2021 Ally 400 Explained

Type:	CUST
Description:	Race 17 of 36 in the 2021 NASCAR Cup Series
Race Name:	Ally 400
Details Ref:	^[1] ^[2] ^[3] ^[4] ^[5] ^[6] ^[7]
Year:	2021
Location:	Nashville Superspeedway in Lebanon, Tennessee
Course Mi:	1.333
Course Km:	2.145
Distance Laps:	300
Distance Mi:	400
Distance Km:	640
Avg:	113.792mph
Pole Driver:	Aric Almirola
Pole Team:	Stewart-Haas Racing
Pole Time:	29.557
Most Driver:	Kyle Larson
Most Team:	Hendrick Motorsports
Most Laps:	264
Car:	5
First Driver:	Kyle Larson
First Team:	Hendrick Motorsports
Network:	NBCSN
Announcers:	Rick Allen, Jeff Burton, Steve Letarte and Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Ratings:	1.46/2.590 million
Radio:	MRN
Booth Ann:	Alex Hayden and Jeff Striegle
Turn Ann:	Dave Moody (1–2) and Kyle Rickey (3–4)

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 1.333miles 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.^[8]

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.^[9]

Entry list

• (R) denotes rookie driver.
• (i) denotes driver who are ineligible for series driver points.

	Driver	Team	Manufacturer
00			Chevrolet
1			Chevrolet
2			Ford
3			Chevrolet
4			Ford
5			Chevrolet
6			Ford
7			Chevrolet
8			Chevrolet
9			Chevrolet
10			Ford
11			Toyota
12			Ford
13	David Starr (i)		Toyota
14	Chase Briscoe (R)		Ford
15	Joey Gase (i)		Chevrolet
17			Ford
18			Toyota
19			Toyota
20			Toyota
21			Ford
22			Ford
23			Toyota
24			Chevrolet
34			Ford
37			Chevrolet
38	Anthony Alfredo (R)		Ford
41			Ford
42			Chevrolet
43			Chevrolet
47			Chevrolet
48			Chevrolet
51	J. J. Yeley (i)		Chevrolet
52			Ford
53	Garrett Smithley (i)		Chevrolet
66	Chad Finchum (i)		Toyota
77	Justin Haley (i)		Chevrolet
78	B. J. McLeod (i)		Ford
99			Chevrolet
Official 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 161.082mph.^[10]

Practice results

Pos		Driver	Team	Manufacturer	Time
1	24				29.724	161.082
2	5				29.724	161.082
3	9				29.735	161.022
Official practice results

Qualifying

Aric Almirola scored the pole for the race with a time of 29.557 seconds and a speed of 161.992mph.^[11]

Qualifying results

Pos		Driver	Team	Manufacturer	Time
1	10			Ford	29.557
2	18			Toyota	29.572
3	22			Ford	29.583
4	24			Chevrolet	29.612
5	5			Chevrolet	29.648
6	9			Chevrolet	29.722
7	41			Ford	29.752
8	48			Chevrolet	29.811
9	43			Chevrolet	29.835
10	12			Ford	29.837
11	21			Ford	29.839
12	4			Ford	29.898
13	11			Toyota	29.905
14	47			Chevrolet	29.925
15	2			Ford	29.934
16	14	Chase Briscoe (R)		Ford	29.945
17	17			Ford	29.986
18	38	Anthony Alfredo (R)		Ford	29.998
19	42			Chevrolet	30.003
20	37			Chevrolet	30.027
21	23			Toyota	30.048
22	99			Chevrolet	30.098
23	34			Ford	30.104
24	7			Chevrolet	30.144
25	20			Toyota	30.169
26	8			Chevrolet	30.207
27	77	Justin Haley (i)		Chevrolet	30.215
28	3			Chevrolet	30.235
29	6			Ford	30.250
30	1			Chevrolet	30.299
31	78	B. J. McLeod (i)		Ford	30.375
32	51	J. J. Yeley (i)		Chevrolet	30.555
33	66	Chad Finchum (i)		Toyota	30.804
34	52			Ford	30.821
35	19			Toyota	30.931
36	53	Garrett Smithley (i)		Chevrolet	31.091
37	15	Joey Gase (i)		Chevrolet	31.145
38	13	David Starr (i)		Toyota	31.691
39	00			Chevrolet	0.000
Official qualifying results

Race

Aric Almirola won the pole in qualifying. Quin Houff got into the wall on the first lap. Ryan Blaney slammed the wall hard after losing his brakes. Chris Buescher got into the wall along with Justin Haley. Kurt Busch won the first stage while Kyle Larson won the second. Several had brake issues that caused them to get into the wall including Ryan Preece and Chase Briscoe. Larson was able to save enough fuel to hold off Ross Chastain for his third consecutive win and fourth of the season.

Stage Results

Stage OneLaps: 90

Pos		Driver	Team	Manufacturer	Points
1	1	Kurt Busch	Chip Ganassi Racing	Chevrolet	10
2	5	Kyle Larson	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	9
3	99	Daniel Suárez	Trackhouse Racing Team	Chevrolet	8
4	18	Kyle Busch	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	7
5	3	Austin Dillon	Richard Childress Racing	Chevrolet	6
6	47	Ricky Stenhouse Jr.	JTG Daugherty Racing	Chevrolet	5
7	2	Brad Keselowski	Team Penske	Ford	4
8	22	Joey Logano	Team Penske	Ford	3
9	21	Matt DiBenedetto	Wood Brothers Racing	Ford	2
10	11	Denny Hamlin	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	1
Official stage one results

Stage TwoLaps: 95

Pos		Driver	Team	Manufacturer	Points
1	5	Kyle Larson	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	10
2	3	Austin Dillon	Richard Childress Racing	Chevrolet	9
3	14	Chase Briscoe (R)	Stewart-Haas Racing	Ford	8
4	24	William Byron	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	7
5	18	Kyle Busch	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	6
6	11	Denny Hamlin	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	5
7	47	Ricky Stenhouse Jr.	JTG Daugherty Racing	Chevrolet	4
8	10	Aric Almirola	Stewart-Haas Racing	Ford	3
9	4	Kevin Harvick	Stewart-Haas Racing	Ford	2
10	1	Kurt Busch	Chip Ganassi Racing	Chevrolet	1
Official stage two results

Final Stage Results

Stage ThreeLaps: 115

Pos	Grid		Driver	Team	Manufacturer	Laps	Points
1	5	5	Kyle Larson	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	300	59
2	19	42	Ross Chastain	Chip Ganassi Racing	Chevrolet	300	35
3	4	24	William Byron	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	300	41
4	1	10	Aric Almirola	Stewart-Haas Racing	Ford	300	36
5	12	4	Kevin Harvick	Stewart-Haas Racing	Ford	300	34
6	14	47	Ricky Stenhouse Jr.	JTG Daugherty Racing	Chevrolet	300	40
7	22	99	Daniel Suárez	Trackhouse Racing Team	Chevrolet	300	38
8	30	1	Kurt Busch	Chip Ganassi Racing	Chevrolet	300	40
9	25	20	Christopher Bell	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	300	28
10	3	22	Joey Logano	Team Penske	Ford	300	30
11	2	18	Kyle Busch	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	300	39
12	28	3	Austin Dillon	Richard Childress Racing	Chevrolet	300	40
13	29	6	Ryan Newman	Roush Fenway Racing	Ford	300	24
14	8	48	Alex Bowman	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	300	23
15	24	7	Corey LaJoie	Spire Motorsports	Chevrolet	300	22
16	23	34	Michael McDowell	Front Row Motorsports	Ford	300	21
17	18	38	Anthony Alfredo (R)	Front Row Motorsports	Ford	300	20
18	26	8	Tyler Reddick	Richard Childress Racing	Chevrolet	300	19
19	9	43	Erik Jones	Richard Petty Motorsports	Chevrolet	300	18
20	21	23	Bubba Wallace	23XI Racing	Toyota	299	17
21	13	11	Denny Hamlin	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	299	22
22	35	19	Martin Truex Jr.	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	299	15
23	15	2	Brad Keselowski	Team Penske	Ford	299	18
24	11	21	Matt DiBenedetto	Wood Brothers Racing	Ford	298	15
25	36	53	Garrett Smithley (i)	Rick Ware Racing	Chevrolet	298	0
26	34	52	Josh Bilicki	Rick Ware Racing	Ford	298	11
27	32	51	J. J. Yeley (i)	Petty Ware Racing	Chevrolet	298	0
28	31	78	B. J. McLeod (i)	Live Fast Motorsports	Ford	295	0
29	37	15	Joey Gase (i)	Rick Ware Racing	Chevrolet	295	0
30	7	41	Cole Custer	Stewart-Haas Racing	Ford	252	7
31	16	14	Chase Briscoe (R)	Stewart-Haas Racing	Ford	227	14
32	20	37	Ryan Preece	JTG Daugherty Racing	Chevrolet	197	5
33	33	66	Chad Finchum (i)	MBM Motorsports	Toyota	143	0
34	38	13	David Starr (i)	MBM Motorsports	Toyota	126	0
35	27	77	Justin Haley (i)	Spire Motorsports	Chevrolet	79	0
36	17	17	Chris Buescher	Roush Fenway Racing	Ford	77	1
37	10	12	Ryan Blaney	Team Penske	Ford	53	1
38	39	00	Quin Houff	StarCom Racing	Chevrolet	0	1
DSQ	6	9	Chase Elliott	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	300	1
Official 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: 113.792mph

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.

Radio

Radio coverage of the race was broadcast by Motor Racing Network (MRN) and simulcast on Sirius XM NASCAR Radio.

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 and References

1. Web site: 2021 schedule . Jayski.com. . May 18, 2021.
2. Web site: Nashville Superspeedway . May 16, 2021 . https://web.archive.org/web/20050413012726/http://www.nashvillesuperspeedway.com/aboutUs.html . 13 April 2005 . dead.
3. Web site: Entry List. Jayski.com. Jayski's Silly Season Site. June 14, 2021. June 14, 2021.
4. Web site: Practice Results. NASCAR.com. NASCAR Media Group, LLC.. June 19, 2021. June 19, 2021.
5. Web site: Qualifying Results. NASCAR.com. NASCAR Media Group, LLC.. June 20, 2021. June 20, 2021.
6. Web site: Ally 400 Results. NASCAR.com. NASCAR. June 20, 2021. June 20, 2021.
7. Web site: Points standings. Jayski.com. Jayski's Silly Season Site. June 20, 2021. June 20, 2021.
8. Web site: 2021 NASCAR Cup Series schedule release: Dirt track racing returns, road racing set at COTA and Road America. 2020-10-08. CBSSports.com. en.
9. News: Albert. Zack. NASCAR Cup Series to race at Nashville Superspeedway in 2021. NASCAR. June 3, 2020. June 3, 2020.
10. Web site: Utter. Jim. Hendrick drivers lead Cup practice at Nashville. Motorsport.com. Motorsport Network. June 19, 2021. Lebanon, Tennessee. June 19, 2021.
11. Web site: Utter. Jim. Aric Almirola takes surprise pole in first Nashville Cup race. Motorsport.com. Motorsport Network. June 20, 2021. Lebanon, Tennessee. June 20, 2021.