NASCAR Weekend Recap: Ross Chastain & Trackhouse Racing Dominate Nashville

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Ross Chastain celebrating his Ally 400 win on Victory Lane. Photo: Courtesy of Trackhouse Racing

The third annual triple header NASCAR weekend at the Nashville Superspeedway ended with Trackhouse Racing’s Ross Chastain taking home the Ally 400 Gibson Guitar trophy for his first Cup Series win of the season.

With the playoffs right around the corner, the pressure was building as Chastain scored a win to punch his ticket to the playoffs yet, but that changed in Music City as he had one of the fastest cars in practice and went on to win the Busch Light Pole Award, his first and Trackhouse’s first-ever pole win. During the night race, Chastain led 99 of the 300 laps and was able to hold off Martin Truex Jr. at the end.

Ross Chastain on Victory Lane at the Nashville Superspeedway. Photo: Courtesy of Trackhouse Racing

“It’s absolutely incredible the fight that we have,” Chastain said postgame on NBC. “This is why every little kid out there anywhere in the world, when you get criticized, and you’re going to if you’re competitive, they will try to tear you down. You will start believing you can’t do it. You have to go to your people, trust in the process, read your books, trust the Big Man’s plan upstairs, just keep getting up and going to work.

“I got to tell you; I’ve had a lot of self-reflection throughout all this. I had a group that believed in me, and they didn’t let me get down. They bring rocket ships and I just try to point them to Victory Lane.”

Chastain couldn’t celebrate without smashing a watermelon on the finish line after nearly destroying his tires in an epic burnout in front of a sold-out crowd. It was a statement win for both him and his team as a legit contender in NASCAR as well as this season. Chastain has had his ups and downs so far, but they all got wiped out with the amazing win. Trackhouse Racing has solidified itself as Nashville’s team.

“It’s just so hard at this level,” said Chastain. “I don’t care about what happened last month or the rest of my life – this is a freaking Cup win baby.”

Ross Chastain’s No. 1 Worldwide Express WWEX Racing Chevrolet. Photo: Courtesy of Trackhouse Racing

On Saturday night, veteran driver A.J. Allmendinger took home a Gibson Guitar trophy after dominating the Tennessee Lottery 250, savvy enough to persist through all types of circumstances and experienced enough to soak in every winning moment.

Allmendinger survived several early multi-car wrecks, hung on through two overtime restarts and powered his way to victory lane in the NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Nashville Superspeedway.

Driving the No. 10 Chevrolet for Kaulig Racing, Allmendinger collected his second Xfinity Series victory for the season and the 17th of his career. Allmendinger is starting 19th in the sold-out Ally 400 NASCAR Cup Series race.

“This is one of those iconic trophies you want to win,” said Allmendinger, who led 25 laps overall, before lifting the traditional Nashville Superspeedway Gibson Guitar in Victory Lane. “You never know when you’ll be back here again.”

The 41-year-old California native started 11th and made his way through a race that had seven caution flags fly through the first 70 laps and eight multi-car wrecks. The caution flags tied a Nashville Superspeedway Xfinity Series record.

Allmendinger held the lead for the last 20 laps, including the two overtime restarts, where he held firm on the bottom of the track as the field spread out three and even four-wide behind him.

A.J. Allmendinger. Photo: Courtesy of the Nashville Superspeedway

On Friday night, Carson Hocevar came up victorious at the Rackley Roofing 200 in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series.

Hocevar led the last 40 laps of the race, and celebrated with a huge burnout in front of the main grandstand as fireworks shot over the backstretch and collected a $50,000 bonus for winning the final race of the Triple Truck Challenge.

“I’m enjoying this [stretch of races] a lot right now,” said Hocevar, who has finished in the top 5 in five straight races and posted the field’s top practice speed on Friday afternoon. “I enjoy it especially because I get to hold a trophy.”

Driving the No. 42 Chevrolet for Niece Motorsports, Hocevar captured his second Truck Series race on the season and earned his sixth top-five finish. The 20-year-old Michigan native started seventh and steadily made his way up, finishing fourth after Stage One and second after Stage Two.

“I hope that puts away any doubters,” Hocevar said. “I hope I get to drive this truck for a long time.”

Carson Hocevar. Photo: Courtesy of the Nashville Superspeedway

Hocevar completed the 150 laps/200 miles in one hour, 57 minutes, 16 seconds, averaging 102.0675 mph with 18 trucks finishing on the lead lap. Seven leaders exchanged the lead nine times with seven caution periods taking up 43 laps.

Next week, NASCAR will take on the streets of Chicago in what is expected to be a wild weekend during which stock cars will race through downtown Chicago with Lake Michigan in the backdrop.

Steven Boero
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