In a mad four-lap dash to the checkered flag, Denny Hamlin led a Joe Gibbs Racing 1-2-3, and at the white flag, they were all battling three-wide for the win.
Hamlin cleared Christopher Bell at the exit of Turn 2 on the final lap, winning the race over Bell in second and Chase Briscoe in third.
“Well, I think the 20 [Bell] and the 19 [Briscoe] were battling so hard on the first corner, just let me get to the inside of the 20 on the first corner there on the restart,” said Hamlin. “From there, side by side with the 20. He drove in so deep on that last lap into 1, but it allowed me to barely clear off of (Turn) 2.
“Man, what an unbelievable day — starting first, going to last, and back to first.”
Hamlin also had to fight back from an early penalty, as NASCAR handed him a drive-through for jumping the initial start from pole.
“I definitely jumped the start, no doubt about that,” said Hamlin when asked about that blunder. “Yeah, just looking back on it, just didn’t wait quite long enough”
Watch: Hamlin wins Nashville thriller against teammates
Driving a Kyle Busch tribute scheme, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. charged forward on fresh tires to finish fourth, while Shane van Gisbergen earned his career-best finish in fifth.
Tyler Reddick finished sixth and then crashed massively after the checkered flag, Chase Elliott was seventh, Ryan Blaney was eighth, Zane Smith ninth, and Carson Hocevar tenth.
Originally, Elliott was scored in fifth and SVG seventh, but NASCAR later corrected the results.
Stage 1 – A surprise stage winner and Trackhouse woes
After a one-hour delay due to rain, the 400-miler finally got underway. Hamlin started the race from pole, but egregiously jumped the start, which resulted in a pass-through penalty.
Reddick led the race until the Lap 35 competition caution, with the cars of Van Gisbergen, Joey Logano, and Brad Keselowski all jumping to the front with two-tire calls.
Van Gisbergen held the lead for a little while, and battled hard with Larson to keep it. Larson had to lean on him to finally shuffle Van Gisbergen out of the lead, forcing a lift.
Back in 24th, Van Gisbergen’s rookie teammate Connor Zilisch became the first caution of the race when a brake rotor exploded, sending him careening into the Turn 1 wall. He was clearly frustrated in the way he dragged the car back to the garage, aggressively mashing the the throttle as he threw sparks.
A lot of cars made two-tire calls during this round of pit stops, but Van Gisbergen fell out of stage point contention as he was forced to take four.
AJ Allmendinger and Riley Herbst really rolled the dice, staying out. Blaney took the lead soon after, but another Trackhouse car blew a rotor entering Turn 1. This time it was former Nashville winner Ross Chastain, slamming the Turn 1 wall and ending his night as well.
This turned the stage into a one-lap shootout, and while Larson moved into the lead, Allmendinger actually held firm on the inside. In a photo finish, Allmendinger earned his first oval stage win at the Cup level, beating Larson, Blaney, Elliott, Reddick, Wallace, Byron, Briscoe, Herbst, and Suarez.
Stage 2 — Cautions jumble the running order
During the stage break, Ryan Preece — who entered this race on the Chase bubble — went to the garage with a hole in the radiator. It was caused by the shattered rotor debris from the Trackhouse incidents.
Larson dominated the first part of Stage 2, as Hamlin finally made his way back to the top ten. Briscoe was running second, and eventually made his way around Larson before green-flag pit stops.
About 50 laps in, the leaders filed down pit road. However, in the cycle, the caution flew for a spinning Austin Dillon, completely changing the running order and costing fast cars like Briscoe and Larson a lot of track position.
Dillon had to check up for Keselowski, and got turned from behind by Buescher, but he at least did a good job keeping the No. 3 car off the wall. During this caution, the race crossed the halfway point.
As things got all sorted out for the restart, Blaney was now leading the race over Elliott. Briscoe and Larson were at the very back of the top-ten runners.
While the duo of Blaney and Elliott were cruising up front, the battle for third was fierce, with Allmendinger ultimately prevailing.
Unfortunately, Allmendinger’s incredible run ended with a blown brake rotor entering Turn 1, slamming the outside wall, and the RF erupting in flames.
A lot of two-tire calls (led by McDowell) put Blaney and Elliott to the back of the top ten off pit road, while the following drivers stayed out: Suarez, Bowman, Stenhouse, Cindric, Keselowski, and Byron.
In a hectic restart Gilliland spun due to contact from Heim, who got collected in the incident along with Custer.
Suarez won the stage under caution, followed by Bowman, Stenhouse, Cindric, Hamlin, McDowell, Byron, Briscoe, and Keselowski.
Stage 3 – JGR rises as others gamble on fuel
Hamlin inherited the lead for the restart as those six cars that stayed out pitted.
The chaos continued in the middle of the field, as Gragson shot up the track and caused cars to scatter. Keselowski had to lift, and got hit from behind by A. Dillon. He spun up the track, collecting Cindric and slamming the outside wall.
Keselowski’s team tried to assert that Dillon wrecked them on purpose, calling for NASCAR to take action.
It didn’t take long for the next wreck, either. Wallace collided with Buescher after he got pushed out of the groove by Hocevar, sending Wallace into the outside wall. Byron had nowhere to go and was collected, but it didn’t end there. Wallace slid back down the track, slamming into Bowman and ending his night as well.
The tenth caution of the race soon followed, this time as Hocevar sent Nemechek spinning at the exit of Turn 4, with both Herbst and Berry getting a small of it. Gilliland also spun in the ensuing check-up.
Some cars decided to pit as this was just outside the pit window, gambling on being able to make it all the way. Smith and Blaney were the leaders on that strategy.
At the front, it was a JGR party with Hamlin trying to defend the lead from teammates Briscoe and Bell. With 55 laps to go, Bell took the lead as they navigated lapped traffic, but the JGR trio still had a pit stop ahead of them.
Hamlin was the first among the leading trio to pit, pitting with 42 laps to go. Briscoe followed him the next lap, and then Bell the lap after that.
Now leading the race, Smith had an 18-second advantage over Bell with 30 laps to go, but he also had Blaney right behind him. However, Blaney bailed on this strategy, pitting soon after. Herbst inherited second, but he pitted a few laps later as well.
Right as Bell passed Smith for lead with 13 laps to go, the caution flew for Buescher, who blew a brake rotor and slammed the wall.
Smith pitted, but most of the leaders stayed out. Reddick, Blaney, McDowell, and Hocevar were among those who followed him down the pit lane.
The restart came with four laps to go, and the JGR teammates were right on the edge of crashing as they battled each other for the lead. Hamlin and Bell went door-to-door, while Briscoe took them three-wide into Turn 1 on the white flag lap.
Bell drove in super deep, and Hamlin cleared him, driving off with his 62nd career NASCAR Cup win.
In the battle for the final spot inside the top five, Tyler Reddick and Chase Elliott crashed heavily after crossing the finish line, but both were okay.
Kyle Larson also cut a tire on the final restart, and ended up spinning down into the pit lane in the chaotic finish.
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