NASHVILLE
Friday, June 28 — NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, 8 p.m. ET (FS2)
Saturday, June 29 — NASCAR Xfinity Series, 5 p.m. ET (USA)
Sunday, June 30 — NASCAR Cup Series, 3:30 p.m. ET (NBC)
The NASCAR summer stretch rolls on with Nashville Speedway hosting all three major touring series on the same weekend for the fourth straight season. The last time all three series were together came a month ago at Charlotte Motor Speedway, but since then the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series has competed only once and returns to action after a three-week break.
LOGANO LIKES NASHVILLE
Joey Logano has shown flashes of speed in the first three Nashville races, posting a pair of top-10 finishes. But where he’s really shined is in qualifying, where he has started no worse than fourth. He qualified third in the debut event in 2021 before finishing 10th and was second one year later when he ultimately led four times for 28 laps and came home ninth. Last year, he posted the fourth-fastest speed in qualifying and ended up 19th, making his average starting position 3.0 and finishing position 12.7.
BERRY FINDING HIS GROOVE
Josh Berry has hit his stride with Stewart-Haas Racing and with eight races remaining in the regular season is making a late push for a playoff berth. Berry, who enters this weekend’s race at Nashville Superspeedway 73 points below the cut line, has caught fire the last six weeks. It started with a third-place run at Darlington Raceway last month and continued at Charlotte Motor Speedway with a 10th-place effort in the Coca-Cola 600. He’s had back-to-back top-10 runs in Iowa (seventh) and New Hampshire (third), giving him four top-10 runs in the last six events which has moved him up four spots in the overall standings.
PLAYOFF SCENARIO
Three Ford drivers have clinched spots in the NASCAR Cup Series playoffs after winning earlier this season. Brad Keselowski (Darlington), Austin Cindric (Gateway) and Ryan Blaney (Iowa) all have secured their spots, but there are a few other Ford Performance teammates looking to join them. Currently, Chris Buescher and Joey Logano are holding down the final two berths based on points. Buescher is 50 points above the cut line while Logano is 13 with eight races remaining in the regular season.
BRAD KESELOWSKI: “Nashville is an interesting track for us because we have been so good on that type of track this year in 2024. We have a great opportunity to go there and compete for a win, so I am pretty pumped about it. It is a race that we certainly have circled with both of our RFK cars and we can’t wait to get there.”
AUSTIN CINDRIC: “Nashville is a pretty interesting race track. It is a unique size and has been pretty wild the last few years. I always like racing under the lights. I think that is always fun for the race fans. It is a fun town to be in as well. It has been cool to see how that event has grown into our schedule year after year. I am looking forward to getting back there and having a good run.”
NOAH GRAGSON: “Nashville is a super fun track. It is all concrete and the biggest concrete track we go to which makes it a lot of fun and also very challenging with how the rubber gets laid down. I will be running an Xfinity car there in addition to the Cup car, so I am super excited about that place. I have kind of struggled there in the past but I want to get as many laps as I can, which is why I am doing the Xfinity race. Hopefully, that pays off and helps us for the Cup race.”
FORD NASHVILLE WINNERS
Ford is still looking for its first NASCAR Cup Series victory at Nashville Superspeedway, but three drivers have won at the facility in other series. Brad Keselowski (2008 and 2010) and Joey Logano (2009) went to Victory Lane in the NASCAR Xfinity Series while Ryan Preece captured back-to-back Ford victories in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series in 2021-22.
CUSTER EXTENDS SERIES POINTS LEAD
Cole Custer’s third-place finish on Saturday at New Hampshire Motor Speedway allowed him to extend his lead in the NASCAR Xfinity Series point standings to 15 over Chandler Smith. Custer, who registered his fourth pole of the season, has now rattled off top-10 finishes in 13 of the last 14 events, including four straight going into this weekend’s race at Nashville Superspeedway. Last season, Custer sat on the pole and finished ninth in his only series start on the middle Tennessee track.
FORD WINS NASCAR DEBUT AT NASHVILLE SUPERSPEEDWAY
The first race held at Nashville Superspeedway for one of NASCAR’s top three touring series came on April 14, 2001 when Ford’s Greg Biffle won the Pepsi 300 in what was then known as the NASCAR Busch Grand National Series, now NASCAR Xfinity Series. Ford dominated the race up front as Biffle, Jason Keller and Jeff Green combined to lead 200-of-225 laps. Biffle, who was out front for a race-high 133 circuits, beat Keller to the checkered flag by just over a half-second as Ford finished first and second.
FOUR RACES TO GO IN REGULAR SEASON
The NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series has had three weeks off and as the action shifts to Nashville Superspeedway there is a lot to race for with only four races remaining in the regular season. Ford’s Ty Majeski and defending series champion Ben Rhodes are currently in playoff positions as they sit fifth and eighth, respectively. Three-time champion Matt Crafton finds himself 46 points below the cut line in 13th place while Jake Garcia (-69) and Layne Riggs (-76) are 15th and 16th overall. The top 10 drivers will make the playoffs and compete in a seven-race battle to determine this year’s champion.
FORD NASCAR XFINITY SERIES WINNERS
AT NASHVILLE
2001 – Greg Biffle
2002 – Scott Riggs (1)
2003 – Scott Riggs (2)
2006 – Carl Edwards (2)
2007 – Carl Edwards (Sweep)
2011 – Carl Edwards (Sweep)
FORD NASCAR CRAFTSMAN TRUCK SERIES WINNERS AT NASHVILLE
2003 – Carl Edwards
2007 – Travis Kvapil
2021 – Ryan Preece
2022 – Ryan Preece
