Ross Chastain scored his first win of the 2023 NASCAR Cup Series season winning the Ally 400 on Sunday night.
Ross Chastain began the 300-lap race at the front of the field after scoring his first career Cup Series pole on Saturday. Kyle Busch would be forced to pit early with a right rear tire going down losing two laps in the process at the 1 1/3-mile concrete oval. Chastain would pit from the lead with others on lap 44 setting off a cycle of pit stops that was followed by Tyler Reddick getting around Chastain for the lead with the help of a slower car. Michael McDowell would have to complete a drive though penalty after he had a commitment line violation on his stop. The first stage ended without incident with Reddick getting the stage win followed by Chastain, William Byron, Marin Truex Jr. and Denny Hamlin. Daniel Suarez, who started the race in the rear after a qualifying crash, had worked his way up to 22nd.
On lap 100 Truex would take the lead holding it though pit stops. Reddick would have a loose tire which would fall off as he tried to make it back to the pits. On his entry to pit road he would spin out bringing out a caution. When the race restarted the field would get stacked up with Ryan Blaney getting the worst of it as he hit the inside wall ending his day. Hamlin would get around Truex as the race crossed the halfway point. Truex would make a run at Hamlin to end the second stage but it would not be enough. Chastain, Byron and Christopher Bell rounded out the top-five.
A stack-up on the restart leads to this incident on Lap 146. pic.twitter.com/iVw3UXbk69
— NASCAR (@NASCAR) June 26, 2023
Chastain would pass Hamlin for the lead on lap 231 with pit stops starting shortly after. Kyle Busch would assume the lead before pitting himself on lap 259 giving Alex Bowman a brief time at the front before Chastain reassumed the lead.
NEW LEADER: It’s Ross! @RossChastain takes control with less than 75 to go! (📺: NBC) pic.twitter.com/J2VSKrDxMd
— NASCAR (@NASCAR) June 26, 2023
Bowman would finally pit on lap 267 turning the lead back over to Chastain. The driver of the No. 1 Chevrolet led 99 of the 300 laps in the race. For Chastain it is his third career win.
Chastain celebrated the win with a watermelon smash at the start finish line and was given a guitar trophy in victory lane.
Ally 400 Results at Nashville Superspeedway
|
POSITION
|
START
|
LED
|
BEHIND
|
|
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
1 |
R. Chastain#1
|
1
|
100
|
Winner
|
|
2 |
M. Truex Jr#19
|
6
|
50
|
0.789
|
|
3 |
D. Hamlin#11
|
8
|
81
|
5.451
|
|
4 |
C. Elliott#9
|
14
|
1
|
8.035
|
|
5 |
K. Larson#5
|
7
|
0
|
9.274
|
|
6 |
W. Byron#24
|
5
|
5
|
10.269
|
|
7 |
C. Bell#20
|
22
|
3
|
11.870
|
|
8 |
E. Jones#43
|
23
|
0
|
13.349
|
|
9 |
K. Busch#8
|
11
|
12
|
13.598
|
|
10 |
A. Allmendinger#16
|
19
|
0
|
13.622
|
|
11 |
B. Keselowski#6
|
20
|
2
|
16.789
|
|
12 |
D. Suárez#99
|
10
|
1
|
20.445
|
|
13 |
A. Dillon#3
|
26
|
0
|
20.591
|
|
14 |
T. Gibbs#54
|
16
|
0
|
21.258
|
|
15 |
B. Wallace#23
|
9
|
0
|
23.736
|
|
16 |
R. Preece#41
|
25
|
0
|
26.250
|
|
17 |
A. Bowman#48
|
15
|
9
|
28.732
|
|
18 |
C. Buescher#17
|
12
|
0
|
29.073
|
|
19 |
J. Logano#22
|
4
|
0
|
29.339
|
|
20 |
C. LaJoie#7
|
36
|
0
|
29.936
|
|
21 |
H. Burton#21
|
31
|
0
|
30.352
|
|
22 |
R. Stenhouse Jr#47
|
28
|
0
|
1 Lap
|
|
23 |
J. Haley#31
|
3
|
0
|
1 Lap
|
|
24 |
K. Harvick#4
|
17
|
0
|
1 Lap
|
|
25 |
A. Almirola#10
|
21
|
0
|
1 Lap
|
|
26 |
N. Gragson#42
|
30
|
0
|
1 Lap
|
|
27 |
A. Cindric#2
|
24
|
0
|
1 Lap
|
|
28 |
M. McDowell#34
|
33
|
0
|
1 Lap
|
|
29 |
J. Yeley#51
|
29
|
0
|
2 Laps
|
|
30 |
T. Reddick#45
|
2
|
33
|
2 Laps
|
|
31 |
C. Briscoe#14
|
18
|
0
|
2 Laps
|
|
32 |
T. Dillon#77
|
34
|
4
|
2 Laps
|
|
33 |
B. Poole#15
|
32
|
0
|
3 Laps
|
|
34 |
J. Bilicki#78
|
35
|
0
|
3 Laps
|
|
35 |
T. Gilliland#38
|
27
|
0
|
4 Laps
|
|
36 |
R. Blaney#12
|
13
|
0
|
154 Laps
|
