Race Guide: What To Know Before Sunday’s Ally 400 At Nashville Superspeedway

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After months of anticipation, promotion, and additional sponsorships, the Ally 400 at the Nashville Superspeedway will finally be here this Sunday, June 20.

Many of this weekend’s drivers have never raced at the Lebanon track, and those who have, haven’t done so since 2010. On top of that, Nashville Superspeedway is one of only four tracks that are concrete instead of asphalt. The other concrete tracks are Dover, Bristol, and Martinsville, and so far this season those three races have been some of the most exciting ones fans have been able to see.

So what should fans expect from a race where most of the drivers have never practiced on the track?

102.5 The Game’s Chase McCabe thinks fans should look out for Kyle Larson, Alex Bowman, and former Nashville Superspeedway winner Kyle Busch.

“I expect to see Kyle Larson up front with the run he’s having,” says McCabe. “You can’t rule Hendrick Motorsports out.”

McCabe, a Nashville native and lifelong NASCAR fan, co-hosts 102.5 the Game’s midday show with Darren McFarland and Bally Sports’ Willy Daunic. He also hosts a NASCAR podcast called Chasing Checkers which has recently featured many superstar drivers leading up to this weekend’s race. McCabe has seen the city’s sports industry grow so much over the past two decades, which includes seeing NASCAR come to the Superspeedway, leave Nashville altogether, then ultimately come back for this highly anticipated reunion.

“I’ve been a fan since I was a kid, so to see it come back in full form in the cup series is really awesome,” says McCabe. “I grew up going to races, whether it was at the fairgrounds or at the Superspeedway when it opened in 2001.”

McCabe sees Larson as the driver to watch this weekend as he’s shown some impressive driving so far this season. Larson has already notched four wins this year, winning three of the last four races. However, even with some steam behind him, the Nashville track won’t be a cake walk. Larson will have to fight off his Hendrick Motorsports teammates, like 2020 champion Chase Elliot and 2021 Dover winner Alex Bowman.

Martin Truex Jr. has experience at the track along with Joey Logano and Kyle Busch, which could give the trio a small advantage. Busch has raced in 10 Xfinity races at the Nashville Superspeedway with one win and two truck series races, winning both.

“I’m thinking [Busch] is a beast that is ready to wake up and really start to win some things,” comments McCabe. 

Since NASCAR’s departure from Nashville in 2011, McCabe says the city has been hungry for motorsports and is not surprised over the Ally 400 impressive sellout. During NASCAR’s former residency at the Superspeedway, the track only hosted the truck series and the Xfinity Series (then Busch Series), meaning that the city hasn’t seen Cup Series racing since 1984.

“I have seen a thirst and hunger for it. If you look at the roots of NASCAR, Nashville is a part of it,” says McCabe. “People around here missed it and they were disappointed that the fairgrounds got into the shape it was in–run down and not taken care of–and lost the Cup Series races.”

NASCAR won’t be the only motorsports shown in town this summer with the Big Machine Music City Grand Prix IndyCar race in Nashville in August and the new Superstar Racing Experience in July featuring legendary drivers like Tony Stewart, Michael Waltrip, and four-time Indy 500 winner Hélio Castroneves at the Fairgrounds Racetrack. With racing starting to make its move back to Nashville, McCabe credits the work and success that the Titans and Predators have had to NASCAR’s prodigal return.

“I think as people looked at how the city was growing with the success of the Titans, the Predators bringing other events, and the Music City Center growing, it started to make more sense to have NASCAR come back here,” McCabe says. “They wanted to be here.”

The weekend is set for three full days of events and racing, including practices and qualifiers for each of the three races. As mentioned before, many of these drivers have either never raced at the Nashville Superspeedway or haven’t done so in quite a while. In that sense, it nearly evens the playing field and will make for an entertaining race weekend. The race in Nashville will mark the first of the final 10 races of the regular season, so fans can expect to see things start to heat up among drivers and teams fighting for a playoff spot.

“I think you could expect a little bit of the unexpected,” says McCabe. “You see the evolution of the race cars, I think its going to be different. I expect it to be fast and exciting. With the package they’re going to run, I hope to see side by side racing.”

Steven Boero
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