LEBANON, Tenn. — Joe Gibbs Racing showed up strong at Nashville Superspeedway with Martin Truex Jr. and Denny Hamlin leading a combined 131 laps before finishing runner-up and third, respectively, after a fierce battle with Ross Chastain.
The three drivers exchanged the lead throughout the long evening, racing back and forth on the track and gaining track position on pit road. In the end, the final green-flag cycle went the way of the No. 1 car.
“Just needed to get the lead,” Truex said. “Once we lost it, I probably made a bad move taking the bottom on a restart. Just too loose in the long runs. I could hang with whoever was leading. Just could never get off the corner good enough to get a move.”
NASHVILLE: Race results | Best photos from the weekend
Earlier in the race, the pair of Toyota teammates were running 1-2 and seemingly in complete control. Chastain started on the pole but Hamlin powered to the front of the field to win Stage 2. Truex showed his strength on restarts and chased down whoever was leading the race — even outpacing Hamlin. Multiple times. It looked like the final stage was JGR’s to lose.
But as the long runs got longer, the close contest between the Nos. 19 and 11 and using up their equipment may have cost them a shot at Victory Lane — at least Truex thinks so.
“I was faster, for sure,” Truex said. “I could drop back 10 car lengths, get right back to three and just done. So, it’s frustrating but (Hamlin) did what he had to do and ultimately it cost us the race. If we could have, if one of us could have got away there, it would have been over. We let the 1 catch and pass us and that was the race.”
Hamlin, while acknowledging he was running his own race (and rightly so), admitted that Truex and the No. 19 machine was the faster of the two JGR contenders. Needing to get around Hamlin in a hurry, the No. 19 team short-pitted and rolled out in front after green-flag stops cycled through.
“I think he would have gave the 1 a better shot for a race than I would’ve,” Hamlin said. “So, it probably worked out better. If I would have came out in front of him, I would have just been blocking him the whole run.”
Just one season ago, Hamlin led a race-high 114 laps in the second-ever Cup race at the 1.333-mile Tennessee speedway. As last year’s laps waned, so did Hamlin’s Toyota.
Once again, he fell just short of claiming his first Gibson guitar, the track’s iconic Victory Lane prize.
“I just wasn’t fast enough honestly,” said Hamlin. “Just weren’t a race-winning car. I was a third- to fourth-place car and I tried to do everything I could to air-block everyone behind me but that’s all my car was really capable of. It was a day where that’s all we really had.”
Chastain regained the lead from the Toyota pairing, leading the final 34 laps and sailing off into the Nashville night.
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Truex did find a bit of comfort after a frustrating finish to the race — he leaves Nashville still the leader in the regular season standings. Although, he did narrowly miss out on his second stage win of the season.
“A lot of points at the end of the regular season to get that, a lot of bonus points,” Truex said. “We’ll take all we can. I was disappointed not to get the stage win there. We had it wrapped up until the tire got away on the 45. That’s how these things play out. We weren’t quite good enough to take the lead. That was our issue, burning the tires off too much, getting too loose in the long runs.”
Truex sits clear of next-best Hendrick Motorsports’ William Byron and Chastain in the updated standings, following four consecutive top-five finishes, including his win at Sonoma Raceway.
Looking to build on the runner-up finish at Nashville and dominant victory at Sonoma, the No. 19 team now sets its sights on the highly anticipated Chicago Street Race (July 2 at 5:30 p.m. ET on NBC, Peacock, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, NBC Sports App).