The NASCAR Cup Series is back at Nashville Superspeedway for the fifth consecutive season for the Cracker Barrel 400 on June 1.
Chase Briscoe is on the pole after winning Saturday’s qualifying session with Denny Hamlin joining him on the front row.
Kyle Larson is starting 28th after a poor qualifying run, a surprising instance for the odds-on favorite during the week.
An underlying storyline in Sunday’s race will be the start of the in-season challenge. The top 32 in the points standings will lock into the challenge following the Nashville race, with seeding TBD over the next few weeks.
Follow along with our live race updates, with green flag set for after 6 p.m. CT at Nashville.
LIVE LEADERBOARD:Â Full field leaderboard of NASCAR Cup Series Cracker Barrel 400
The top 10 finishers from Nashville Superspeedway:
- Ryan Blaney, No. 12Â Team Penske Ford
- Carson Hocevar, No. 77 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet
- Denny Hamlin, No. 11Â Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota
- Joey Logano, No. 22 Team Penske Ford
- William Byron, No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet
- Bubba Wallace, No. 23 23XI Racing Toyota
- Erik Jones, No. 43 Legacy Motor Club Toyota
- Kyle Larson, No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet
- Tyler Reddick, No. 45 23XI Racing Toyota
- Christopher Bell, No. 20Â Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota
Ryan Blaney gets his first win of the season in the Cracker Barrel 400 at Nashville Superspeedway with a dominant performance in the final 150 laps.
“Super proud of everybody,” Blaney tells him team in his normal calm voice.
Ryan Blaney’s lead is now about 2.5 seconds with 20 laps to go, as Carson Hocevar is riding on older tires. Denny Hamlin’s surge has also stabilized in third, about 3.3 seconds behind Hamlin.
Ryan Blaney inherits the lead, but he is struggling with lap traffic. Denny Hamlin and Carson Hocevar are each within three seconds.
Denny Hamlin pits from the lead and ends up losing about five seconds to Ryan Blaney. Carson Hocevar is now ahead of Hamlin and is second among those who have pitted.
Ryan Blaney pits from the lead on Lap 249, while Denny Hamlin is told they’ll wait five or six more laps.
Erik Jones pits on Lap 243, while Carson Hocevar comes in a lap later. Reminder: Ryan Blaney ran longer than most in Stage 1, but does that strategy change?
With 68 laps to go, the fuel window is open for teams to pit and make it to the end (barring 2024 Nashville level shenanigans). Who will pit first among the leaders? And when?
Alex Bowman, resigned to another poor finish after the crash in Stage 2, is back in the race, 105 laps down in 37th. If he can run about 15 laps, he can pass Corey Heim in the running order.
Erik Jones slipped a couple spots after the initial restart but worked to re-pass William Byron for fourth. Now he looks to pass Joey Logano for third once more.
Carson Hocevar is up to sixth, while Kyle Larson is up to ninth. Those are race-high running positions for both drivers.
Ryan Blaney takes the lead from Joey Logano off of turn 2 on the restart, and Logano battles Erik Jones for second.
Kyle Larson is up to 10th, in the top 10 for the first time.
Ryan Preece, running outside the top 20 and in the third lane on the outside, spins and backs into the wall in turn 2.
Preece is around the playoff bubble, so that’s a big impact to the drivers around the cutline.
Joey Logano holds off Ryan Blaney for the lead, with William Byron in third. Erik Jones passes Denny Hamlin for fourth.
Joey Logano wins the race off of pit road, with Ryan Blaney in second.
Josh Berry will move to the rear after having a crew member over the wall too soon on his stop. Berry came off of pit road in eighth but will be well back now with less than 115 laps to go.
Brad Keselowski was also penalized for too many crew members over the wall.
Ryan Blaney wins Stage 2 by 2.5 seconds over William Byron.
The top 10:
- Ryan Blaney
- William Byron
- Denny Hamlin
- Joey Logano
- Erik Jones
- Austin Cindric
- Carson Hocevar
- Zane Smith
- Josh Berry
- Christopher Bell
Chase Briscoe fell outside the top 10 over the last 20 laps, and he reports a lack of rear grip late in the run. “On ice,” Briscoe tells his team.
Erik Jones has held strong in fifth throughout this run, a positive for the No. 43 team. Carson Hocevar (7th) and Zane Smith (8th) have driven into the top 10 and will gain some stage points pending something changing in the final laps of Stage 2.
Tyler Reddick has moved into the top 20 after his previous issues, while Chase Elliott (21st) and Kyle Larson (22nd) are still struggling.
William Byron passes Ryan Blaney for second, then tries to pass Denny Hamlin for the lead. Neither Hamlin nor Byron can get an advantage, and Blaney makes it three-wide and passes both for the top spot. Hamlin had to let off the gas on the outside line and moves back to third.
15 laps to go in Stage 2. Blaney seems to have the best car, especially later in the run.
Kyle Larson passes Ty Dillon for 20th, and he’s in the top 20 for the first time today. Teammate Chase Elliott is next up for Larson in 19th.
Denny Hamlin’s lead over Ryan Blaney is about 0.4 seconds, but passing at the front has been difficult.
Christopher Bell has driven back up to 13th, while Chase Elliott has dropped to 18th. Haven’t heard much yet on Elliott’s radio as to what he is dealing with during this stint.
Ricky Stenhouse Jr. acknowledges Carson Hocevar’s contact to send him spinning in an interview with Amazon, and says there may be something coming later on for Hocevar.
Let’s recap where this race is at after the last 30 or so laps:
- 133 laps are complete, with 52 laps to go in Stage 2.
- Alex Bowman, Noah Gragson, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Corey Heim are in the garage after three separate incidents.
- Kyle Larson remained on the lead lap with the Heim caution.
- Tyler Reddick gets the free pass.
- Denny Hamlin remians the leader with Ryan Blaney in second.
- Chase Elliott fell to 14th on that last run before Heim’s crash.
Corey Heim misjudges Brad Keselowski off of turn 4 and turns himself on the No. 6’s bumper. He hits the wall hard on the frontstretch.
Heim, in his second Cup start of the year, will learn from that.
Tyler Reddick slows and comes down pit road with a right front tire issue.
Kyle Larson pitted with a loose wheel as the field took the green flag. He doesn’t lose a lap but will be close to being lapped if this run goes a while.
Christopher Bell crashes on the next restart, with possible contact from Erik Jones. They were battling in the top 10. Bell backed into the wall hard in turns 1 and 2. Bell came down as Jones drove down on the bottom lane.
Chase Elliott narrowly avoided Bell as he spun up the track. Note that for later.
Bell remains on the lead lap after repairs, but we’ll see how capable the No. 20 is.
Alex Bowman and Noah Gragson are in the wall in turns 3 and 4, right in front of Kyle Larson. Bowman and Gragson both have major damage.
Bowman appears to have misjudged the corner, and drove up the track collecting Gragson. Both are now behind the wall.
Larson reports no damage but plenty of handling concerns.
“We have two positives (today),” a frustrated Larson says. “We stayed on the lead lap, and now we have an opening (into his stall on pit road).”
Denny Hamlin took the lead and is ahead of Austin Cindric and Ryan Blaney.
Carson Hocevar drives hard into Turn 3 and nudges Ricky Stenhouse Jr., and Stenhouse spins and backs into the wall. That is not great by Hocevar.
Stenhouse completes a pit stop and is on the lead lap, but will stop again.
Stenhouse will go to the garage area after a couple stops. Toe is knocked out by a good bit.
Ryan Blaney takes two tires, along with teammate Austin Cindric. Blaney pulls away at the restart, while Cindric slips to third behind Denny Hamlin.
Kyle Larson pitted twice for different adjustments during the stage break, and Kyle Busch also took a long time on pit road to adjust the car.
Denny Hamlin wins Stage 1, ahead of Tyler Reddick.
The top 10:
- Denny Hamlin
- Tyler Reddick
- Chase Briscoe
- William byron
- Christopher Bell
- Chase Elliott
- Ryan Blaney
- Michael McDowell
- Joey Logano
- Ross Chastain
Kyle Larson remains on the lead lap. Ryan Blaney is one of the few drivers in the top 20 who can make passes, and drove up to seventh at the end of the stage.
“I don’t feel comfortable at all,” Larson tells his team.
William Byron misses the center of the corner behind Chase Briscoe, and Denny Hamlin makes the pass for second. A couple laps later, Hamlin drives under Chase Briscoe to take the lead. Kyle Larson is still ahead of the leaders.
William Byron drives past Denny Hamlin as the leaders get bogged down by lap traffic. Up next for the leaders to lap: Kyle Larson. 11 laps to go in Stage 1.
Ryan Blaney and Austin Cindric both pit, and Chase Briscoe inherits the lead with Denny Hamlin about 0.6 seconds behind.
After all that, the top 7 drivers remain the same as before the pit cycle.
- Chase Briscoe
- Denny Hamlin
- William Byron
- Tyler Reddick
- Christopher Bell
- Chase Elliott
- Michael McDowell
Ryan Blaney is running faster than most with new tires as he leads without having pitted yet in the first stage.
On Lap 58, Blaney recorded a 30.30 second lap while Chase Briscoe ran a 30.61.
Bubba Wallace is penalized for going too fast on pit road, and he will have to serve a pass-through penalty.
Chase Briscoe, valuing track position as much as anything, comes in first among the leaders. Kyle Larson was in a lap or two earlier from 30th.
Presuming these teams will split the stage close to in half, pit stops should begin soon. Penske drivers Ryan Blaney and Austin Cindric are notably running strong as the first run goes on, though outside the top 10.
The first stage is 90 laps, and that’s too long for a single run on fuel.
Denny Hamlin has been riding for about 20 laps at a car length or two behind Chase Briscoe’s rear bumper. But despite trying a couple lines higher than the bottom, Hamlin cannot get alongside of his teammate. Still early, and no doubt that the two being teammates changes the dynamic.
Denny Hamlin is within a couple car lengths of Chase Briscoe for the lead.
Chase Elliott is +5 after the start and into 6th.
Kyle Larson gets squeezed out in between Ty Gibbs and Zane Smith on the outside lane and falls all the way back to 36th.
Chase Briscoe surges ahead on the start, with Denny Hamlin holding onto second with William Byron behind.
AJ Allmendinger serves his stop-and-go penalty, and he will lose a lap. JJ Yeley was having some sort of issue with his car before the green flag, and he also loses a lap. Yeley is on the track and soldiering on.
The engines have fired at Nashville Superspeedway, and the green flag is in minutes.
There is a line of popup storms lingering north of the speedway, still to the north of I-40.
As announced Saturday, AJ Allmendinger will start at the rear of the field and serve a stop-and-go penalty at the start of the race for unapproved adjustments made before practice and qualifying.
Nashville Superspeedway announces a sellout for the Cracker Barrel 400 about 45 minutes before the green flag.
Down on pit road, it’s busier than last season’s race as fans watch driver introductions. It’s also about 15 degrees cooler, which may or may not be related.
Cloudy skies but warm temperatures and a clear radar with about three hours before green flag at Nashville Superspeedway. Rain forecast chances have gone down throughout the day, so things are trending well at present.
Chase Briscoe is on the pole for Sunday’s race, with Denny Hamlin joining him on the front row.
The top 10:
- Chase Briscoe, No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota
- Denny Hamlin, No. 11Â Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota
- William Byron, No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet
- Tyler Reddick, No. 45 23XI Racing Toyota
- Ross Chastain, No. 1 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet
- Brad Keselowski, No. 6 Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing Ford
- Christopher Bell, No. 20Â Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota
- Michael McDowell, No. 71 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet
- Joey Logano, No. 22 Team Penske Ford
- Chris Buescher, No. 17 Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing Ford
Find the full starting lineup here.
The Cracker Barrel 400 will be aired on the radio by the Performance Racing Network. PRN has affiliates all across the country, and their feed can also be streamed on NASCAR.com as well as the NASCAR app. The race can also be heard on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, channel 90.
- Green Flag Time:Â Â Approx. 6:15 p.m. CT on Sunday, June 1
- Track:Â Nashville Superspeedway (1.5-mile oval) in Lebanon, Tennessee
- Length:Â 300 laps, 399 miles
- Stages:Â 90 laps, 95 laps, 115 laps
- TV coverage:Â Amazon Prime Video (streaming) (Watch Amazon Prime with a free trial)
- Radio:Â PRN
- Streaming:Â Amazon Prime Video (subscription required); MAX app for in-car cameras (subscription required); NASCAR.com and SiriusXM on Channel 90 for audio (subscription required)
The Cracker Barrel 400 will be broadcast nationally via streaming on Amazon Prime Video. Other streaming options for the race include MAX for in-car cameras for each driver.
- 2024:Â Joey Logano
- 2023: Ross Chastain
- 2022:Â Chase Elliott
- 2021:Â Kyle Larson
