NASCAR Review: What Went Wrong for Hendrick Motorsports at Nashville?

Nilavro Ghosh | 01/07/2024
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It’s uncharacteristic these days to not see a Hendrick Motorsports car finish in the top five, but somehow that is what happened in Nashville. It was not a good day for the winningest Cup Series team as only one driver made it into the top 10. It was a problematic day for the racers, especially the 2021 NASCAR Cup Series champion, Kyle Larson.

The veteran racer was in several incidents throughout the race, but the major ones came during the chaotic overtime. The foremost of them was during the first of the late restarts. Yung Money was P3 with Ross Chastain ahead of him. He attempted to push his fellow Chevy competitor up the track but ended up spinning him around causing the caution to come out again.

The next incident involved the ever-unlucky Kyle Busch. On the third overtime restart, Larson had Rowdy behind him who looked set for a good finish after weeks of frustration. However, the #5 car did not take off when the green flag fell due to fuel issues. Busch was squeezed between Larson in front and the car coming from behind. The #8 ended up spinning out and suffering a DNF after hitting the wall.

“Hate that for Kyle,” Larson said in a post-race media interaction. Despite all of the drama, he was the best-finishing Hendrick Motorsports driver at P8. The rest had incidents of their own to deal with.

What happened to the other Hendrick Motorsports drivers?

Chase Elliott ventured onto the grass twice. The first happened under normal racing conditions as his car got loose and spun onto the grass. But he was able to recover to close to the top 10 before the late restart. On the final restart, the #9 oversteered again but Elliott was able to maintain speed on the grass and finish P18.

William Byron had issues with his pit stops and got his car damaged in the big turn 1 wreck during the overtime restarts. He was able to finish in P19 at the end of the day. Meanwhile, Alex Bowman had a relatively decent day as the cautions helped him refuel and drive up to P14 from P23 on the final restart.

All in all, it was not a day to remember for Hendrick Motorsports who will be looking to bounce back. But the streets of Chicago next week would pose a tougher challenge compared to Nashville for the team to capitalize on points. 

Post Edited By: Srijan Mandal
Alex Bowman Chase Elliott Kyle Busch Kyle Larson Ross Chastain William Byron

About the author

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Nilavro Ghosh

Nilavro is a NASCAR journalist at The SportsRush. His love for motorsports began at a young age with F1 and spread out to other forms of racing like NASCAR and Moto GP. After earning his post-graduate degree from the Asian College of Journalism in 2020, he has mostly worked as a motorsports journalist. Apart from covering racing, his passion lies in making music primarily as a bass player.

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