Race 14 of 33: Tennessee Lottery 250 at Nashville Superspeedway
Track Specs: 1.33-mile tri-oval / 188 laps
Race Winner: Justin Allgaier
Zilisch’s finish: 2nd
Chastain’s finish: 5th
Kvapil’s finish: 9th
Smith’s finish: 10th
Justin Allgaier
Justin Allgaier, driver of the No. 8 Hellmann’s Chevrolet, scored his third NASCAR Xfinity Series victory of the season in dominating fashion on Saturday evening, capturing the checkered flag at Nashville Superspeedway after leading for a race-high 101 laps and sweeping both stages en route to the win. With the triumph, Allgaier moves into sole possession of ninth on the NXS all-time wins list, breaking a tie with Jeff Burton. Additionally, the Illinois native extends his lead in the championship standings to 92 points over the field heading into the NXS’s return to Mexico City in two weeks.
“What an unbelievable day. This Hellmann’s Chevrolet was just lights out from the moment we got off the truck. I can’t thank Jim (Pohlman, crew chief) and all the guys on this No. 7 team enough. We have been strong week in and week out and it’s great to be able to come away with another win for them and everyone back at JR Motorsports. I just can’t say thank you enough.”
Connor Zilisch
For the second consecutive race, Connor Zilisch scored a close second-place finish, this time to JR Motorsports teammate Justin Allgaier on Saturday night at Nashville Superspeedway. Zilisch started 10th and and ran much of Stage One with a Chevrolet that was just too tight. He pitted for tires and a round of adjustments under caution on lap 38 and rallied from 17th on the restart to score a 10th-place finish when the first segment ended on lap 45. The driver of the Blues Hog Chevrolet didn’t pit during the stage caution and moved up to sixth when the race went green on lap 53. Zilisch diced for position inside the top five throughout Stage Two and claimed a fourth-place finish when the segment ended on lap 90. Good work by the No. 88 pit crew moved Zilisch up to third when the final stage went green at lap 98. From there, Zilisch was in strong contention for the win. He was leading the race when the caution waved at lap 136 and lined up second for the restart on lap 140. Allgaier took the lead one lap later and never looked back, collecting the victory and leaving Zilisch with a runner-up finish.
“I ran too many laps in dirty air, got tight and just couldn’t quite get there. Really nice job by Justin on that last restart. He executed better than I did and got the lead. Our Blues Hog Chevrolet was really fast tonight. We made all the right adjustments from practice. We weren’t great earlier today but we were able to come home second again. I thought I might be able to get back by him, but clean air was everything. If you had clean air, you were going to prevail on the long run. I’m really happy with the progress that we’ve been making and being frustrated with second is a good thing.”
Ross Chastain
Making his third NASCAR Xfinity Series start of the season, Ross Chastain started ninth at Nashville Superspeedway behind the wheel of the No. 8 Acceptance Insurance Chevrolet. Shortly after the green flag, Chastain worked his way into the top five. During the first caution of the race, Chastain visited pit lane for four tires, fuel and adjustments to help loosen up the No. 9 Chevrolet. With varying pit stop strategies throughout the field, Chastain finished Stage One in 25th. In Stage Two, Chastain worked his way forward again, ultimately taking the green-and-white checkered flag in fifth. With 79 laps remaining, Chastain started 12th and on lap 123 he radioed to the crew that the rear of the car was fixed but he was still tight. With 53 laps to go, the caution came out while Chastain was in sixth. Crew chief Corey Shea called for Chastain to come down pit road for fuel, four tires and adjustments to help with his tight-handling Chevrolet. Chastain restarted seventh, and with 25 laps remaining he was in sixth. With 11 laps to go, Chastain took over the fifth spot from Aric Almirola and remained there over the closing laps to secure the top-five finish.
“Strong effort for our Acceptance Chevy tonight. We were too tight to start so Corey (Shea, crew chief) made adjustments throughout the night. We just didn’t quite have enough at the end, but I can’t thank JR Motorsports enough for the opportunity to drive their car again.”
Carson Kvapil
Carson Kvapil, driver of the No. 1 Bass Pro Shops/Clarience Technologies Chevrolet, took the green flag in sixth position for the 188-lap feature at Nashville Superspeedway on Saturday. Thorough the first two stages, the 22-year-old Mooresville, N.C. native earned valuable stage points after holding his position within the top 10 while avoiding several on-track incidents and battling the handling of his Chevrolet. After a quick stop at the end of Stage Two earned him an extra spot, Kvapil lined up to take the green flag for the final stage in seventh. Settling in for the remaining laps, the rookie held strong, fighting for position inside the top 10 before ultimately taking the checkered flag in ninth.
“We had a solid day overall, but I still don’t feel like it accurately represents the speed this No. 1 team brought this weekend. It’s great to get this Bass Pro Shops/Clarience Technologies Chevy back into the top 10, but we are going to keep working hard every week to try and get better and better.”
Sammy Smith
Sammy Smith, driver of the No. 8 Pilot Chevrolet, started 14th for Saturday night’s NASCAR Xfinity Series event at Nashville Superspeedway. Smith fought a tight car for the majority of the Tennessee Lottery 250 and fluctuated in track position as the crew made set-up adjustments and coached their driver on different lines. In the end, Smith fought hard before coming home with a 10th-place finish.
Once the green flag waved, Smith quickly mentioned being tight on exit, which he worked with until a caution flew on lap 35. That allowed crew chief Phillip Bell to call his driver down pit road for an adjustment. With five laps to go in the stage, Smith drove from 17th to 12th to close out Stage One and show the adjustments were the right move. Heading into State Two, Smith was set to restart eighth after the pit cycle and the car fired off well but got tight again on the long run. Smith had to hold out until the stage end to come to pit road to stay on the team’s strategy. Smith closed out the second stage in 15th before heading down pit road for the crew to take a big swing at the adjustments.
The Pilot crew gained a handful of spots off pit road to see Smith line up 13th for the final stage. After the caution came out once more on lap 135, Smith restarted ninth and fought for a top-10 result over the remaining 49 laps. In the end, the No. 8 Pilot Chevrolet was able to come away with a 10th-place finish.
“Today was tough on this Pilot Chevrolet team. We fought a tight car all day with few opportunities to pit for adjustments, so it was a lot of line work to try and make the car work for us. We’ll take a top-10 away from today and be ready to go in two weeks at Mexico, where it’s going to be a whole new ball game.”