Kaulig Racing Post-Race Report | Nashville Superspeedway
June 26, 2023
Allmendinger Wins Tennessee Lottery 250 at Nashville Superspeedway
Tennessee Lottery 250
AJ Allmendinger, No. 10 Bailey Zimmerman Religiously Chevrolet
AJ Allmendinger qualified 11th for the Tennessee Lottery 250.
Allmendinger was quiet on the radio during the caution-filled opening stage at Nashville Superspeedway. Allmendinger drove the No. 10 Chevy up to third by lap nine where he would finish stage one. The team opted to make an air pressure adjustment under caution at the stage break to help with the handling of the car in the corner.
Allmendinger restarted stage two in third, on the outside of the second row. On the restart, the leaders, No. 21 and No. 19 made contact with each other, and the No. 19 made contact with Allmendinger as he tried to avoid the spin. Allmendinger pitted multiple times before the restart to make repairs and change tire strategy to get back out on track and make it till the end. Falling as far back as 32nd while making repairs, Allmendinger moved through the field after the restart on lap 65. Happy with the handling of his race car after repairs, Allmendinger went on to finish stage two in 13th.
The No. 10 Chevy restarted sixth on lap 97 for stage three after a quick pit stop for four tires and fuel. The caution flag quickly came out on lap 103, and Allmendinger told his team his car had good stability. After restarting fifth, Allmendinger battled inside the top five before taking over third on lap 122, second on lap 140 and first on lap 142. Allmendinger made his green-flag stop from first place on lap 148. As green-flag stops cycled through, the No. 10 Chevy made its was up to second on lap 161 with the leader (No. 48) still needing to pit. Allmendinger caught the No. 48 and took over the lead on lap 176. A late-race caution flag with five to go resulted in NASCAR overtime. Allmendinger took the lead on the restart before an additional caution came out for the No. 16 car spinning. On overtime attempt number two, Allmendinger took the lead and went on to win the Tennessee Lottery 250 at Nashville Superspeedway.
“This is all thanks to all the men and women at Kaulig Racing. We’ve got Bailey Zimmerman on the car; he flew in from Chicago this morning, so it’s awesome to have him here and win a race for him. Our car was really good, we got caught up in that wreck on that one restart. I thought our chance to win was over, but the guys did such a great job of fixing it. I’m just so proud of it. This is one of those iconic trophies you want to win, what a cool way to do it. I love winning on ovals because I know a lot of people doubt me on ovals. Life is good.”
– AJ Allmendinger
Daniel Hemric, No. 11 Cirkul Chevrolet
Daniel Hemric qualified 33rd for the Tennessee Lottery 250.
Although Hemric struggled with rear grip in his No.11 Cirkul Chevy, he made steady gains in the caution-filled opening stage and was able to gain 16 spots to finish 17th in stage one.
The No.11 team executed solid pit stops throughout the stage that helped Hemric maintain track position. Hemric fought his way into the top 10 and stayed near the front. He went on to finish the second stage in 3rd place, earning stage points.
In the final stage, Hemric charged toward the front of the field and took the lead on lap 111. After battling for the lead with his teammate, Hemric continued to say in the top five a majority of the final stage. Hemric restarted as the second car on the outside lane on the double overtime start and got shuffled back in the field, finishing the race eighth.
“It was a challenging weekend for us, our eighth place finish won’t really tell the whole story. I had made a mistake in qualifying by asking too much of it [the car]. It was good to get a top five in stage two and even battle for the lead for a little bit and get a couple stage points there in stage two. In the last green flag run, under the green flag pit stop I was just too free and lost some time in the final stage. I went to try to get second there in the last restart and got shoved around a little bit and landed an eighth-place finish. I’m proud of this race team and the speed we have in our Kaulig Racing Chevrolets.”
– Daniel Hemric
Chandler Smith, No. 16 Quick Tie Products Chevrolet
Chandler Smith qualified second for the Tennessee Lottery 250.
Smith started the race avoiding multiple wrecks in the chaotic opening stage. Halfway through the stage, Smith fell back to eighth but made positive gains in the short 24-lap run to the green-and-white-checkered flag to finish sixth in stage one.
The No. 16 Quick Tie Products team made trackbar adjustments during the stage two opening pit stop to help with Smith’s lack of rear grip. Smith reacted positively to the change and quickly took over the lead for the first time in the race on lap 67, powering his way underneath both the No. 00 and No. 1 cars, three-wide. Smith won stage two, his second-career stage win.
Smith continued his strong run most of the way through the final stage, leading all but one lap from lap 67 to lap 141, when he came down pit road for the final scheduled stop. He went back out on the track the highest-placed runner of all the cars who already made a stop. Teammate, AJ Allmendinger made a move around Smith for the provisional lead, and Smith settled into third after getting passed for second. A caution came out with five laps to go, and Smith restarted as the first car on the outside lane. The No. 98 forcefully shoved and unsettled Smith as the green flag waved, and Smith was quickly absorbed by the rest of the field. He spun after being forced four-wide, bringing out the final caution and another overtime attempt. Smith pitted for scuff tires and hung on to finish 12th.
“It is what it is. That’s racing. I get it. It just sucks really bad because we had a really solid day. We got on the wrong side of the balance in stage three but were still having a solid day, what we needed. Unfortunately, we’ve got nothing to show for it.”
AJ Allmendinger qualified 19th for the Ally 400 at Nashville Superspeedway.
Allmendinger was quiet on the radio in the early laps of the opening stage, as he made his way up to 13th before making a scheduled, green-flag pit stop on lap 42. He told the team he was happy with the rear of the car and asked for no adjustments on the stop. By lap 70, Allmendinger drove his No. 16 Celsius Chevy up to 10th where he would finish stage one.
Under the first stage caution, the No. 16 team had an unplanned, long, pit stop. Allmendinger restarted 18th on lap 98. Still happy with his car, Allmendinger made his way up to ninth by lap 134 before green-flag pit stops started. Allmendinger made his green-flag stop from fourth place on lap 136. The caution came out before the No. 16 car exited pit road, trapping him a lap down. Fortunately, the team was able to take the wave around to get back on the lead lap and restart on lap 147 in 10th. Allmendinger avoided a wreck on the restart and restarted from seventh on lap 152. He went on to finish the second stage in eighth place.
Allmendinger came down pit road under the stage caution from eighth place. The team lost spots after suffering an equipment issue. Allmendinger restarted the third stage in 15th and struggled in traffic. He maintained position and ran lap times better than the cars in front of him. He began to make passes on lap 219, making it up to 12th before coming down pit road for his final green-flag stop on lap 236. Allmendinger made his way back in the top 10 on lap 261 and took over ninth place on lap 269 where he remained before being passed at the checkered flag, ultimately finishing 10th.
“We had a really good day. Our car was really balanced all day; we didn’t have to make adjustments. We just couldn’t get the track positions and we lost spots on pit road and had to make up for it. At the end of the day, that probably cost up three or four spots overall. I’m proud of the team. We are making a lot of progress, we had a lot of speed all weekend. I’m looking forward to going to a street course here to hopefully make up some more ground.”
Justin Haley qualified third for the Ally 400 at Nashville Superspeedway, his best-ever qualifying effort in a points race.
After dropping back a few spots at the start of the race, Haley settled into the seventh position by lap 14 of the race, battling back-and-forth with the No. 9 car for the sixth position. Haley reported feeling “edgy” on the right rear, prompting the crew to make an air pressure adjustment during its first green-flag stop of the day on lap 43. After the green-flag stops cycled through, Haley settled into 16th place where he finished the opening stage.
During the stage break, Haley made his second pit stop of the day, as the team decided to make an additional air pressure adjustment that would hopefully help the No. 31 Chevrolet take off better.
Haley started the second stage in 22nd but quickly fell back to 25th by lap 105, as he battled tight-handling No. 31 Chevy. Crew chief, Trent Owens, called Haley in to pit on lap 132 under green. A caution came out six laps later, trapping Haley a lap down before before the pit cycle was complete. Haley was able to take the wave around under caution, putting him back on the lead lap. Haley radioed that the handling of the No. 31 Chevy felt better following the adjustments on lap 132. The field restarted on lap 147 but was immediately put back under caution for a wreck on the restart. Haley pitted under caution for an adjustment to further loosen up the car, as the car seemed to continue trending tighter throughout the evening. The field restarted on lap 153 and continued to go green for the remainder of the stage. Haley went on to finish 23rd.
Although Haley’s No. 31 Chevy continued handling tighter throughout the final stage, he was able to consistently race in 23rd place. On lap 230, Haley radioed that he began to trend on the freer side. He made another green-flag pit stop on lap 233 before settling into 23rd place where he would finish the race.
“I feel very positive about this weekend overall. We weren’t great in practice, but everyone worked so hard to get the car where we needed it for qualifying. I feel like qualifying is crucial with track position, because passing is so difficult at this top level of motorsports. I feel like we’ve really gotten our program into a spot where I feel better driving the car. The car reacts to what I’m doing. We started off pretty strong in the race, but we just kept getting tighter and tighter with the way the track was trending into nighttime.”
