Kyle Larson won again.
Larson won the first Cup Series race at Nashville Superspeedway on Sunday in dominating fashion for his third consecutive points race victory and his fourth consecutive Cup Series win.
Larson led over 260 of the race’s 300 laps and was virtually unchallenged at any point throughout the race. While the caution-filled race featured many drivers who rotated in and out of the top 10, Larson was the constant at the front.
That’s been the story of his spring and early summer so far. Larson has four points wins in the Cup Series and has been the fastest driver in the series even if he doesn’t have the points lead. Larson backed up his wins in points races a week ago at the All-Star Race when he had the fastest car and won the exhibition event for the first time.
Hendrick Motorsports almost got a fifth-straight 1-2 finish but Ross Chastain passed William Byron for second in the waning laps. Byron was third.
“We never really had to run behind people, so I don’t know,” Larson said after climbing from his car about his car in traffic. “If one of my teammates got out front again, it would have been hard to pass them.”
Aric Almirola finished fourth while his Stewart-Haas Racing teammate Kevin Harvick was fifth. Almirola won the pole for the race and it was a much-needed top five for Almirola after he’s spent the entire season outside the top 25 in points.
Brake failures
Sunday’s race featured NASCAR’s higher horsepower (750 HP) and lower downforce rules combination at the 1.33-mile track. That meant drivers were using their brakes more than they typically do at bigger tracks where they have less horsepower and more downforce. And the race also featured multiple brake failures.
Ryan Blaney, Chase Briscoe and multiple others had brake problems during the race. Was the lack of downforce and increased horsepower a cause? Possibly. It’s impossible to say for sure at the moment. But those brake failures helped contribute to 11 caution flags over the race’s 400 miles.
The dream of 16 winners is disappearing
Every race Larson wins is one less opportunity for a first time winner in 2021 before the playoffs begin.
Seven drivers won the first seven races and 10 drivers won the first 11 races of the season. That victory lane parity made it seem possible that all 16 of the playoff drivers at the end of the season would have a win.
That’s probably not going to happen now. Chase Elliott has been the only first-time winner of the season since Martin Truex Jr. won his third race of the season at Darlington on May 9. And with Points leader Denny Hamlin and Harvick the only two drivers in the top 10 in the standings still looking for a win, it’s hard to see more than a few more new winners in 2021.
If three currently winless drivers win races before the playoffs begin then 14 drivers will have victories. That will leave two spots available for winless drivers via the points standings.
At the moment, those two drivers look likely to be Austin Dillon and Tyler Reddick. The two Richard Childress Racing drivers are the fastest winless drivers outside the top 10.
Chase Elliott gets disqualified
Chase Elliott was disqualified after the race because his car had five loose lug nuts. He finished 13th and won the first stage but loses both the 13th-place finish and the stage win because of the disqualification.
The stage win would have been worth a point in the playoffs. He officially finishes last.
Race results
1. Kyle Larson
2. Ross Chastain
3. William Byron
4. Aric Almirola
5. Kevin Harvick
6. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
7. Daniel Suarez
8. Kurt Busch
9. Christopher Bell
10. Joey Logano
11. Kyle Busch
12. Austin Dillon
13. Ryan Newman
14. Alex Bowman
15. Corey LaJoie
16. Michael McDowell
17. Anthony Alfredo
18. Tyler Reddick
19. Erik Jones
20. Bubba Wallace
21. Denny Hamlin
22. Martin Truex Jr.
23. Brad Keselowski
24. Matt DiBenedetto
25. Garrett Smithley
26. Josh Bilicki
27. JJ Yeley
28. BJ McLeod
29. Joey Gase
30. Cole Custer
31. Chase Briscoe
32. Ryan Preece
33. Chad FInchum
34. David Starr
35. Justin Haley
36. Chris Buescher
37. Ryan Blaney
38. Quin Houff
39. Chase Elliott
Points standings
1. Denny Hamlin, 684 points
2. Kyle Larson, 675
3. Chase Elliott, 629
4. William Byron, 605
5. Joey Logano, 577
6. Kyle Busch, 558
7. Martin Truex Jr., 541
8. Kevin Harvick, 516
9. Ryan Blaney, 510
10. Brad Keselowski, 489
11. Austin Dillon, 475
12. Alex Bowman, 469
13. Tyler Reddick, 416
14. Christopher Bell, 392
15. Chris Buescher, 392
16. Michael McDowell, 375
17. Kurt Busch, 366
18. Ricky Stenhouse Jr., 347
19. Matt DiBenedetto, 344
20. Ross Chastain, 342
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