The 2021 Ally 400 was a NASCAR Cup Series race held on June 20, 2021, at Nashville Superspeedway in Lebanon, Tennessee. Contested over 300 laps on the superspeedway, it was the 17th race of the 2021 NASCAR Cup Series season.
Report
Background Nashville Superspeedway is a motor racing complex located in Gladeville, Tennessee (though the track has a Lebanon address), United States, about 30 miles (48 km) southeast of Nashville. The track was built in 2001 and is currently used for events, driving schools and GT Academy, a reality television competition.
It is a concrete oval track 1 miles (2.145 km) long. Nashville Superspeedway is owned by Dover Motorsports, Inc., which also owns Dover International Speedway. Nashville Superspeedway was the longest concrete oval in NASCAR during the time it was on the NASCAR Xfinity Series and NASCAR Camping World Truck Series circuits. Current permanent seating capacity is approximately 25,000. Additional portable seats are brought in for some events, and seating capacity can be expanded to 150,000. Infrastructure is in place to expand the facility to include a short track, drag strip, and road course.
On June 3, NASCAR confirmed the track would reopen to host a Cup race in 2021, replacing one of the two Dover dates.
Entry list (R) denotes rookie driver. (i) denotes driver who are ineligible for series driver points.
Driver Team Manufacturer 00 Quin Houff StarCom Racing Chevrolet 1 Kurt Busch Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet 2 Brad Keselowski Team Penske Ford 3 Austin Dillon Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 4 Kevin Harvick Stewart-Haas Racing Ford 5 Kyle Larson Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 6 Ryan Newman Roush Fenway Racing Ford 7 Corey LaJoie Spire Motorsports Chevrolet 8 Tyler Reddick Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 9 Chase Elliott Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 10 Aric Almirola Stewart-Haas Racing Ford 11 Denny Hamlin Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 12 Ryan Blaney Team Penske Ford 13 David Starr (i) MBM Motorsports Toyota 14 Chase Briscoe (R) Stewart-Haas Racing Ford 15 Joey Gase (i) Rick Ware Racing Chevrolet 17 Chris Buescher Roush Fenway Racing Ford 18 Kyle Busch Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 19 Martin Truex Jr. Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 20 Christopher Bell Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 21 Matt DiBenedetto Wood Brothers Racing Ford 22 Joey Logano Team Penske Ford 23 Bubba Wallace 23XI Racing Toyota 24 William Byron Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 34 Michael McDowell Front Row Motorsports Ford 37 Ryan Preece JTG Daugherty Racing Chevrolet 38 Anthony Alfredo (R) Front Row Motorsports Ford 41 Cole Custer Stewart-Haas Racing Ford 42 Ross Chastain Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet 43 Erik Jones Richard Petty Motorsports Chevrolet 47 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. JTG Daugherty Racing Chevrolet 48 Alex Bowman Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 51 J. J. Yeley (i) Petty Ware Racing Chevrolet 52 Josh Bilicki Rick Ware Racing Ford 53 Garrett Smithley (i) Rick Ware Racing Chevrolet 66 Chad Finchum (i) MBM Motorsports Toyota 77 Justin Haley (i) Spire Motorsports Chevrolet 78 B. J. McLeod (i) Live Fast Motorsports Ford 99 Daniel Suárez Trackhouse Racing Team ChevroletOfficial entry list
Practice Hendrick Motorsport teammates William Byron & Kyle Larson were the fastest in the practice session with a time of 29.724 seconds and a speed of .
Practice results Pos Driver Team Manufacturer Time 1 24 William Byron Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 29.724 161.082 2 5 Kyle Larson Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 29.724 161.082 3 9 Chase Elliott Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 29.735 161.022Official practice results
Qualifying Aric Almirola scored the pole for the race with a time of 29.557 seconds and a speed of .
Qualifying results Pos Driver Team Manufacturer Time 110 Aric Almirola Stewart-Haas Racing Ford 29.557 218 Kyle Busch Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 29.572 322 Joey Logano Team Penske Ford 29.583 424 William Byron Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 29.612 55 Kyle Larson Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 29.648 69 Chase Elliott Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 29.722 741 Cole Custer Stewart-Haas Racing Ford 29.752 848 Alex Bowman Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 29.811 943 Erik Jones Richard Petty Motorsports Chevrolet 29.835 1012 Ryan Blaney Team Penske Ford 29.837 1121 Matt DiBenedetto Wood Brothers Racing Ford 29.839 124 Kevin Harvick Stewart-Haas Racing Ford 29.898 1311 Denny Hamlin Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 29.905 1447 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. JTG Daugherty Racing Chevrolet 29.925 152 Brad Keselowski Team Penske Ford 29.934 1614 Chase Briscoe (R) Stewart-Haas Racing Ford 29.945 1717 Chris Buescher Roush Fenway Racing Ford 29.986 1838 Anthony Alfredo (R) Front Row Motorsports Ford 29.998 1942 Ross Chastain Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet 30.003 2037 Ryan Preece JTG Daugherty Racing Chevrolet 30.027 2123 Bubba Wallace 23XI Racing Toyota 30.048 2299 Daniel Suárez Trackhouse Racing Team Chevrolet 30.098 2334 Michael McDowell Front Row Motorsports Ford 30.104 247 Corey LaJoie Spire Motorsports Chevrolet 30.144 2520 Christopher Bell Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 30.169 268 Tyler Reddick Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 30.207 2777 Justin Haley (i) Spire Motorsports Chevrolet 30.215 283 Austin Dillon Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 30.235 296 Ryan Newman Roush Fenway Racing Ford 30.250 301 Kurt Busch Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet 30.299 3178 B. J. McLeod (i) Live Fast Motorsports Ford 30.375 3251 J. J. Yeley (i) Rick Ware Racing Chevrolet 30.555 3366 Chad Finchum (i) MBM Motorsports Toyota 30.804 3452 Josh Bilicki Rick Ware Racing Ford 30.821 3519 Martin Truex Jr. Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 30.931 3653 Garrett Smithley (i) Rick Ware Racing Chevrolet 31.091 3715 Joey Gase (i) Rick Ware Racing Chevrolet 31.145 3813 David Starr (i) MBM Motorsports Toyota 31.691 3900 Quin Houff StarCom Racing Chevrolet 0.000Official qualifying results
Race
Stage Results
Stage One Laps: 90
Pos Driver Team Manufacturer Points1 1 Kurt Busch Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet 102 5 Kyle Larson Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 93 99 Daniel Suárez Trackhouse Racing Team Chevrolet 84 18 Kyle Busch Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 75 3 Austin Dillon Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 66 47 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. JTG Daugherty Racing Chevrolet 57 2 Brad Keselowski Team Penske Ford 48 22 Joey Logano Team Penske Ford 39 21 Matt DiBenedetto Wood Brothers Racing Ford 210 11 Denny Hamlin Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 1Official stage one results
Stage Two Laps: 95
Pos Driver Team Manufacturer Points1 5 Kyle Larson Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 102 3 Austin Dillon Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 93 14 Chase Briscoe (R) Stewart-Haas Racing Ford 84 24 William Byron Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 75 18 Kyle Busch Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 66 11 Denny Hamlin Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 57 47 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. JTG Daugherty Racing Chevrolet 48 10 Aric Almirola Stewart-Haas Racing Ford 39 4 Kevin Harvick Stewart-Haas Racing Ford 210 1 Kurt Busch Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet 1Official stage two results
Final Stage Results
Stage Three Laps: 115
Pos Grid Driver Team Manufacturer Laps Points1 5 5 Kyle Larson Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 300 592 19 42 Ross Chastain Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet 300 353 4 24 William Byron Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 300 414 1 10 Aric Almirola Stewart-Haas Racing Ford 300 365 12 4 Kevin Harvick Stewart-Haas Racing Ford 300 346 14 47 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. JTG Daugherty Racing Chevrolet 300 407 22 99 Daniel Suárez Trackhouse Racing Team Chevrolet 300 388 30 1 Kurt Busch Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet 300 409 25 20 Christopher Bell Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 300 2810 3 22 Joey Logano Team Penske Ford 300 3011 2 18 Kyle Busch Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 300 3912 28 3 Austin Dillon Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 300 4013 29 6 Ryan Newman Roush Fenway Racing Ford 300 2414 8 48 Alex Bowman Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 300 2315 24 7 Corey LaJoie Spire Motorsports Chevrolet 300 2216 23 34 Michael McDowell Front Row Motorsports Ford 300 2117 18 38 Anthony Alfredo (R) Front Row Motorsports Ford 300 2018 26 8 Tyler Reddick Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 300 1919 9 43 Erik Jones Richard Petty Motorsports Chevrolet 300 1820 21 23 Bubba Wallace 23XI Racing Toyota 299 1721 13 11 Denny Hamlin Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 299 2222 35 19 Martin Truex Jr. Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 299 1523 15 2 Brad Keselowski Team Penske Ford 299 1824 11 21 Matt DiBenedetto Wood Brothers Racing Ford 298 1525 36 53 Garrett Smithley (i) Rick Ware Racing Chevrolet 298 026 34 52 Josh Bilicki Rick Ware Racing Ford 298 1127 32 51 J. J. Yeley (i) Petty Ware Racing Chevrolet 298 028 31 78 B. J. McLeod (i) Live Fast Motorsports Ford 295 029 37 15 Joey Gase (i) Rick Ware Racing Chevrolet 295 030 7 41 Cole Custer Stewart-Haas Racing Ford 252 731 16 14 Chase Briscoe (R) Stewart-Haas Racing Ford 227 1432 20 37 Ryan Preece JTG Daugherty Racing Chevrolet 197 533 33 66 Chad Finchum (i) MBM Motorsports Toyota 143 034 38 13 David Starr (i) MBM Motorsports Toyota 126 035 27 77 Justin Haley (i) Spire Motorsports Chevrolet 79 036 17 17 Chris Buescher Roush Fenway Racing Ford 77 137 10 12 Ryan Blaney Team Penske Ford 53 138 39 00 Quin Houff StarCom Racing Chevrolet 0 1DSQ 6 9 Chase Elliott Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 300 1Official race results
Race statistics Lead changes: 14 among 7 different drivers Cautions/Laps: 11 for 60 Red flags: 0 Time of race: 3 hours, 30 minutes and 23 seconds Average speed:
Media
Television NBC Sports covered the race on the television side. Rick Allen, Jeff Burton, Steve Letarte and Dale Earnhardt Jr. called the race from the broadcast booth. Parker Kligerman, Marty Snider and Kelli Stavast handled the pit road duties from pit lane. Rutledge Wood handled the features from the track.
NBCSNBooth announcersPit reportersFeatures reporter Lap-by-lap: Rick AllenColor-commentator: Jeff BurtonColor-commentator: Steve LetarteColor-commentator: Dale Earnhardt Jr. Parker KligermanMarty SniderKelli Stavast Rutledge Wood
Radio Radio coverage of the race was broadcast by Motor Racing Network (MRN) and simulcast on Sirius XM NASCAR Radio.
MRNBooth announcersTurn announcersPit reporters Lead announcer: Alex HaydenAnnouncer: Jeff Striegle Turns 1 & 2: Dave MoodyTurns 3 & 4: Kyle Rickey Steve PostKim Coon
Social Media The race was attended by many social media influencers including John P. Clark lll
Standings after the race
Drivers' Championship standings Pos Driver Points 1 Denny Hamlin 686 2 Kyle Larson 676 (–10) 1 3 William Byron 605 (–81) 1 4 Chase Elliott 592 (–94) 5 Joey Logano 578 (–108) 1 6 Kyle Busch 559 (–127) 1 7 Martin Truex Jr. 542 (–144) 1 8 Kevin Harvick 517 (–169) 1 9 Ryan Blaney 510 (–176) 10 Brad Keselowski 491 (–195) 1 11 Austin Dillon 476 (–210) 1 12 Alex Bowman 470 (–216) 13 Tyler Reddick 417 (–269) 1 14 Christopher Bell 392 (–294) 1 15 Chris Buescher 392 (–294) 16 Michael McDowell 376 (–310)Official driver's standings
Manufacturers' Championship standings Pos Manufacturer Points 1 Chevrolet 627 2 Ford 589 (–38) 3 Toyota 575 (–52)
Note: Only the first 16 positions are included for the driver standings. . – Driver has clinched a position in the NASCAR Cup Series playoffs.
Notes
References