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After a free weekend to recharge the batteries, the Cup Series is back this weekend in Lebanon, Tennessee. The teams have returned to Nashville Superspeedway for the Ally 400 on the 1.3 mile oval. Last year the inaugural Cup race at the popular venue was won by Kyle Larson.
Whilst there isn’t much history with the Cup cars at this track, many of the drivers have quite a bit of experience on this oval. Both Xfinity and Trucks raced here from 2001 to 2011 before returning last year. Three riders (Kyle Busch, Kevin Harvick, Brad Keselowski) have won twice in Xfinity here, while Joey Logano has one win. Busch also has two truck wins here and Austin Dillon won the truck race in 2011.
None of that experience is likely to translate into action this weekend and even last year’s race will be of minimal help. Like everything else this season, the next-gen cars will thwart the team’s plans.
The drivers got more practice time than usual today with a 50 minute session. Bubba Wallace set the fastest lap of the day with fellow Toyota driver Kyle Busch right behind him. Busch was momentarily late in practice, which almost sent his No. 18 Camry into the wall after getting caught in Harvick’s dirty air. Busch had the best five-lap average of any driver.
Three Chevrolet drivers were in the top five today as Tyler Reddick, Larson and William Byron all set fast times. All six Toyota drivers finished in the top 11 and Richard Childress Racing had a solid afternoon with both of their cars. There are still many teams that still have a lot to do before tomorrow’s qualifying.
While Toyota and Chevrolet did well today, it was a struggle for the Ford camp. Ryan Blaney (8th) was the only Ford driver in the top 15 in today’s practice session. At the other end of the speed chart, 11 of the last 13 cars were all Fords.
Even with a weekend off, several teams and drivers are heading to Nashville with positive momentum. Daniel Suarez and TrackHouse Racing are still in full swing after their win at Sonoma, which was the first Cup win for the #99 Chevrolet driver. His teammate Ross Chastain also finished 7th and finished second here last year.
Chris Buescher is another driver who had his best result of the season in this last race, finishing 2nd in his #17 Ford Mustang. The RFK Racing driver was disappointed he didn’t have enough to fight for victory in the end, but it was a solid result for him and the team in what has been a miserable season for the organization so far.
Michael McDowell scored a 3rd place finish in the last race and has really been heating it up over the last month. The Front Row Motorsports driver has achieved five top ten finishes over the last eight races.
Despite starting as the defending champion this weekend, it will be an uphill battle for Larson to repeat on Sunday. The reigning cup champion will be without his crew chief Cliff Daniels for the next four races after the team ripped off a front wheel in Sonoma. Kevin Meendering will serve as Larson’s crew chief for the next four weekends. It will be another challenge for the team as the season progresses.
The reigning cup champion hopes that Sunday’s race will be similar to last year’s. “It went really well,” Larson said. “Last year I think they smeared some resin on the track or something and we were able to move up the track. It was pretty smooth and you could move around. I hope it’s similar. I think it should be, and probably even better. It seems like these next-gen cars are going to slide around even more, so it should be fun.”
There are several riders who need a solid finish on Sunday as the playoff race heats up. Ryan Blaney has performed well but he has yet to claim a win this season. Martin Truex Jr. is also winless this season as he tries to cement his future after this year. His teammate Christopher Bell is also still waiting for his first win of the season.
With so many first-time winners this year, it’s surprising that Reddick is still not one of them. The RCR driver has shown speed at virtually every stop this year but something always seems to get the driver of the No. 8 Chevrolet, but this could be the weekend where it all comes together.
Looking further down the ladder, guys like Erik Jones, Wallace and Keselowski are desperate to win. Harvick is another veteran who couldn’t find a winning streak this season. Despite a top-five result in Sonoma, the Stewart Haas Racing driver wasn’t happy with his team’s performance.
“We had our minimum of catastrophic failures once a week in the pit lane and, as usual, got as far up the field as we could. I think it is what it is. We didn’t finish where we should have been and wasted all our chances. We should have been second at worst but we screw up every week.” Harvick is coming into this weekend on a 59-race win streak but there have been some changes in the #4 garage.
Daniel Coffey will be the front tire changer for Harvick’s team while Brandon Banks is the team’s new Jackman. Both come from teammate Chase Briscoe’s pit crew, who have already won a race and secured their place in the playoffs. “We have to win a race,” admitted crew chief Rodney Childers. “We kind of feel like if you don’t win a race you might not get in. You can’t really give up a lot of places in the pit lane and still try to win races.”
Speaking of dry spells, Rick Hendrick’s team have only had one win in their last eight races and that was in early May when Chase Elliott won at Dover. Parity was the name of the game this season, with the emergence of teams like TrackHouse and 23XI Racing.
Qualifying for the Ally 400 begins tomorrow at 1:00 p.m. ET with live coverage on USA Network.
