LEBANON, Tenn. – With his victory two weeks ago at the Sonoma, Calif. road course, Joe Gibbs Racing driver Martin Truex Jr. has taken over the NASCAR Cup Series championship lead for the first time since a one-week stay there in October 2021.
The 2017 series champion now has a pair of points-paying wins in addition to his season-opening victory in the Busch Light Clash at the Coliseum exhibition – making him the fourth driver with multiple wins on the year and well-equipped with some well-timed momentum as the series heads to Tennessee for Sunday night’s Ally 400 at Nashville Superspeedway (7 p.m. ET on NBC, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
It’s the third triple-header weekend since NASCAR returned to competition at the 1.33-mile concrete oval in 2021 after a 10-year absence.
Only one driver – Hendrick Motorsports’ William Byron – has managed to put together back-to-back victories this season (at Las Vegas and Phoenix) and the three-race winner trails Truex by a slight 13 points in the title run. Team Penske’s Ryan Blaney, who snapped a career-long winless streak with his victory at Charlotte during Memorial Day weekend, is third in the standings tied with Trackhouse Racing’s Ross Chastain, who is still vying for his first trophy of the season but has finished in the top five in both previous races in Nashville. They are 24 points behind Truex, who has yet to score a top-10 finish since NASCAR returned to the 1.33-mile track.
Interestingly, Truex has finished 22nd in both previous NASCAR Cup Series races at Nashville – however the two outings were in complete contrast to one another. In 2021, he failed to lead a lap or earn a single stage point. In 2022, he led 82 laps and won both stages.
One driver hoping to match his previous effort at Nashville is the defending race winner, Hendrick Motorsports’ Chase Elliott. The 2020 series champion has missed seven races this season – six for an injury and one for disciplinary reasons – and sits 27th in the standings, a hefty 84 points outside the Playoff cutoff position. With 10 races remaining in the regular season, Elliott’s most direct path to challenge for a second title is to win a race.
And Nashville presents a prime opportunity. Elliott has won back-to-back races at a track twice previously – at Watkins Glen, N.Y. 2018-19 and the Charlotte Motor Speedway Road Course (2019-2020).
While 10 drivers have essentially guaranteed their Playoff position by virtue of a 2023 victory, six more positions are still up for grabs. Currently Chastain, Kevin Harvick, Chris Buescher, Brad Keselowski, Bubba Wallace and Alex Bowman hold those remaining Playoff spots based on points.
And among the drivers still looking for their first win of the season – Elliott, Harvick, Ryan Preece, Austin Dillon and Keselowski all have past victories at Nashville. Elliott, the defending NASCAR Cup Series race winner, Harvick has a pair of Xfinity Series wins (2006 and 2010), Preece is the two-time defending NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series winner (2021-22), Dillon won the 2011 CRAFTSMAN Truck Series race and Keselowski has a pair of Xfinity Series wins (2008 and 2010).
Practice for the Ally 400 is scheduled for Friday at 6:30 p.m. ET (USA Network), with Busch Light Pole Qualifying Saturday at 1 p.m. ET (USA Network).
