LEBANON, Tennessee – Ryan Blaney said thank you. Martin Truex said sorry. Kyle Busch said, “It’s going to be bad.”
A late caution caused some of the best cars in the race to pit and have no chance of winning when others, including some who had fought, were left out and found themselves in front for a four-lap shootout.
The easiest decision was made by eventual winner Chase Elliott and crew chief Alan Gustafson. Elliott led when the warning for Josh Bilicki’s broken engine came out with eight laps to go at the Nashville Superspeedway.
Kyle Busch was second, Denny Hamlin third, Truex fourth and Ross Chastain was fifth at the time.
Those four faced each other, though it wasn’t the path he had to follow.
Crew chief James Small said the plan was for Truex to stay out if he could restart in the front row. With Busch and Hamlin facing off, Truex would have restarted alongside Elliott in the front row staying out. Instead, he coped.
Small said Truex apologized for dealing. Truex restarted 14th and finished 22nd.
Busch had lost the lead to Elliott on the previous restart when Busch had the lane option. After Elliott, Busch was unable to approach the challenge. Teams often do the opposite of the leader. With Elliott staying out, Busch faced off. As for the exact reasoning, crew chief Ben Beshore declined to comment after the race.
Busch was the first car off the road after changing only the tires on the right side. When he was told it was the only car that had changed two tires, he made his comment on the radio about how hard it was going to be. He was right. Busch restarted 12th and finished 21st.
Among those who did not leave the pit road was Kurt Busch. He was sixth in the admonition and restarted second after Elliott. But Elliott overtook Kurt Busch quickly and was not challenged.
“I got soft on him,” Kurt Busch said of Elliott. “I should have been throwing some fenders and moving a little momentum. I didn’t stay with our strength.”
Still, he finished second.
Ryan Blaney was ninth when the warning was shaken and he moved to third for the restart by staying out. There he finished, completing a chaotic night that saw him run ahead of time, struggle with handling, turn lap 205 and finish with a finish in the top five.
“I was surprised that so many were there,” Blaney said. “The tires didn’t mean much tonight, especially for the first laps, they didn’t mean much. Our plan was to stay anyway. … Then I saw a lot of cars were. I was quite surprised.
“Getting to line up in the second row, having a small chance of trying to get something to happen at the end of the race. It ended with a good chance “
Kyle Larson was fourth when the warning was agitated and he didn’t pit. He finished fourth.
Chastain used his four new tires to move from 11th to fifth, the highest-level car that pitted before the final restart.
“As soon as we got into turn 1, we had grip,” Chastain said. “I got to (Cole Custer) ‘s rear bumper and pushed him as hard as I could. I wanted to try to tandem and help him and help me.
“It came out and I had clean air and then I took a knife up there and held some guys on the last lap to stay in fifth place. It’s kind of a place where the seas parted in the curves. 1 and 2 with new tires “.