Winners and losers at Nashville Superspeedway

A look at the winners and losers from Sunday’s race at Nashville Superspeedway.

WINNERS

Chase Elliott – Elliott’s Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet stormed to the front in the race’s final stage, and he won without a serious challenge despite a late-race caution that bunched the field. He became the fifth driver with two wins this season and with the victory assured his fifth multi-win season.

Austin Cindric – The Daytona 500 winner moved through the field in the final stage to finish seventh, his third best run of the season. He has back-to-back top 10s after a fifth-place finish at Sonoma two weeks ago.

Kurt Busch – Busch scored a surprising second in the mad rush to the finish after a late-race caution. He led only three laps but positioned himself to score a solid top five. His only regret was that he didn’t give winner Chase Elliott a stronger challenge in the final laps.

LOSERS

Joe Gibbs Racing – How can a team lead 250 of 300 laps and “lose”? JGR collapsed in the final stage, gambling for tires during a late-race caution and losing any chance of catching winner Chase Elliott, who did not pit. Denny Hamlin led a race-high 114 laps but finished sixth. Martin Truex Jr. won the first two stages and led 82 laps but finished 22^nd. And Kyle Busch led 54 laps but was mired in heavy traffic, along with Truex, over the closing laps and finished 21^st. It was a strong night that ended in mediocrity.

Brad Keselowski – Keselowski’s struggles continue. He was involved in a late-race meeting with Cole Custer and finished 29^th, two laps down.

Alex Bowman and William Byron – Despite the success of their Hendrick Motorsports teammate Chase Elliott in winning the race, Alex Bowman finished 36^th after a third-turn crash on lap 50 and William Byron finished 35^th as steering problems plagued his car.