NASCAR names three drivers up, three down following Nashville Ally 400

Chaos comes to mind when you think of Sunday’s Ally 400 at Nashville Superspeedway, specifically the overtime period which included a record five green-white-checkered attempts.

After caution after caution after caution, it was Joey Logano who took the checkered flag, stumbling across the line with hardly any fuel remaining. Yes, Logano is the clear winner of the night, as he officially clinched his spot in the playoffs. But there are others who had solid runs of their own and are undoubtedly trending up coming out of Nashville. Zach Sturniolo of NASCAR.com highlighted three drivers trending up, and three drivers trending down.

Zane Smith has had a rough season and will likely find himself out of the NASCAR Cup Series next season. But on Sunday night, Smith had a glorious opportunity to notch his first career win. He instead finished second which while his highest career finish, a missed opportunity when you realize how close he came to pulling out the victory. Regardless, a run Smith will never forget.

Zane Smith has career night at Nashville

“I mean, obviously so happy with the result,” Smith said after the race. “But when you hear for like 10 laps that ‘He is supposed to run out, he is supposed to run out’, and then you see him shaking the car across the line and you just finished second, that hurts. The winning side of it hurts, but just appreciate everyone at Spire Motorsports and appreciate the strategy there. I appreciate Jockey Outdoors and Luke Bryan. Having them on board here in Nashville, along with all of our other partners. It’s been a rough, rough year, but this is a great momentum booster, confidence booster, all of the above. So, hopefully we can carry this on, but it was awesome to sniff your first Cup win.”

Like Smith, Ryan Preece hasn’t had much success this season. At Nashville, however, he tallied a season-high P4 finish. Preece moved up three spots in the points standings after Nashville. Daniel Hemric is another driver who quietly had a solid day, finishing P9 after starting the race in the 37th position. Hemric overcame being involved in the first overtime attempt caution to score his third ninth place finish this season.

Several drivers looking to turn the page from Nashville

As for who will be looking to move on from Nashville, Christopher Bell tops the list. Bell, who won last Sunday at New Hampshire, swept stages 1 and 2, but got stuck in traffic in the final stage and spun on his own. Bell finished 36th.

“I just put myself in a pretty bad spot going into turn one,” Bell said. “I got bottled up there and just lost my cool to make something happen. And I put myself in a bad spot and spun out.”

Like Bell, Brad Keselowski ran in the front of the field for a majority of the race but crashed on Lap 243. He settled for a P25 finish. Ty Gibbs needed a positive run following a string of underwhelming results and certainly had a fast car on Sunday. Unfortunately, he was collected in the Lap 305 wreck and finished 23rd.