NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Kyle Larson brought home an eighth-place result at Nashville Superspeedway in what was a wild ending in Tennessee.
Throughout the day, Larson's No. 5 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet was a mainstay inside the top five. For stages one and two, the Elk Grove, California, native scored stage points with third-places finishes. Coming down the stretch, Larson was again in third when a late-race caution changed the race's outcome.
On the first NASCAR Overtime restart, Larson made contact with the apron in turn one while going for the lead. The resulting crash did not take out the No. 5 team but did bring out another caution. On the ensuing restart, Larson ran out of fuel and another crash ensued in his mirror. Crew chief Cliff Daniels quickly brought his driver onto pit road and thanks to three additional caution flags and several other drivers running out of fuel, Larson was able to finish in the eighth spot.
With the valuable stage points and and his 10th top-10 finish of 2024, Larson now sits as the solo leader atop the regular season points standings.
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Alex Bowman finished the Ally 400 in the 14th position. Despite struggling throughout the final stage, late-race strategy moved Bowman up the running order for the overtime restarts. Come the second-to-final restart, Bowman made his way up to the third position before running out of fuel on the back straightaway. However, the caution flag was deployed before the leaders crossed the start/finish line to take the white flag. Under yellow, Bowman was able to take fuel and drive up to the 14th spot after taking off from 23rd on the final restart.
It was a 18th-place finish for Chase Elliott and the No. 9 team in what was certainly and up-and-down day for the group. During the race, the team was able to score stage points in the second segment with a sixth-place finish. However, to begin stage three, Elliott got loose off of the final corner and spun into the grass. That said, the group was able to recover and advance inside the top-15 spots before the late-race caution flag came out.
Although Elliott did run of out fuel during one of the many overtime restarts, crew chief Alan Gustafson opted to put four tires on the car as his driver was already going to start at the back of the field for pitting while pit road was closed to get fuel. Coming to the checkered flag, Elliott had a similar spin off of turn four but was able to drive through the grass at speed to finish 18th.
William Byron finished Sunday's main event in 19th spot. The No. 24 Valvoline entry scored stage points in the first segment with a seventh-place finish but found himself outside the top 20 after issues in the pits occurred in stage three. As for the late-race restarts, Byron was unable to avoid the accident in turn one during the first restart attempt and received damage to the nose of his No. 24 entry. Despite the setback, Byron was able to avoid the carnage of the next four overtime restarts and finish in the 19th spot.
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Next Sunday, Hendrick Motorsports heads to Chicago, Illinois, for the second ever street race in NASCAR Cup Series history. Tune in to see the main event on Sunday, July 7, on NBC, MRN Radio and Sirius XM NASCAR Radio (Channel 90).