After an incredible five overtimes, Joey Logano got out ahead of the chaos to take home the guitar as winner of the NASCAR Cup Series Ally 400 at Nashville Superspeedway.
Logano emerged victorious by squeezing every last ounce of fuel out of his No. 22 Team Penske Ford, one of several drivers to come out on the right end of an intricate web of pit strategy. Let’s see who sung a happy or sad tune at the end of a long day in the Music City.
Winners
Joey Logano
Logano made his final trip to pit road all the way back on lap 220 of what turned out to be a 331-lap race. From there, No. 22 crew chief Paul Wolfe rolled the dice by keeping Logano on the racetrack for overtime after overtime after overtime, stretching the 20-gallon tank for 111 laps.
Getting that kind of fuel mileage at a 1.33-mile racetrack at Nashville is impressive, especially as other drivers who pitted on lap 220 ran out of fuel left and right. In fact, only one other driver who pitted on lap 220 was able to make it to the end on fuel.
Starting 16th, Gragson hung out around the teens in the running order for most of the race, snagging the final point of stage two by passing Ty Gibbs for 10th. Gragson took the checkered flag in that same spot, dodging the wrecks around him and stretching his fuel tank the same distance as Logano.
Coincidentally, both Logano and Gragson drive Fords, albeit for different race teams. Have the blue ovals figured something out to get better fuel mileage than Chevrolet and Toyota?
Smith, driver of the No. 71 Chevrolet for Spire Motorsports, finished second, one spot short of causing a seismic shakeup to the Cup Series playoff picture. Nonetheless, it is by far the best finish of Smith’s young Cup Series career, with a previous high mark of 10th in last year’s Coca-Cola 600.
How did he get there? Smith pitted a little later than Logano and Gragson, taking tires and fuel on lap 244, making it 87 laps to the end. Between savvy fuel savings and high levels of attrition, Smith and crew chief Stephan Doran made all the rights moves to finish 34 spots higher than they started.
This should be a big morale boost for a No. 71 team that currently sits last among full-time Cup Series teams in points.
Losers
As the laps wound down, it looked as though Elliott and the No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet team were on track for a top-five finish. Like the other drivers in front at that time, Elliott pitted on lap 220 with the hopes of making the fuel last to the scheduled distance.
But then the overtimes kept coming, putting Elliott and those around him at greater risk of running out of fuel. While Logano found a way to make the fuel last, Elliott was not so lucky as his tank ran dry coming to the restart of the fourth overtime. A potential top five instead turned into an 18th-place finish.
With Hendrick teammate Kyle Larson rallying to finish fourth, this race was a big blow to Elliott’s aspirations to capture the regular season championship and the 15 playoff points that come with it.
Joe Gibbs Racing
When it’s not your day, it is not your day. And boy, did Joe Gibbs Racing have a bad day — and night — in Nashville.
It all started with Christopher Bell, winners of stages one and two, wrecking out after getting loose on lap 228.
That was followed by Gibbs suffering significant damage in the Ross Chastain accident.
That left Denny Hamlin and Martin Truex Jr. Both JGR drivers were in contention for the win going into overtime, with Hamlin holding the lead. But as the overtimes piled up, so did the anxiety on top of the No. 11 and No. 19 pit boxes.
Finally, when Truex felt the car stumble due to low fuel pressure following the third overtime, he and Hamlin could wait no longer, pitting for fuel. Hamlin recovered to an extent, but only to a 12th-place finish. The same could not be said for Truex, who got spun during the final overtime, relegated him to 24th in the final running order.
It was a heartbreaking turn of events for JGR, particularly for Truex, who has yet to win in what we now know is his final Cup Series season.
Look Ahead to Next Week
The NASCAR Cup Series will make its second annual trip to the streets of Chicago for the running of the Grant Park 165 next Sunday, July 7.
There is only one prior year of data from Chicago for crew chiefs to use, and it is from a race rife with rain and cut short by darkness. Therefore, when it comes to pit strategy next week, expect the unexpected.
About the author
Andrew Stoddard joined Frontstretch in May of 2022 as an iRacing contributor. He is a graduate of Hampden-Sydney College, the University of Richmond, and VCU. He works as an athletic communications specialist at Eastern Mennonite University in Harrisonburg, Va.
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