Joey Logano won the 19th NASCAR Cup race of the regular season at the Nashville Superspeedway after a rain interruption and a record five overtimes over 31 laps in the Penske-Ford. It was Logano’s first win of the season, his first success in the stronghold of country music and the 33rd victory in his Cup career.
In the second stage, a thunderstorm caused a red phase lasting one hour. Due to the new record number of five extensions, the net race time lasted over four hours and developed into a fuel thriller. There were 15 yellow phases, ten of which were in the last stage. There were 20 lead changes by nine different drivers. Overall, the fourth event in Nashville was a high-speed spectacle of the highest class.
Stage 1/2: Bell wins both stages
Gibbs Toyota driver Denny Hamlin won his second pole award this season in qualifying on Saturday. It was the 42nd pole position of his career. Hamlin led the first 16 laps of the race before his teammate Christopher Bell took over because Hamlin was blocked by Justin Haley in lapped traffic. At times, four Toyota-powered drivers were in the lead. Bell won the first stage after 90 laps ahead of Hamlin and Tyler Reddick in the 23XI-Royota.
At the restart of the second stage over 95 laps, Hamlin was back in the lead because he was able to win the race in the pit lane. On lap 137, an approaching thunderstorm caused the race to be interrupted. At this point, there were still 13 laps to go before the race would be counted as a stoppage.
However, the race continued after an hour under red. Once again, there were very different fuel and tire strategies. Bell was able to win the second stage after 185 laps and increased his stage success record to nine wins. Reddick finished second ahead of Kyle Larson in the Hendrick Chevrolet and Hamlin, who had the fastest car at the time.
Stage 3/Goal: 10 yellow phases, 5 overtimes, Logano wins
The last segment over 115 laps went down in the record books with five overtimes of 31 laps. The winner was only decided after 331 laps. Ross Chastain in the TrackHouse Chevrolet led the race by a large margin from lap 249. But Hamlin caught up massively. Then there was a lap-long duel for the lead, which changed on lap 294. With six laps to go, Hamlin was already in sight of his fourth win of the season. But just before Hamlin saw the white flag, there was a bang in the midfield.
Hamlin was then able to win the overtime restart three times, but he never managed to complete a full lap because accidents kept happening behind him. Then an empty tank for Kyle Larson caused the next crash. Now Hamlin had to turn off for service to fill up with fuel.
This meant that Logano was suddenly the leader. He won the fifth overtime restart. One lap later, Logano saw the white flag for the final lap. He defended the lead from Reddick, who was, however, pushed into third place by rookie Zane Smith in the final meters.
Top 10 & overall standings
This meant that the fourth Nashville race had a new winner for the fourth time. Zane Smith won the rookie classification for the fourth time with his best career result. Reddick was able to console himself with the most points. Behind the top three, Ryan Preece took fourth place ahead of Chris Buescher, defending champion Ryan Blaney, Bubba Wallace, Larson, Daniel Hemric and Noah Gragson in tenth place. Hamlin only managed twelfth place after leading 70 laps. Chastain ended up in 33rd place after a crash. Bell was classified in 36th place after leading 131 laps, also after a crash. It is hard to believe that 24 cars were still classified in the lead lap at the end of the race after refueling.
In the overall standings, there are now eleven season winners and five drivers who would currently qualify for the playoffs based on their total points. Bubba Wallace is already 51 points behind the last playoff spot, 16. Kyle Busch is even 104 points behind.
Gallery: All pictures from the Nashville Superspeedway
Statistics for the 19th race of the season (Regular Season)
Laps & race duration:
300+31 (Stages: 90/95/115+31) laps (440.23 miles), race duration: 3:48:14 hours
Winner:
Joey Logano (1st win in 2024, 1st Nashville win, 33rd career win)
Best driver with the most points:
Tyler Reddick, 51 (8/9/34) points
Stage wins (2024):
Stage 1: Christopher Bell (8)
Top 10: #20, 11, 45, 5, 6, 54, 24, 17, 19, 23
Stage 2: Christopher Bell (9)
Top 10: #20, 45, 5, 11, 6, 9, 19, 12, 17, 10
Stage 3/Goal: Joey Logano (1st win 2024)
Top 10: #22, 71, 45, 41, 17, 12, 23, 5, 31, 10
NASCAR Cup standings
TOP 20 (after race 19/36)
Regular Season 2024
(with all bonus points & penalties)
—–
all winners (races 1-26):
1. (1) Kyle Larson, 664 points (3 wins)
2. (2) Denny Hamlin, 621 points (3 wins)
3. (3) Christopher Bell, 576 points (3 wins)
4. (4) William Byron, 570 points (3 wins)
5. (5) Chase Elliott, 644 points (1 win)
6. (6) Tyler Reddick, 611 points (1 win)
7. (7) Ryan Blaney, 560 points (1 win)
8. (8) Brad Keselowski, 531 points (1 win)
9. (16) Joey Logano, 470 points (1 win)
10. (9) Daniel Suarez, 383 points (1 win)
11. (10) Austin Cindric, 367 points (1 win)
—–
Total points (without win):
12. (11) Martin Truex Jr., 591 points
13. (13) Ty Gibbs, 518 points
14. (12) Ross Chastain, 514 points
15. (15) Chris Buescher, 504 points
16. (14) Alex Bowman, 499 points
—–
On the bubble:
17. (17) Bubba Wallace, 448 points
18. (18) Chase Briscoe, 421 points
19. (19) Kyle Busch, 395 points
20. (20) Todd Gilliland, 367 points
The first 16 drivers are qualified for the PLAYOFFS
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