NASCAR returns to action after being off last week. The drivers are Nashville, Tennessee, to compete in the 2023 Ally 400 at Nashville Superspeedway. Sunday’s race will take place at 7 p.m. ET and can be seen on NBC and the NBC Sports App.
Sunday’s race is one of the few night races scheduled for the Cup Series season. Chase Elliott is one of the drivers advocating for more night races, and one reason for that is his success last year when he won the Ally 400 in Nashville at night. However, the 2020 NASCAR Cup Series champion also believes that having night races will benefit all drivers and fans due to the weather during the summer.
Videos by PopCulture.com
“This time of year is hot for the drivers it is what it is … but for the people sitting the grandstands its 95 degrees here in the summer … there’s no reason to be roasting on Sunday afternoon when a facility has lights,” Elliott said, per the Tennessean. “We’d love to see these events be on Saturday nights instead of Sunday nights for people that have to go to work on Monday morning, but I just don’t see any reason why we shouldn’t have more night races during these months where it’s so hot for the spectators.”
It’s been documented that Kevin Harvick is competing in his final year as a full-time competitor. Last week, Stewart-Haas Racing announced Josh Berry will replace Harvick and drive the No. 4 Mustang. Berry was discovered by NASCAR legend Dale Earnhardt Jr. and has competed in 10 Cup Series races in two years with three top-10 finishes.
“I’m really proud of how I’ve gotten to this point and earned this opportunity,” Berry said, per the Associated Press. “I don’t like to use the word luck. It’s also been about preparation meeting opportunity. I wouldn’t change anything about how I got here. It made me who I am. Throughout my teenage years, it was a fight just to keep racing, to get to the next race.
“The timing of Dale and I getting together, that was crucial. If that doesn’t happen, I don’t know that I would’ve ever raced a stock car, or how much more I would’ve raced at all, just because racing overextended us financially,” Berry continued. “Those years of racing and winning, and the people I was around and worked with, prepared me for the opportunities that I’ve gotten, and they’ve prepared me to capitalize on this opportunity with Stewart-Haas Racing.”
