m. ET on Saturday followed by qualifying at 5:40 p.m. ET on Amazon Prime, PRN, and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.
Can a Full-Time Xfinity Series Driver Beat the Challengers?
A full-time Xfinity Series driver hasn’t won in the last three races in the series. Saturday night’s Tennessee Lottery 250 at Nashville Superspeedway, airing at 7:30 p.m. ET on CW Network, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, is a chance to change that.
It won’t be easy, though, since there are still a few challengers, from varied backgrounds.
First up is full-time Cup Series driver Ross Chastain. He’ll be driving the No. 9 for JR Motorsports. He carries a past win at this track in the Cup Series on his impressive resume.
“I’m running the Xfinity race so that’s exciting and a challenge. I’m running a JRM car with Acceptance Insurance on Saturday night and that will allow me to get some more reps in at the track,” Chastain explained of how this will help him prepare for Cup Series competition.
Next is Corey Day, a full-time dirt driver who’s made a few starts in the Truck Series and two starts in the Xfinity Series so far this season. He’ll be driving the No. 17 for Hendrick Motorsports.
Third is Aric Almirola, a retired Cup Series driver who has dabbled in the Xfinity Series since with Joe Gibbs Racing. He did twelve races in total last year, winning three of them, and has already done five races this season, picking up a win and two top-fives already.
As for who can take this trifecta on, the standout Xfinity Series driver of the year is by all accounts Justin Allgaier. He has a 72-point lead over second-place Austin Hill, though he has just two wins to Hill’s three.
Allgaier has experience at Nashville both from the last four years but also from before 2011 when the Xfinity Series used to race there. Though he’s had strong runs at the track, he’s only managed to win once, in 2022, where he dominated, leading 134 of the 188 laps. He remains the only full-time Xfinity Series driver with a win at the track.
One driver who’s proven his speed but remains untested at Nashville Superspeedway is Connor Zilisch. He picked up a win at Circuit of The Americas already this year and is coming off a second-place finish at Charlotte. That performance is enough to mean, despite missing a race for a back injury suffered at Talladega, Zilisch is still 6th in the regular season standings and leading the Rookie of the Year race.
“I’m really looking forward to going to Nashville for the first time,” Zilisch said. “It’s such a cool city and I’ve raced at the Fairgrounds before, but this will be my first time racing at the NASCAR track in Nashville.
“I have some laps on the simulator and it’s definitely a technical racetrack. I’m looking forward to figuring it out quickly and keeping the momentum up from Charlotte.”
Practice will air at 2:05 p.m. ET on Saturday followed by qualifying at 3:10 p.m. ET on the CW App.
Can Corey Heim Finally Conquer Nashville?
Corey Heim has certainly proven his mettle in the Craftsman Truck Series, in his second dominant year. However, the TRICON Garage driver has never won at Nashville Superspeedway.
Friday night’s Rackley Roofing 200, airing at 8 p.m. ET on FS1, MRN, and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, is his chance to rectify that statistic.
Heim’s coming off of his fourth win in eleven races this season at Charlotte Motor Speedway and holds a hundred-point lead in the regular season standings.
In fact, no full-time Truck Series driver in the field has ever won at the 1.33-mile Nashville Superspeedway. The only one in the field who has is Kyle Busch, making another start for Spire Motorsports in the No. 07 truck. He’s won at the track in both the Truck Series and Xfinity Series.
Practice will air at 4:05 p.m. ET on Friday followed by qualifying at 5:10 p.m. ET on FS1 App.
