NASCAR's Nashville Superspeedway sequel was a good show. Too bad so few saw it all | Estes

LEBANON – I’d call the 2022 Ally 400 a cursed race, but it really wasn’t. Not on the track, at least.

Our latest NASCAR Cup Series race was fun. More entertaining than a year ago, for sure, and a good bit better than Nashville Superspeedway has been known to provide in the past.

Chase Elliott’s celebration under the lights was only after he seized control late – as one of seven different leaders.

“Way more (racing) than I thought it would be,” Elliott said. That’s a compliment from the same driver who tweeted a couple of years ago about the “snooze fest” he expected at this track, relative to the Nashville Fairgrounds Speedway.

Elliott views the Fairgrounds as special. He wants NASCAR to return there and has stressed that repeatedly and did so again after Sunday’s victory.

But the Superspeedway put on a good show this time.

The curse was how few people were able to see all of it.

Elliott’s victory ended around 11 p.m. That was seven hours after the race started, thanks to two weather delays, the second of which dragged on for about two hours and felt even worse. A long day becomes longer in the heat. And this race lasted so long that the temperature was pleasant by the end.

Fan attendance at the Superspeedway – which was never close to last year’s packed house – had dwindled for the checkered flag. Understandably so. People have work.

It was technically Monday morning before Elliott finished his post-race press conference.

The live broadcast of the race had long since moved to USA Network, no longer able to be shown by NBC.

It was all just unfortunate.

How little rain have we gotten in Middle Tennessee lately? While bad weather was forecast Sunday, most of it missed the area. Then this small storm cell popped up and intensified out of nowhere mid-race – after 139 laps, a dozen shy of what would have made for an official race – and then sat on top of the Superspeedway like a cloud over a Charlie Brown character. What can you do?

Much of the racing, once it happened, really was worth the wait. There were 18 lead changes, with Elliott roaring in front for the final 39 laps and seeing it out through a late caution flag. Three other drivers – Denny Hamlin, Martin Truex Jr. and Kyle Busch – led for more laps than Elliott.

Much different from last year’s race, when dominant winner Kyle Larson cruised in front for 264 of 300 laps.

“My car was so good last year, I led like every lap. I didn't really have to race anybody,” said Larson, who finished fourth Sunday and was never in front.

Larson’s 2021 was that way. He rolled to 10 victories last year. He has only won once in 2022, but there’s no shame in that. No driver this year has thus far won more than twice in 17 points races.

A short explanation: NASCAR’s new Next Gen car changed the game this year. Teams have been having to relearn the same tracks while often forgetting what they thought they knew. As a result, individual performances – and races – have been unpredictable.

Anything has seemed possible, and while that can be stressful for drivers, it’s also more exciting for NASCAR.

Take Hamlin’s year, for example. Despite two wins, he showed up Sunday 21st in the points standings. On June 12 at Sonoma, he struggled to a 31st-place finish.

Next time out, he started on the pole and ran well, leading for 114 laps and finishing sixth in Nashville.

"We all show up this week and our car is fast again,” Hamlin said after winning Saturday’s qualifying. “It's so week to week, and I've never seen it within our sport where you just don't know until the first 10 laps of practice. ... Until we go back to tracks for the second time, we're going to continue to have this variability of someone is going to guess right and someone is going to guess wrong.”

Had Sunday's race been called by rain just after the halfway point, Hamlin could have easily won. Several others could have, too.

Instead, Elliott ended up with enough time for a late rally.

Very late, as it turned out.

Reach Tennessean sports columnist Gentry Estes at gestes@tennessean.com and on Twitter @Gentry_Estes. 

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Chase Elliott's Ally 400 win was a good show that few were able to see