The 2023 Music City 200 was the 3rd stock car race of the 2023 ARCA Menards Series East season, and the 3rd iteration of the event. The race was held on Saturday, May 13, 2023, at the Nashville Fairgrounds Speedway in Nashville, Tennessee, a 0.596 mile (0.959 km) permanent asphalt oval shaped short track. The race was originally scheduled to be contested over 200 laps, but was increased to 205 laps, due to a NASCAR overtime finish. In an action packed finish, Luke Fenhaus, driving for Pinnacle Racing Group, would steal the win from the dominating William Sawalich, taking the lead on the final restart and leading the final lap to earn his first career ARCA Menards Series East win. Sawalich had dominated the entire race, leading all but three laps, but eventually lost the lead on the final restart, finishing 2nd. To fill out the podium, Sean Hingorani, driving for Venturini Motorsports, would finish in 3rd, respectively.

Report

Background

Nashville Fairgrounds Speedway is a motorsport racetrack located at the Nashville Fairgrounds near downtown Nashville, Tennessee. The track is the second-oldest continually operating track in the United States. The track held NASCAR Grand National/Winston Cup (now NASCAR Cup Series) races from 1958 to 1984.

The speedway is currently an 18 degree banked paved oval. The track is long. Inside the larger oval is a paved oval.

The track was converted to a paved oval in 1957, when it began to be a NASCAR series track. The speedway was lengthened between the 1969 and 1970 seasons. The corners were cut down from 35 degrees to their present 18 degrees in 1972. The track was repaved between the 1995 and 1996 seasons.

Entry list (R) denotes rookie driver.

#DriverTeamMakeSponsor01Brayton LasterFast Track RacingToyotaRunning's Racing Designs1Jake FinchPhoenix RacingToyotaPhoenix Construction06Nate MoellerWayne Peterson RacingToyotaWayne Peterson Racing6Lavar Scott (R)Rev RacingChevroletMax Siegel Inc.10Tim MonroeFast Track RacingFordUniversal Technical Institute11Zachary TinkleFast Track RacingToyotaNASCAR Foundation NASCAR Day Giveathon12Stephanie MoyerFast Track RacingChevroletMark Rumbold Farms / UTI15Sean Hingorani (R)Venturini MotorsportsToyotaGearWrench18William Sawalich (R)Joe Gibbs RacingToyotaStarkey / SoundGear20Gio RuggieroVenturini MotorsportsToyotaYahoo! / Mobil 128Luke Fenhaus (R)Pinnacle Racing GroupChevroletChevrolet Performance31Rita Goulet (R)Rise MotorsportsChevroletRise Motorsports48Brad SmithBrad Smith MotorsportsChevroletInsta-Lub Fast Lube Centers95Tanner ArmsMAN MotorsportsToyotaSunset Park RV Manufacturing98Dale ShearerShearer Speed RacingToyotaShearer Speed RacingOfficial entry list

Practice The first and only practice session was held on Saturday, May 13, at 2:00 PM CST, and would last for 60 minutes. William Sawalich, driving for Joe Gibbs Racing, would set the fastest time in the session, with a lap of 19.683, and a speed of . Pos.#DriverTeamMakeTimeSpeed118William Sawalich (R)Joe Gibbs RacingToyota19.683109.008220Gio RuggieroVenturini MotorsportsToyota19.808108.320328Luke Fenhaus (R)Pinnacle Racing GroupChevrolet19.895107.846Full practice results

Qualifying Qualifying was held on Saturday, May 13, at 4:00 PM CST. The qualifying system used is a single-car, two-lap based system. All drivers will be on track by themselves and will have two laps to post a qualifying time. The driver who sets the fastest time in qualifying will win the pole.

William Sawalich, driving for Joe Gibbs Racing, would score the pole for the race, with a lap of 19.415, and a speed of .

Qualifying results Pos.#DriverTeamMakeTimeSpeed118William Sawalich (R)Joe Gibbs RacingToyota19.415110.512220Gio RuggieroVenturini MotorsportsToyota19.454110.291315Sean Hingorani (R)Venturini MotorsportsToyota19.589109.531428Luke Fenhaus (R)Pinnacle Racing GroupChevrolet19.682109.01356Lavar Scott (R)Rev RacingChevrolet19.745108.665695Tanner ArmsMAN MotorsportsToyota19.898107.830711Zachary TinkleFast Track RacingToyota20.006107.248810Tim MonroeFast Track RacingFord21.51699.721912Stephanie MoyerFast Track RacingChevrolet22.27696.3191001Brayton LasterFast Track RacingToyota22.48795.4151131Rita Goulet (R)Rise MotorsportsChevrolet22.55295.1401298Dale ShearerShearer Speed RacingToyota23.20992.4471348Brad SmithBrad Smith MotorsportsChevrolet25.06585.601141Jake FinchPhoenix RacingToyota––1506Nate MoellerWayne Peterson RacingToyota––Official qualifying results

Race results FinSt#DriverTeamMakeLapsLedStatusPts1428Luke Fenhaus (R)Pinnacle Racing GroupChevrolet2052Running472118William Sawalich (R)Joe Gibbs RacingToyota205202Running453315Sean Hingorani (R)Venturini MotorsportsToyota2051Running424220Gio RuggieroVenturini MotorsportsToyota2050Running405141Jake FinchPhoenix RacingToyota2050Running39656Lavar Scott (R)Rev RacingChevrolet2050Running387711Zachary TinkleFast Track RacingToyota2030Running378695Tanner ArmsMAN MotorsportsToyota1960Running369810Tim MonroeFast Track RacingFord1920Running35101298Dale ShearerShearer Speed RacingToyota1760Running34111131Rita Goulet (R)Rise MotorsportsChevrolet1460Accident33121348Brad SmithBrad Smith MotorsportsChevrolet870Mechanical3213912Stephanie MoyerFast Track RacingChevrolet200Mechanical31141001Brayton LasterFast Track RacingToyota180Fuel Pressure30151506Nate MoellerWayne Peterson RacingToyota100Brakes29Official race results

Standings after the race

Drivers' Championship standings Pos Driver Points 1 William Sawalich 135 1 2 Luke Fenhaus 130 (-5) 1 3 Jake Finch 128 (–7) 2 4 Sean Hingorani 116 (–19) 1 5 Lavar Scott 116 (–19) 1 6 Zachary Tinkle 112 (–23) 1 7 Tim Monroe 97 (–38) 2 8 Dale Shearer 94 (–41) 9 Rita Goulet 94 (–41) 4 10 Tanner Arms 72 (–63)

Note: Only the first 10 positions are included for the driver standings.

References