NASCAR: Kyle Larson keeps streak alive, wins at Nashville

June 21 (UPI) -- NASCAR's Kyle Larson continued his hot streak with his fourth victory in seven days in the Cup Series' debut at Nashville Superspeedway. He led 264 of 300 laps to win the 2021 Ally 400.

Larson's win Sunday moved him just 10 points behind Cup Series standings leader Denny Hamlin. William Byron, Chase Elliott and Joey Logano round out the Top 5 in the standings as the season nears its halfway point.

"It was another good one," Larson told reporters. "We've had probably the best race car on the racetrack for at least a month and a half. It was good to take advantage of it and get another win.

"I was able to jump out to a lead right from the get-go, basically lead the rest of the race. If it wasn't for the cautions at the ends of the stages, we had a near perfect day."

Ross Chastain and Byron finished in second and third place, respectively. Aric Almirola, Kevin Harvick, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Daniel Suarez, Kurt Busch, Christopher Bell and Logano also finished in the Top 10 of the 39-car field.

Almirola started first, but Kyle Busch led for the first five laps. Larson held the lead for lap Nos. 6 through 45. Kyle Busch, his brother Kurt Busch, Larson, Almirola, Elliott and Chase Briscoe went on to exchange the lead. Larson led laps 182 through 218.

Chastain took the lead back from laps 219 through 222. Larson then retook the lead and paced the field for the final 78 laps.

He beat Chastain to the checkered flag by 4.3 seconds.

Larson, 28, won the Coca-Cola 600 on May 30 in Charlotte, N.C. He won the Toyota Save Mart 350 on June 6 and NASCAR's All-Star Race on June 13. Larson also won two dirt race events last week in Ohio.

He hasn't finished worse than second place in a Cup Series race since May 2.

"Didn't think that was possible ever for me in the Cup Series," Larson said. "I've gone on streaks in dirt racing and stuff before, but never been close to doing anything like that in Cup.

"It's been awesome. To get to now double-digit point paying wins is great. I'd like to keep winning and keep inching my name up the winner's list not only at NASCAR, but at Hendrick Motorsports, too. I think that's important to me."

Elliott, who won the first stage Sunday, was disqualified because of five loose lug nuts on his No. 9 Chevrolet. He sits in fourth place in the Cup Series standings.

The Cup Series season continues with two races next weekend at Pocono Raceway in Long Pond, Pa.