The 2026 Cracker Barrel 400 was an NASCAR Cup Series race that was held on May 31, 2026, at Nashville Superspeedway in Lebanon, Tennessee. Contested over 300 laps on the 1+1⁄3-mile (2.146 km) speedway, it was the 14th race of the 2026 NASCAR Cup Series season.
Denny Hamlin won the race. Christopher Bell finished 2nd, and Chase Briscoe finished 3rd. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Shane van Gisbergen rounded out the top five, and Tyler Reddick, Chase Elliott, Ryan Blaney, Zane Smith, and Carson Hocevar rounded out the top ten.
Report
Background
Nashville Superspeedway is a motor racing complex located in Lebanon, Tennessee, United States, about 30 miles (48 km) southeast of Nashville. The track was built in 2001 and is currently used for events, driving schools and GT Academy, a reality television competition.
It is a concrete oval track 1+1⁄3 miles (2.146 km) long. Nashville Superspeedway is owned by Dover Motorsports, Inc., which also owns Dover Motor Speedway. Nashville Superspeedway was the longest concrete oval in NASCAR during the time it was on the NASCAR O'Reilly Auto Parts Series and NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series circuits. Current permanent seating capacity is approximately 25,000. Additional portable seats are brought in for some events, and seating capacity can be expanded to 150,000. Infrastructure is in place to expand the facility to include a short track, drag strip, and road course.
On April 10, 2025, Cracker Barrel was announced as the title sponsor, replacing Ally.[7]
Prior to the season, NASCAR announced that Nashville, along with 5 other tracks would run the new short track package rather than the intermediate package from 2021 to 2025.[8]
Entry list
- (R) denotes rookie driver.
- (i) denotes driver who is ineligible for series driver points.
Practice
Christopher Bell was the fastest in the practice session with a time of 29.802 seconds and a speed of 160.660 mph (258.557 km/h).
Practice results
| Pos | No. | Driver | Team | Manufacturer | Time | Speed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 20 | Christopher Bell | Joe Gibbs Racing | Toyota | 29.802 | 160.660 |
| 2 | 1 | Ross Chastain | Trackhouse Racing | Chevrolet | 29.824 | 160.542 |
| 3 | 11 | Denny Hamlin | Joe Gibbs Racing | Toyota | 29.827 | 160.526 |
| Official practice results | ||||||
Qualifying
Qualifying for the race was canceled due to inclement weather. Denny Hamlin was awarded the pole for the race as a result of NASCAR's pandemic formula with a score of 2.700.[9]
Starting lineup
Race
Race results
Stage results
Stage One Laps: 90
| Pos | No | Driver | Team | Manufacturer | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 16 | A. J. Allmendinger | Kaulig Racing | Chevrolet | 10 |
| 2 | 5 | Kyle Larson | Hendrick Motorsports | Chevrolet | 9 |
| 3 | 12 | Ryan Blaney | Team Penske | Ford | 8 |
| 4 | 9 | Chase Elliott | Hendrick Motorsports | Chevrolet | 7 |
| 5 | 45 | Tyler Reddick | 23XI Racing | Toyota | 6 |
| 6 | 23 | Bubba Wallace | 23XI Racing | Toyota | 5 |
| 7 | 24 | William Byron | Hendrick Motorsports | Chevrolet | 4 |
| 8 | 19 | Chase Briscoe | Joe Gibbs Racing | Toyota | 3 |
| 9 | 35 | Riley Herbst | 23XI Racing | Toyota | 2 |
| 10 | 67 | Corey Heim (i) | 23XI Racing | Toyota | 0 |
Stage Two Laps: 95
| Pos | No | Driver | Team | Manufacturer | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 7 | Daniel Suárez | Spire Motorsports | Chevrolet | 10 |
| 2 | 48 | Alex Bowman | Hendrick Motorsports | Chevrolet | 9 |
| 3 | 47 | Ricky Stenhouse Jr. | Hyak Motorsports | Chevrolet | 8 |
| 4 | 2 | Austin Cindric | Team Penske | Ford | 7 |
| 5 | 11 | Denny Hamlin | Joe Gibbs Racing | Toyota | 6 |
| 6 | 71 | Michael McDowell | Spire Motorsports | Chevrolet | 5 |
| 7 | 24 | William Byron | Hendrick Motorsports | Chevrolet | 4 |
| 8 | 20 | Christopher Bell | Joe Gibbs Racing | Toyota | 3 |
| 9 | 19 | Chase Briscoe | Joe Gibbs Racing | Toyota | 2 |
| 10 | 6 | Brad Keselowski | RFK Racing | Ford | 1 |
Final Stage results
Stage Three Laps: 115
| Pos | Grid | No | Driver | Team | Manufacturer | Laps | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | 11 | Denny Hamlin | Joe Gibbs Racing | Toyota | 300 | 62 |
| 2 | 4 | 20 | Christopher Bell | Joe Gibbs Racing | Toyota | 300 | 38 |
| 3 | 31 | 19 | Chase Briscoe | Joe Gibbs Racing | Toyota | 300 | 39 |
| 4 | 15 | 47 | Ricky Stenhouse Jr. | Hyak Motorsports | Chevrolet | 300 | 41 |
| 5 | 10 | 97 | Shane van Gisbergen | Trackhouse Racing | Chevrolet | 300 | 32 |
| 6 | 2 | 45 | Tyler Reddick | 23XI Racing | Toyota | 300 | 37 |
| 7 | 29 | 9 | Chase Elliott | Hendrick Motorsports | Chevrolet | 300 | 37 |
| 8 | 7 | 12 | Ryan Blaney | Team Penske | Ford | 300 | 37 |
| 9 | 11 | 38 | Zane Smith | Front Row Motorsports | Ford | 300 | 28 |
| 10 | 17 | 77 | Carson Hocevar | Spire Motorsports | Chevrolet | 300 | 27 |
| 11 | 13 | 43 | Erik Jones | Legacy Motor Club | Toyota | 300 | 26 |
| 12 | 30 | 10 | Ty Dillon | Kaulig Racing | Chevrolet | 300 | 25 |
| 13 | 6 | 54 | Ty Gibbs | Joe Gibbs Racing | Toyota | 300 | 24 |
| 14 | 9 | 22 | Joey Logano | Team Penske | Ford | 300 | 23 |
| 15 | 14 | 71 | Michael McDowell | Spire Motorsports | Chevrolet | 300 | 27 |
| 16 | 26 | 4 | Noah Gragson | Front Row Motorsports | Ford | 299 | 21 |
| 17 | 23 | 35 | Riley Herbst | 23XI Racing | Toyota | 299 | 22 |
| 18 | 32 | 3 | Austin Dillon | Richard Childress Racing | Chevrolet | 299 | 19 |
| 19 | 3 | 7 | Daniel Suárez | Spire Motorsports | Chevrolet | 299 | 28 |
| 20 | 21 | 34 | Todd Gilliland | Front Row Motorsports | Ford | 299 | 17 |
| 21 | 20 | 41 | Cole Custer | Haas Factory Team | Chevrolet | 299 | 16 |
| 22 | 34 | 51 | Cody Ware | Rick Ware Racing | Chevrolet | 299 | 15 |
| 23 | 5 | 5 | Kyle Larson | Hendrick Motorsports | Chevrolet | 299 | 23 |
| 24 | 27 | 42 | John Hunter Nemechek | Legacy Motor Club | Toyota | 298 | 13 |
| 25 | 24 | 67 | Corey Heim (i) | 23XI Racing | Toyota | 298 | 0 |
| 26 | 36 | 2 | Austin Cindric | Team Penske | Ford | 296 | 18 |
| 27 | 25 | 33 | Austin Hill (i) | Richard Childress Racing | Chevrolet | 293 | 0 |
| 28 | 37 | 66 | Chad Finchum (i) | Garage 66 | Ford | 289 | 0 |
| 29 | 22 | 17 | Chris Buescher | RFK Racing | Ford | 286 | 8 |
| 30 | 8 | 24 | William Byron | Hendrick Motorsports | Chevrolet | 231 | 15 |
| 31 | 33 | 21 | Josh Berry | Wood Brothers Racing | Ford | 214 | 6 |
| 32 | 18 | 23 | Bubba Wallace | 23XI Racing | Toyota | 202 | 10 |
| 33 | 19 | 48 | Alex Bowman | Hendrick Motorsports | Chevrolet | 202 | 13 |
| 34 | 12 | 6 | Brad Keselowski | RFK Racing | Ford | 191 | 4 |
| 35 | 16 | 16 | A. J. Allmendinger | Kaulig Racing | Chevrolet | 172 | 12 |
| 36 | 28 | 60 | Ryan Preece | RFK Racing | Ford | 90 | 1 |
| 37 | 35 | 1 | Ross Chastain | Trackhouse Racing | Chevrolet | 81 | 1 |
| 38 | 38 | 88 | Connor Zilisch (R) | Trackhouse Racing | Chevrolet | 71 | 1 |
| Official race results | |||||||
Race statistics
- Lead changes: 31 among 15 different drivers
- Cautions/Laps: 12 for 75 laps
- Red flags: 0
- Time of race: 3 hours, 44 minutes, and 57 seconds
- Average speed: 106.424 miles per hour (171.273 km/h)
Media
Television
Prime Video covered the race on the television side. Adam Alexander, Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Steve Letarte called the race from the broadcast booth. Kim Coon, Marty Snider, and Trevor Bayne handled pit road for the television side.
| Prime Video | |
|---|---|
| Booth announcers | Pit reporters |
| Lap-by-lap: Adam Alexander Color-commentator: Dale Earnhardt Jr. Color-commentator: Steve Letarte | Kim Coon Marty Snider Trevor Bayne |
Radio
Radio coverage of the race was broadcast by the Performance Racing Network (PRN) and was also simulcasted on Sirius XM NASCAR Radio. Brad Gillie and Nick Yeoman called the race in the booth when the field races through the quad-oval. Doug Turnbull called the race from a billboard in turn 2 when the field raced through turns 1 and 2 and halfway down the backstretch. Pat Patterson called the race from a billboard outside of turn 3 when the field raced through the other half of the backstretch and through turns 3 and 4. Wendy Venturini, Heather DeBeaux, and Andrew Kurland were the pit reporters during the broadcast.
| PRN | ||
|---|---|---|
| Booth announcers | Turn announcers | Pit reporters |
| Lead announcer: Brad Gillie Announcer: Nick Yeoman | Turns 1 & 2: Doug Turnbull Turns 3 & 4: Pat Patterson | Wendy Venturini Heather DeBeaux Andrew Kurland |
Standings after the race
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References
- ↑ "2026 schedule". Jayski.com. Jayski's Silly Season Site. Retrieved October 25, 2025.
- ↑ "Nashville Superspeedway". NASCAR.com. NASCAR Media Group, LLC. January 3, 2013. Archived from the original on September 29, 2015. Retrieved April 24, 2023.
- ↑ "NASCAR releases 2026 schedule, adding Chicagoland and shifting All-Star to Dover". NASCAR. August 20, 2025. Retrieved August 20, 2025.
- ↑ "Entry List" (PDF). Jayski.com. Jayski's Silly Season Site. May 26, 2026. Retrieved May 26, 2026.
- ↑ "Cracker Barrel 400 Results". Racing-Reference. May 31, 2026. Retrieved May 31, 2026.
- ↑ "Points standings" (PDF). Jayski.com. Jayski's Silly Season Site. May 31, 2026. Retrieved May 31, 2026.
- ↑ Albino, Dustin (April 10, 2025). "Cracker Barrel named entitlement sponsor of Cup race at Nashville". Jayski's Silly Season Site. Retrieved April 10, 2025.
- ↑ "NASCAR issues technical updates, specifying rules for 750-horsepower tracks, A-post flaps". NASCAR. November 14, 2025. Retrieved November 14, 2025.
- ↑ DeGroot, Nick (May 30, 2026). "NASCAR Cup Nashville starting lineup: Denny Hamlin on pole as qualifying cancelled". Motorsport.com. Lebanon, Tennessee: Motorsport Network. Retrieved May 30, 2026.