NASCAR Xfinity Series News & Notes – Nashville Superspeedway

Heading to Music City!

The NASCAR Xfinity Series heads to Nashville Superspeedway this weekend for the Tennessee Lottery 250 at 3:30 p.m. ET on NBCSN, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio the 15^th race of the season.

The last time the Xfinity Series raced at Nashville Superspeedway was in 2011 and a few of the drivers entered to run in this weekend’s race competed at Nashville back then.

Those drivers are Justin Allgaier, Michael Annett, Jeremy Clements, Timmy Hill, JJ Yeley, David Starr, Landon Cassill and NASCAR Cup Series two-time champion Kyle Busch. Joe Gibbs Racing’s Busch is the only driver entered this weekend that has previously won at Nashville (2009).

Nashville Superspeedway has hosted 21 Xfinity Series races total. The first Xfinity Series event at Nashville was on April 14, 2001, when Greg Biffle took home the victory.

Most recently, Carl Edwards won both races at Nashville in 2011 and Brad Keselowski won in 2010.

In total, there have been 15 different pole winners and 14 different race winners at the 1.33-mile track. The youngest Xfinity Nashville winner is Joey Logano in 2009 at 18 years, 10 months, 18 days. The oldest winner is former series champion David Green in 2003 at 45 years, 2 months, 15 days.

Only two races in history have been won from the pole or first starting position. In 2005, Reed Sorenson won from the pole and in 2009 Kyle Busch won from the pole.

Clint Bowyer’s first Xfinity Series victory was at Nashville in 2005 and Brad Keselowski’s first victory in the series was in 2008.

Ricky Stenhouse Jr. made his first ever Xfinity Series start in 2009 at Nashville.

Of active drivers in the series, Allgaier will make his seventh start at the Tennessee track along with his JR Motorsports teammate Annett doing the same. Kyle Busch will make his 10^th start and Clements will make his sixth. Landon Cassill will make his third start as well as Timmy Hill. David Starr will make his second career start at Nashville and JJ Yeley will make his ninth.

There are 42 cars entered in this weekend’s Tennessee Lottery 250. The race will be 250.04 miles (188 laps) and the event will be broken up in to three stages – Stage 1 will end on Lap 45 and Stage 2 will end on Lap 90.

NASCAR Xfinity Series

Next Race: Tennessee Lottery 250

The Place: Nashville Superspeedway

The Date: Saturday, June 19

The Time: 3:30 p.m. ET

TV: NBCSN, 3 p.m. ET

Radio: MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio

Distance: 250.04 miles (188 Laps); Stage 1 (Ends on Lap 45),

Stage 2 (Ends on Lap 90), Final Stage (Ends on Lap 188)

Who has the upper hand at Nashville?

With some drivers having made previous starts in the Xfinity Series at Nashville Superspeedway, those drivers might feel a little more confident heading into this weekend’s race than others.

Especially for someone like Kyle Busch who has won here before and is coming off of his 99^th career Xfinity Series win last weekend at Texas Motor Speedway. Busch will make his 11th career start this weekend at Nashville in the Xfinity Series. He has one win (2009) from the pole position and four top fives and five top 10s in his 10 starts. He has an average start of 8.9 and an average finish of 12.8. He’s led 490 laps and completed 2,197 laps of 2,250 attempted.

In six starts, Justin Allgaier has three top fives, three top 10s and one pole award. He led 58 laps and has an average start of 11.2 and an average finish of 10.8. Allgaier has finished fourth three times – both races in 2010 and most recently in 2011.

Michael Annett’s best finish in six starts at Nashville is ninth in 2010. He has an average start of 18.0 and an average finish of 17.0.

In five starts for Jeremy Clements, he has a best finish of 19th that came in 2010 and in only two starts, Landon Cassill has a best finish of ninth that came in 2008.

JJ Yeley will make his ninth start on Saturday at Nashville. He has a best finish of fourth from 2006. In total, he has one top five and three top 10s with an average finish of 15.4.

In two Xfinity Nashville starts, Timmy Hill finished 33rd and 22nd and in David Starr’s one start at the track, he finished 29th.

100 on the horizon for Kyle Busch
On top of the fact that he has experience and a Xfinity Series race win at Nashville Superspeedway already to his name, Kyle Busch has even more incentive to take home another win this weekend.

Busch is going for his 100^th NASCAR Xfinity Series victory after grabbing his 99^th last weekend at Texas Motor Speedway.

If Busch wins this weekend, he will become just the third driver in NASCAR national series history to win 100 or more races in a single series.

He’ll be joining elite company in NASCAR Hall of Famers Richard Petty (200 NASCAR Cup Series wins) and David Pearson (105 NASCAR Cup Series wins).

Busch is competing in his 19th Xfinity Series season. He has 359 starts, 99 wins, 222 top fives, 260 top 10s and 69 poles.

His first start was at Charlotte Motor Speedway in 2003, where he started fifth and finished second for Hendrick Motorsports.

He competed in seven races that season, and in 2004 he competed fulltime for Rick Hendrick. He got his first win that year at Richmond Raceway and went on to win four more times that season. He won the Rookie of the Year Award in 2004, the year Martin Truex Jr., his now Joe Gibbs Racing teammate, won the championship.

In 2008, Busch joined Joe Gibbs Racing where 88 of his 99 wins came. In 2009, Busch won the Xfinity Series Championship.

Of note, 2010 was a career best season for Busch, winning a series record 13 races in a single year.

Busch has also scored victories at Nashville in the Truck Series in 2010 and 2011. Those were his first and only two starts at the track in the series. He led 131 laps in 2010 and led 140 laps in 2011.

Home of first-timers: Nashville

When it comes to Nashville Superspeedway and the Xfinity Series, it’s known for being a track that drivers get their first career win on.

Seven of the 14 race winners were first-time winners when the series competed at the track from 2001-2011. That half of the winners (50%).

This weekend we might see our eighth new winner at the track with 30 of the 42 Xfinity Series drivers entered still looking for their first win.

There are quite a few Xfinity Series drivers that have come close to their first career win this season. Brandon Brown had a best finish of third at Phoenix Raceway and has been hovering on the Playoff cutline for the majority of the season. He’s looking for his first Xfinity win.

Daniel Hemric has finished second or third in four races so far this season, coming so close at Las Vegas Motor Speedway to his first Xfinity Series victory. Nashville Superspeedway could be the place that he gets it done. After a few tough breaks in the last four races, Hemric finished fourth last weekend at Texas, which is what he and his No. 18 team needed.

Harrison Burton, Justin Haley, Noah Gragson and Brandon Jones are all drivers with previous wins but remain winless this season. They could also be ones to watch this weekend at Nashville as none of them have more experience than the other at the track.

Bubble Trouble: Playoff shakeups continue

Kyle Busch was victorious once again in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, this time at Texas Motor Speedway. With Busch’s win, there are still seven spots left in the field for a driver to make it into the Playoffs with a win or on points.

The five Xfinity drivers locked into the postseason on wins are Austin Cindric, Justin Allgaier, AJ Allmendinger, Jeb Burton, and Myatt Snider.

Daniel Hemric holds the sixth spot in the standings and is the highest ranked driver without a win so far in 2021. He is 155 points above the cutline currently. His Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Harrison Burton is behind him in seventh, 120 points from the cutline. Both of these drivers have a good cushion right now, but a win would be preferred to make sure they’re in the post-season.

Kaulig Racing’s Justin Haley is sitting in eighth in the driver standings Playoff outlook, he’s 102 points above the cutline and the only Kaulig Racing driver not in the Playoffs on wins yet.

Once we get to ninth in the standings, the points tighten up. Brandon Jones is in ninth (+51), Noah Gragson 10th (+28), Michael Annett is in 12th (+24) and Jeremy Clements is holding the final Playoff transfer spot just 24 points up on Brandon Brown in 13th – the first spot outside the cutoff.

Of the drivers vying for the final spots in the Playoffs that are above the cutline in points, Annett and Clements are the only two that have previous experience at Nashville. Annett has made six start at Nashville posting one top 10, and Clements has made five starts at the 1.33-mile track posting a best finish of 19th.

NASCAR Xfinity Series Driver Playoff Outlook Following Texas-1:

Note: The (*) symbol by the number of Starts indicates a driver missed a race but is still eligible for the Playoffs due to receiving a waiver.

Austin Hill running six Xfinity events for HRE

Hattori Racing Enterprises announced that the team will once again compete in select Xfinity Series events this season beginning with this weekend at Nashville Superspeedway.

Austin Hill will pilot the No. 61 Toyota in all six of those scheduled races. AISIN, a longtime partner of HRE, will be on the car for four events, including this weekend. Toyota Tsusho will continue their partnership for two Xfinity Series events as well and the Truck Series race at Pocono Raceway at the end of June.

The HRE No. 61 Toyota will also run at Pocono, Indianapolis, Michigan, Charlotte ROVAL and Texas.

NASCAR Xfinity Series, Etc.

Joe Gibbs Racing Adds John Hunter Nemechek to Xfinity Series Driver Lineup – Joe Gibbs Racing announced this week that John Hunter Nemechek will drive the team’s No. 54 Toyota in three NASCAR Xfinity Series races this season. Nemechek will make his JGR debut at Bristol Motor Speedway (September 17) and follow up with races at Texas Motor Speedway (October 16) and Phoenix Raceway (November 6).

“I am very excited about this opportunity,” said Nemechek. “Just like I’ve said all year on the trucks side, I’m here to win races. I have a lot of confidence going into these races that we’re going to have a shot to win every time out. Chris (Gayle, crew chief) and everyone at Joe Gibbs Racing have shown that they are capable of winning any given week and I expect to do the same.”

Berry bounces to top of Sunoco rookie standings – After making his 12th start of the season last weekend at Texas Motor Speedway, JR Motorsport’s driver Josh Berry retook the lead in the NASCAR Xfinity Series rookie driver standings from Joe Gibbs Racing’s rising star Ty Gibbs. Berry is a scant five points up on Gibbs following Texas.

Berry is entered to make his series track debut at Nashville Superspeedway his weekend. This season Berry has put up one win (Martinsville), three top fives and six top 10s.