NASCAR

Nashville NASCAR race winners, losers: Joey Logano gets needed win, Kyle Busch bad luck continues

Tom Kreager
Nashville Tennessean

LEBANON — Joey Logano found enough fuel to win his first race of the 2024 NASCAR Cup season to clinch a spot in the 2024 playoffs.

It capped a long day at Nashville Superspeedway, thanks in part to an 81-minute weather delay. Here are our winners and losers from the Ally 400, the fourth NASCAR Cup race at Nashville Superspeedway.

Winners

Joey Logano

Logano needed this win to clinch a spot in the 2024 playoffs. He previously won the all-star race in May. But that was for bragging rights; no points were given. Now he can start getting more sleep after he acknowledged he'd had some restless nights wondering if he'd get a victory this year.

NASCAR Cup Series driver Joey Logano (22) wins the Ally 400 at Nashville Superspeedway in Lebanon, Tenn., Sunday, June 30, 2024.

Nashville Superspeedway

The track sold out the Ally 400 for the second straight year and third time in the four years that it has come to the superspeedway. The race set an NASCAR Cup record with five green-white checkered restarts to finish the race.

Zane Smith

How crazy was this for Zane Smith? He finished second in the Ally 400 and came a straightaway from possibly winning as Logano began to sputter entering Turn 4 of the last lap. Smith's finish is his best of the year. He hadn't even had a top-10 finish in a points race in 2024. His previous best? He finished 13th in the Daytona 500.

NASCAR Cup Series driver Joey Logano (22) crosses the finish line to win the Ally 400 tailed by Zane Smith (71) and Tyler Reddick (45) at Nashville Superspeedway in Lebanon, Tenn., Sunday, June 30, 2024.

Losers

Christopher Bell

Bell had the car to beat. He won the first two stages and appeared on his way to his fourth win of the NASCAR Cup season. He led 132 laps before he spun himself out on Lap 227 while driving in lapped traffic. The wreck put him out of the race; he finished 36th.

Kyle Busch

The 2024 NASCAR season has been a roller-coaster ride for Busch. His car struggled at times, but late in the race he had a top-5 car until all of the restarts. However, he ran into the back of Kyle Larson when Larson ran out of gas after a restart. Busch ended up stopping his car at the finish line, where he eventually left it. Busch finished 27th.

NASCAR Cup Series driver Kyle Busch (8) exits his car after a wreck during the Ally 400 at Nashville Superspeedway in Lebanon, Tenn., Sunday, June 30, 2024.

Ross Chastain

Chastain had a shot at pulling off his second straight Ally 400 win. But the watermelon man was victim to Larson's driving on a restart. Larson went aggressive into Turn 1 and got into Chastain, who was running second. Chastain finished 33rd.

A multi-car crash takes NASCAR Cup Series driver Ross Chastain (1) out of the race during the Ally 400 at Nashville Superspeedway in Lebanon, Tenn., Sunday, June 30, 2024.

Reach Tom Kreager at 615-259-8089 or tkreager@tennessean.com and on the X platformer @Kreager.