ANADELL TAKES CONTROL IN MUSIC CITY WITH STATEMENT WIN

Nashville Superspeedway has a way of exposing drivers. The concrete surface doesn’t forgive much, and the long, sweeping corners reward rhythm just as much as raw speed. On Saturday morning, that balance played right into Morgan Anadell’s hands, as he put together one of the most complete drives of the young season to win the Nashville 135.

Starting third, Anadell wasted little time getting to the front, taking the lead early and ultimately pacing the field for 49 laps. The number 11 ARCA Ford Mustang looked planted through the long runs, especially as the race settled into a rhythm between three cautions. When the final lead change came on Lap 72, Anadell grabbed control for good and never let the field get close again.

It wasn’t without pressure. Sean McMillan showed serious muscle, leading 44 laps and trading the top spot with Anadell during the middle portion of the race. For a stretch, it looked like McMillan might have the dominant car, but late-race contact and a few mistakes shuffled him back to sixth when it was all said and done.

Behind the winner, Tyler Clifford put together one of the more interesting second-place runs you’ll see. He climbed from sixth on the grid and laid down the fastest lap of the race on Lap 80 with a blistering 29.748. The speed was undeniable, but it came at a cost—Clifford racked up a race-high 14 incidents, keeping things lively every time he showed up in someone’s mirror.

“I’ll tell you what, the #86 car was fast, no doubt about it,” Clifford said afterward. “But we were just a little too aggressive in traffic. Car was great except I kept putting it in spots it didn’t need to be.”

Sam Luebbers, the points leader coming in, did exactly what a championship driver does—he stayed in the fight. A third-place finish keeps him atop the standings, but his once comfortable margin is now down to just three points over Anadell. It wasn’t a clean day, though, as Luebbers found himself tangled in mid-race chaos and had to regroup to salvage the podium.

Nicholas Warner, who started on the pole, showed early promise but couldn’t quite convert it into a top-three finish. Eight incidents and a few mid-race scuffles dropped him to fourth, a solid result on paper but one that felt like more slipped away after leading early laps.

Further back, Benjamin Myrick quietly turned in one of the cleanest races of the day with zero incidents, bringing it home fifth. In a race where others were slipping and sliding across Nashville’s tricky surface, Myrick’s smooth approach stood out just as much as the front-runners’ aggression.

The race’s defining moment came around Lap 71-72, when contact between multiple contenders—including McMillan and Clifford—set off a brief shuffle at the front. That sequence opened the door for Anadell to pounce, and once he cleared back into the lead, the field never mounted a serious challenge again.

There was also some lingering tension between Luebbers and McMillan after a late-race exchange. “He was using me up pretty good there,” Luebbers said. “The car was great except I kept having to lift more than I wanted to. That’s just Nashville, I guess—everybody’s elbows are out.”

Zachary Price made one of the bigger moves in the standings, climbing four spots despite a quiet seventh-place finish. Meanwhile, David McSorley’s day never quite came together, finishing eighth after multiple incidents and losing laps late. Nashville’s unforgiving nature showed itself there—small mistakes tend to snowball quickly on that surface.

With three cautions and just three official lead changes, this race was less about chaos and more about execution. Anadell had both, and now he’s right on the doorstep of the points lead heading into next week.

Up next, the series heads to Homestead-Miami Speedway for the Flounder Pounder 120, where tire wear and the high line will tell a completely different story. If Nashville was about discipline, Homestead will be about daring—and after what we saw this weekend, there’s no shortage of drivers ready to take their shot.