NASCAR at Nashville live updates: Larson again unstoppable, captures Ally 400 crown

Live updates have completed for the day. For a full recap, analysis and results, click here.

The NASCAR Cup race at Nashville Superspeedway is today. The Ally 400 starts at 3:30 p.m. on NBCSN.

The race is 399 miles (300 laps) with stages ending on laps 90, 185 and 300. All times are Eastern.

We’ll have the latest updates here. Follow NASCAR reporter Alex Andrejev on Twitter at @AndrejevAlex.

Race results

*Elliott was disqualified after post-race inspection for four loose lug nuts. He originally finished 13th.

Live updates

Stage 3

7:31 p.m., Lap 300: He’s done it again. Kyle Larson has won another race, running the final 68 or so laps of green flag racing in clean air to capture yet another Cup Series win. His margin of victory was more than five seconds over Ross Chastain. William Byron, Aric Almirola and Kevin Harvick rounded out the Top 5.

7:28 p.m., Lap 295: Now just five to go. Kyle Larson is cruising, and the last thing he needs now is one of those infamous late-race restarts. He’s hoping this final five stays green, for sure.

7:22 p.m., Lap 285: Just 15 to go here and Larson continues his dominance. The lead is up to almost 5 seconds. Chase Elliott was running in fifth, but reported that his back end was getting loose a bit. He’s dropped all the way to 11th now. Byron continues to be second, Harvick in third, and Aric Amirola and Ross Chastain are fourth and fifth.

7:16 p.m., Lap 273: Larson’s lead is up to more than 4 seconds on one of the longer green flag runs of the final stage. William Byron sits in second, but continues to lose time to Larson. Kevin Harvick is in good shape in third. Brad Keselowski reporting braking issues now. He was running near the front for a while earlier.

7:05 p.m., Lap 253: Kyle Larson continues to lead. Had a little debris on his grille, but should be fine. His lead is up to about 2.5 seconds now, and growing.

6:57 p.m., Lap 237: Kyle Larson led the field to the green from the outside with William Byron on the inside, Chase Elliott tries to go 3 wide, but it fails and he falls back to fourth behind Kevin Harvick, who also is lurking, a lone Ford among four Chevys in the top 5.

6:49 p.m., Lap 228: Briscoe into the wall... tells his crew his brakes just disappeared, “went to the floor.” Caution is out again, the 11th of the afternoon in Nashville. He was running seventh. DiBenedetto gets the free pass.

6:43 p.m., Lap 220: Ross Chastain stayed out from 12th with other lead lap cars pitting, Kyle Larson wins the race off of pit road.

6:40 p.m., Lap 218: Where is Kyle Busch going? Backwards. His team can’t explain it, but Busch has fallen all the way back to 24th after being in the Top 5 earlier.



And now caution is out... Caution for Bubba Wallace spinning in the grass. He was running in 23rd.

6:33 p.m., Lap 203: Back to the green flag racing we go, and Kyle Larson leds the cars out. William Byron and Chase Elliott are pursuing. Lurking is points leader, the winless Denny Hamlin.

6:25 p.m., Lap 197: Ryan Preece with the spin from 23rd position. Caution is out. Again. Josh Bilicki gets the free pass, Ross Chastain, Alex Bowman, Tyler Reddick, Michael McDowell, Corey LaJoie, JJ Yeley, Daniel Suarez, Matt DiBenedetto pit.

6:23 p.m., Lap 194: Big bobble from Kyle Busch but he somehow saves it and falls three places from fourth to seventh. Austin Dillon, Chase Briscoe, Christopher Bell, Tyler Reddick, Martin Truex Jr., Ryan Preece, Erik Jones, Michael McDowell, Martin Truex Jr., Brad Keselowski, Anthony Alfredo, Bubba Wallace, Matt DiBenedetto all pitted during the stage break, with others staying out.

Stage 2

6:15 p.m., Lap 185: Kyle Larson wins the second stage, his 12th stage win of the season, after surging to the front a few laps into the restart. Larson and crew chief Cliff Daniels note on the radio that the older tires in front of them held on longer than expected and Daniels said he’d file that away for later. Austin Dillon, Chase Briscoe, William Byron, Kyle Busch, Denny Hamlin, Chase Elliott, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Aric Almirola and Kevin Harvick finish in the top-10.

6 p.m., Lap 172: Cole Custer brings out the caution for a flat tire and right rear brake rotor issue. He goes to the garage as the field pits under caution. Chase Briscoe and Tyler Reddick take two tires to come out in front followed by Kyle Larson. Austin Dillon also takes two tires to line up fourth. Then it’s Kyle Busch, Aric Almirola, Denny Hamlin, Chase Elliott, William Byron and Kevin Harvick.

5:59 p.m., Lap 167: Aric Almirola has run up to third place. Almirola started on the pole, but fell out of the top-five early in the race and finished out of the top-10 in first stage.

5:49 p.m., Lap 156: Ricky Stenhouse Jr. passed Kyle Busch for second place, and the running order is Kyle Larson, Stenhouse and Busch in the top-three. Then it’s Denny Hamlin, and Aric Almirola has just passed Kevin Harvick for a position.

5:38 p.m., Lap 134: The caution comes out for Bubba Wallace, who indicated he hit parts on the frontstretch. It was likely a blown rotor from David Starr’s car. Starr’s radio indicated he had blown a rotor and he is out of the car. Under caution, Martin Truex Jr. gets another pit road penalty (this time for speeding) and Christopher Bell is penalized for an uncontrolled tire.

5:27 p.m., Lap 116: The running order is Kyle Larson, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Denny Hamlin, Ross Chastain, Joey Logano, Kyle Busch, Kevin Harvick, Christopher Bell, Aric Almirola and Matt DiBenedetto.

5:18 p.m., Lap 100: Kyle Larson lines up in the front row for the restart and grabs the lead after the green flag. A few laps into the stage, Stenhouse Jr. takes second place from Kyle Busch as Larson leads. Denny Hamlin then passes Busch for third. Martin Truex Jr. has to restart at the rear for not being single file entering pit road earlier during the stage break.

Stage 1

5:10 p.m., Lap 90: With under 10 laps to go in the stage, Chase Elliott jumps out to the lead, holding off Kurt Busch in second after the caution. Elliott wins the stage for his second stage win of the season. Kyle Larson passed Daniel Suárez for third and Kyle Busch raced up to fifth. The finishing order of the stage is Elliott, Kurt Busch, Larson, Suárez, Kyle Busch, Austin Dillon, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Joey Logano, Brad Keselowski and Matt DiBenedetto in the top-10 for points.

4:58 p.m., Lap 80: A caution comes out for two cars going into the wall nearly simultaneously, although they don’t make contact. Chris Buescher crashes after running over what the team believes was a brake rotor from Justin Haley’s car. Both teams appear to be done for the day. On pit road, Alex Bowman and Corey LoJoie get speeding penalties. Seven drivers up front, Chase Elliott, Kurt Busch, Erik Jones, Daniel Suárez, Brad Keselowski, Austin Dillon and Ryan Preece stay out.

4:49 p.m., Lap 66: The race goes green, with Kyle Larson, Kyle Busch and Chase Elliott leading, but Busch starts falling back. Elliott moves to second around Busch, then gets passed by Ricky Stenhouse Jr. His brother, Kurt Busch, is on his tail now. Busch is not happy with his car, calling it a “bucket of F---.”

4:40 p.m., Lap 55: Ryan Blaney’s day ends early. He gets into the outside wall, saying the “rotor blew out” to bring out the next caution and exits his vehicle. Just before the flag, Kyle Larson passed Kyle Busch for first place.

4:25 p.m., Lap 48: Tyler Reddick brings out the caution while drivers are on pit road. He spun on the access road and says there’s dirt on the inside of his windshield. The order is Kyle Busch, Kyle Larson, Joey Logano, Chase Elliott, Kurt Busch and Aric Almirola for the restart. No. 5 crew chief Cliff Daniels tells Larson that his late call cost him some time and allowed Busch to pass them while on pit road, but they’re not behind by a lot.

4:19 p.m., Lap 30: Kyle Larson continues to lead. He’s up by 1.2 seconds on Kyle Busch. Then the order is Aric Almirola, Joey Logano, Cole Custer, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Matt DiBenedetto and Chase Elliott. Elliott says he’s lacking front turn.

4:11 p.m., Lap 15: Joey Logano radios to his team to check the right front after what appears to be contact with Aric Almirola. Ryan Blaney and Erik Jones have jumped up 11 positions after starting at the rear. Blaney says the track very slick after wiggling and his team tells him to take care of it and they’ll “take care of it.”

4:07 p.m., Lap 8: Kyle Larson surges to the lead after the restart. He lined up behind Busch on the outside, then sliced between Busch and Almirola for the lead. Busch drops to second, Almirola drops to third and Joey Logano is in fourth.

4:02 p.m., Lap 1: The race goes green briefly before the first caution comes out for a tire carcass that’s come off Quin Houff’s No. 00 car. Before the start Ryan Blaney drops to the rear on pace laps. He pits before the green flag due to damage to his left rear fender and gets back out for the start. Through the opening turns, Kyle Busch takes the lead from Aric Almirola as Chase Elliott moves to the outside to take the field three wide.

Pre-race ceremonies

3:50 p.m.: Pre-race ceremonies are complete and include a six-jet flyover. Twelve-time Grammy winner CeCe Winans delivers the pre-race invocation and Music City rising star Priscilla Block performs the national anthem. Country music artist Luke Combs then delivers the command to fire engines. The grandstands look close to full at the track with a weekend capacity of just under 40,000 people.

Race start delayed 10 minutes due to traffic

3:15 p.m: Traffic surrounding the track in Lebanon, Tenn. will cause NASCAR to delay the start of the race by 10 minutes to allow more fans to arrive before the green flag. The green flag is now scheduled to wave at 3:55 p.m. Traffic flow was reportedly an issue during earlier races this weekend.

Alvin Kamara joins NASCAR with a new role

2 p.m.: Alvin Kamara — yes, that Alvin Kamara; The NFL’s New Orleans Saints running back — announced Sunday that he’s joined NASCAR as the sport’s first Growth & Engagement Advisor. Kamara is at the track in Lebanon, Tenn. ahead of Sunday’s Cup race and told reporters that he has an office and keycard.

“I never had a job besides the NFL, so I’ve got two jobs now,” Kamara said. “(Saints head coach) Sean Payton is gonna have to give me some downtime.”

Kamara’s juice company, The Big Squeezy, sponsored an Xfinity Series car driven by Ryan Vargas for the race at the Daytona road course. Kamara became a major champion of the sport last year in response to NASCAR’s social justice advocacy and met with NASCAR president Steve Phelps during his first race at Homestead-Miami Speedway. He also attended this year’s Daytona 500.

Three cars dropping to the rear

1:30 p.m.: NASCAR announces that three cars will drop to the rear for the start of today’s race; Those three cars are driven by Erik Jones, who scrubbed the wall during qualifying, William Byron and Quin Houff. All three teams will drop to the back for the start due to unapproved adjustments. Byron was slated to start fourth, Jones was ninth and Houff was last.

Aric Almirola wins the pole

11:50 a.m.: No. 10 Stewart-Haas Racing driver Aric Almirola posted the fastest single qualifying lap this morning to win the pole position for this afternoon’s race. Almirola’s qualifying time was 29.557 seconds. He sits 28th in NASCAR’s point standings and earned his third pole start in his career. Almirola will start ahead of Kyle Busch in the front row. Joey Logano, William Byron, Kyle Larson, Chase Elliott, Cole Custer, Alex Bowman, Erik Jones and Ryan Blaney will also start in the top-10.

NASCAR at Nashville qualifying results and starting lineup

# rookie

How to watch NASCAR at Nashville

Race: Ally 400

When: Sunday, June 20

When: race at 3:30 p.m. ET

TV: NBCSN

Radio: MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio

Distance: 399 miles (300 laps) with stages ending on laps 90, 185 and 300

This story was originally published June 20, 2021 at 2:34 PM.

Alexandra Andrejev

The Charlotte Observer

NASCAR and Charlotte FC beat reporter Alex Andrejev joined The Observer in January 2020 following an internship at The Washington Post. She is a two-time APSE award winner for her NASCAR beat coverage and National Motorsports Press Association award winner. She is the host of McClatchy’s podcast “Payback” about women’s soccer. Support my work with a digital subscription