Chase Elliott turned the tables on the dominant Joe Gibbs Racing Toyotas of Denny Hamlin, Martin Truex Jr. and Kyle Busch and won Sunday night’s NASCAR Cup Series race at Nashville Superspeedway.
Hamlin and Truex spent much of the race at the front of the pack. Truex, who had won only three stages all season entering Nashville, won the first two stages Sunday. Over that stretch, Hamlin led 108 laps and Truex 73.
Elliott surged to the front in the third stage and left the JGR Toyotas in his wake. Elliott had a lead of almost one second through the final stage.
Following in the top five were Kurt Busch, Ryan Blaney, Kyle Larson and Ross Chastain as a late-race caution left those in the lead pack with different pit strategies.
Hamlin’s momentum suffered at the end of Stage 2 when his pit crew had issues with the right front tire, dropping Hamlin 10 positions, but he rallied to contend over the closing miles.
Weather toyed with the field much of the afternoon and evening. There were two delays because of lightning in the area and a two-hour, eight-minute red flag caused by rain. The race ended as midnight approached in the Eastern time zone.
The pace was slowed by several incidents.
Chase Briscoe and Ty Dillon crashed in Turn 2 on lap 62. Both continued in the race.
The field was slowed by a caution on lap 51 when Alex Bowman crashed in Turn 2. Bowman’s issue added to the pain for Hendrick Motorsports as William Byron, Bowman’s teammate, left the race with steering problems.
Hamlin led the first 41 laps of the race before the field was slowed by caution and parked by a red flag for a lightning delay. The cars were parked on pit road for an hour during the weather delay.
Hamlin retained the lead after green-flag racing
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