Ross Chastain earns first victory of 2023 as NASCAR Ally 400 Winner

The NASCAR Cup Series has seen multiple championship leaders throughout the 2023 season, including Ross Chastain. Chastain led the way for nearly two full months despite going without a win in the first half of the year. He’d later cede the championship lead thanks to a run of bad results in May and early June. But that changed Sunday night as Chastain earned his first victory of the season as the NASCAR Ally 400 winner.

Ready to feel the roar of the engines? Explore the NASCAR Ally 400 now!

A clean sweep from the pole to the checkered flag

Chastain was on the pace early in Nashville. He was third-fastest on his first run in NASCAR Cup Series qualifying. In the second round, he was the only driver to break 30 seconds, posting a lap time of 29.797. The gap between him and Tyler Reddick in second (0.208 seconds) was bigger than that between Reddick and Kyle Larson in seventh place.

Qualifying dominance led to a front-row start for Sunday’s race. Championship leader Martin Truex Jr. was a few rows back in sixth.

On race day, Chastain was the only driver in the field to finish in the top three spots of all three stages. He led early on and managed second in stage one and third in stage two. Fast pit stops from the Trackhouse Racing crew, specifically on the final round of stops, kept him in good position for the lead late in the race. He’d take the lead from Alex Bowman on lap 266 and hold on for the win. The Joe Gibbs Racing duo of Truex Jr. and Denny Hamlin were less than a second behind him at the finish line.

Rounding out the top five were Hendrick Motorsports teammates Chase Elliott in fourth and Larson in fifth.

Hamlin had the next-most laps led with 81. Truex Jr. led 50 and Reddick led 33 as well.

In being the NASCAR Ally 400 winner, Chastain earned his first win in more than a year. Last Cup Series season’s first race at Talladega was his last victory. He celebrated appropriately with his signature watermelon smash, a nod to his family’s watermelon farm in rural Florida.

What’s next for the Cup Series

With Sunday’s results, the top two at the top of the Cup Series standings remain the same. Truex Jr. leads the way with 576 points, 18 ahead of William Byron. Chastain is now tied with Byron but sits third on a count of Byron’s three wins to Chastain’s one.

With just nine NASCAR races left in the regular season, the NASCAR playoff standings are taking shape. Winners Truex Jr., Byron, Christoper Bell, Kyle Busch, Hamlin, Ryan Blaney, Larson, Joey Logano, Reddick, and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. were all qualified heading into Nashville. As the NASCAR Ally 400 winner, Chastain is the latest driver to add his name to the list.

A new challenge is on the horizon for the Cup Series this weekend: the inaugural Grant Park 220. It’s the only street course of the year in Chicago and drivers will be tackling the circuit for the first time in their careers.

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