Mother nature once again frowned upon the NASCAR world after last week’s rain-soaked Coca-Cola 600 weekend as the NASCAR community moved forward into Nashville following the devastating loss of Kyle Busch a little over a week ago. Weather continued to be an obstacle as the truck race Friday night was delayed as was tonight’s Cracker Barrel 400 at Nashville Superspeedway. After about an hour delay, however, the scattered pop-up showers rolled through, the skies cleared, and we were able to go racing just over an hour past the advertised start time.
After a wild opening two stages for the Toyotas, they regained control of the race with all four JGR drivers running in the top 5 as laps wound down in the final stage. Initially, it looked like Chase Briscoe was the favorite as Denny Hamlin pitted prematurely in attempt to leapfrog his teammate in the running order. As laps wound down, it became clear that Zane Smith was going to try to stretch his fuel to the end of the race. As both Riely Herbst and Ryan Blaney pit, believing that they cannot make it on fuel, Christopher Bell slid into 2nd with Smith leading. Behind him were his teammates Chase Briscoe and Denny Hamlin.
Christopher Bell snatched the race lead from Zane Smith with 13 laps to go. Within the lap, the caution flew as Chris Buescher crashed following yet another brake failure. Under caution, eight drivers stayed out. They were Christopher Bell, Chase Briscoe, Denny Hamlin, Chase Elliott, Kyle Larson, Shane van Gisbergen, Ty Gibbs, and Erik Jones. Zane Smith led Tyler Reddick off pit road. They lined up 9th and 10th, respectively for the restart.
The race restarted with 4 laps to go. Bell and Briscoe started neck and neck. Heading into Turn 1, Bell cleared Briscoe for the lead. Heading down the backstretch, Denny Hamlin battled back, challenging for the race lead. They were side-by-side taking 3 laps to go. 2 to go and they were still side-by-side and remained so as they took the white flag. After taking the white flag, Briscoe went three wide with his teammates. Denny Hamlin cleared Bell on the backstretch of the last lap but it wasn’t over yet. Bell battled back. But as track conditions became treacherous in the final turn, Briscoe fell back and Hamlin cleared Bell to go on to win the race. This completes a 1-2-3 finish for JGR as Tyler Reddick and Chase Elliott crash after the flag flies.
For Hamlin, this was his second points-paying win of 2026 (his third total, counting the All-Star win a couple of weeks back at Dover). This victory puts Hamlin at 62 career wins in the NASCAR Cup Series, one behind the late and legendary Kyle Busch, Hamlin’s former teammate, who we lost a little over a week ago. Tonight, he carried his eulogy in a thrilling fashion.
After qualifying yesterday was washed out by rain, NASCAR reverted to the predetermined metric to determine tonight’s starting order. That put Denny Hamlin on the pole with Tyler Reddick starting alongside. Right behind them was last week’s winner, Daniel Suarez. The race began after a brief rain delay with Denny Hamlin noticeably jumping the start. This resulted in him having to serve a passthrough penalty under green, handing the lead over to his 23XI Racing driver, Tyler Reddick. Reddick continued to lead Bell and Larson into the Lap 35 competition caution early on.
Following the competition caution, we saw a variety of different strategies. With tire wear not being a huge deal, a handful of drivers opted not to pit. Among them was Shane van Gisbergen, who inherited the race lead after previously running inside the top 10. When the race restarted, SVG was able to hold his own, fending off Reddick as the No. 45 started to slip up the track, costing him positions. He maintained the lead until Lap 54, when both Larson and Christopher Bell got by him for the race lead.
The first caution for cause came out on Lap 73 when Connor Zilisch suffered a tire failure. This resulted in him slamming hard into the outside wall in Turn 1.
Kyle Larson led the leaders down pit road and, once again, we saw a split in strategy. Four drivers stayed out. They were new race leader, A. J. Allmendinger, Riley Herbsy, Cole Custer, and Ryan Blaney. Chase Elliott won the race off pit road followed by Kyle Larson, Daniel Suarez, Bubba Wallace, Carson Hocevar, and Tyler Reddick. Christopher Bell dropped to 30th after an issue on the left side during his pit stop.
The race restarted with just 11 to go in the stage. Ryan Blaney made a jump on Allmendinger and Herbst, going three-wide on the backstretch to take the race lead. But Allmendinger battled back, once again proving that tire wear is not a huge issue on the Nashville concrete.
Blaney was shown as the race leader when we got out second caution for cause as bad luck continued for the Trackhouse Racing Chevrolets. This time, it was Ross Chastain who seemingly also blew a tire like his teammate Zilisch. He plowed into the Turn 1 SAFER Barrier. Meanwhile, Michael McDowell spun in an unrelated incident. Chastain took his Busch Light No. 1 behind the wall in the garage area, joining the Red Bull No. 88 of Zilisch.
The race restarted with just one lap remaining in the stage. A. J. Allmendinger was able to hold off a hard-charging Kyle Larson and Ryan Bleny to score the stage victory in a thrilling, side-by-side shootout to conclude the first stage.
Earning points in the opening stage were: A. J. Allmendinger (10), Kyle Larson (9), Ryan Blaney (8), Chase Elliott (7), Tyler Reddick (6), Bubba Wallace (5), William Byron (4), Chase Briscoe (3), and Riley Herbst (2). Corey Heim rounded out the top 10 but is ineligible for stage points due to being committed to the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series.
During the stage break, Ryan Preece brought his No. 60 behind the wall. He also was reportedly having brake issues and temperature issues.
The second stage commenced with Kyle Larson leading. He held onto the race lead until Lap 128 in which Chase Briscoe overtook the 5 for the race lead. Briscoe started to pull away until a cycle of green flag pit starts began on Lap 138. Before they could complete the cycle, the caution flag flew for Austin Dillon taking a spin on the frontstretch. At the time of caution, only 8 cars were on the lead lap. Previous leader, Chase Briscoe was running 9th. He received the free pass under caution.
Inheriting the lead with 37 laps remaining in the stage was Ryan Blaney with Chase Elliott behind him. The remaining of the previous leaders were forced to take the waive around. The race restarted with 34 laps remaining in the stage. Blaney continued to lead Elliott over the course of the next run. On Lap 173, we got another caution as A. J. Allmendinger becomes the fourth driver with brake issues after winning Stage 1. He plows into outside wall hard, ending his night.
Many of the leaders came down pit road for service during the break for the caution. Six drivers stayed out. Among them were Daniel Suarez, Alex Bowman, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Austin Cindric, Brad Keselowski, and William Byron. They aimed to capitalize and earn some stage points. Michael McDowell led Chase Briscoe off pit road and restarted the race in the 7th position.
The race restarted with 4 laps remaining in the stage. Suarez got a great jump on the restart, clearing Bowman for the race lead. With 3 laps remaining in Stage 2, the caution came out once more as Cole Custer, Todd Gilliland, and Corey Heim were collected in a minor incident. This effectively ended the stage under caution with Daniel Suarez collecting his first stage victory in a couple of years.
The following drivers earned stage points in Stage 2: Daniel Suarez (10), Alex Bowman (9), Ricky Stenhouse Jr. (8), Austin Cindric (7), Denny Hamlin (6), Michael McDowell (5), William Byron (4), Chase Briscoe (3), Christopher Bell (2), and Brad Keselowski (1).
Denny Hamlin wins the Cracker Barrel 400 at Nashville Superspeedway. It’s his 62nd career win, his second points-paying win of the season, and his third overall, after winning the All-Star Race at Dover two weeks ago.
Denny Hamlin clocks the Xfinity Fastest Lap. This adds an additional bonus point to his race total.
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