Denny Hamlin capped off a long evening of racing from losing the lead after jumping the start to outdueling teammates Christopher Bell and Chase Briscoe during a four-lap shootout to win the Cracker Barrel 400 at Nashville Superspeedway on Sunday, May 31.
The three-time Daytona 500 champion from Chesterfield, Virginia, led twice for a race-high 57 of 300-scheduled laps in an event where he was awarded the pole position due to inclement weather canceling Saturday’s qualifying session. Then at the event’s start, Hamlin was assessed a drive-through penalty for launching prior to the restart zone. Despite being mired at the rear of the field in the early stages, he weathered through an event that was mired with a delayed start due to inclement weather, numerous on-track incidents and various pit strategies amongst the field to cycle back towards the front.
After leading through the start of the final stage period, Hamlin spent most of the stage period battling with Bell and Briscoe on the track amid a late fuel-mileage battle. Once Hamlin pitted under green with 43 laps remaining, he cycled behind his Joe Gibbs Racing teammates and was racing in fourth place when a late-race caution flew with 13 laps remaining. During a four-lap shootout, Hamlin dueled with Bell for three full consecutive laps as both remained in front of Briscoe. Then on the final lap, Hamlin took advantage of Bell diving through the first turn too deep for an advantageous attempt to clear Bell. With the lead in his possession, Hamlin fended off Bell and Briscoe to cruise to his first NASCAR Cup Series victory in Music City on a last-lap pass.
The event’s starting lineup was determined through a qualifying metric formula due to inclement weather canceling Saturday’s qualifying session. As a result, Denny Hamlin was awarded the pole position and he shared the front row with Tyler Reddick.
When the green flag waved and the event commenced following a delay that lasted more than an hour due to inclement weather, Denny Hamlin launched his No. 11 Progressive Toyota Camry XSE entry ahead of Tyler Reddick and the field prior to reaching the restart/launch zone through the frontstretch. Despite Hamlin maintaining a big advantage for a full lap, he was then assessed a drive-through penalty through pit road for his early launch. As Hamlin served his penalty by the third lap, Reddick cycled to the lead as he had Christopher Bell, Daniel Suarez, Kyle Larson and Ty Gibbs trailing in the top five, respectively.
Through the first 10 laps, Reddick was leading by seven-tenths of a second over Bell while Larson, Ty Gibbs and Ryan Blaney trailed in the top five ahead of William Byron, Suarez, Shane van Gisbergen, Erik Jones and Joey Logano, respectively. Behind, Zane Smith occupied 11th place in front of AJ Allmendinger, Carson Hocevar, Brad Keselowski and Bubba Wallace while Michael McDowell, Alex Bowman, Riley Herbst, Todd Gilliland and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. trailed in the top 20 ahead of Corey Heim, Chase Elliott, Chris Buescher, Cole Custer and Austin Hill, respectively. Meanwhile, Chase Briscoe was mired in 26th place, Ross Chastain was in 29th place, rookie Connor Zilisch was in 32nd place behind Ryan Preece, Austin Dillon was mired in 34th place in between brother Ty Dillon and Austin Cindric and Denny Hamlin was mired at the tail end of the field in 38th place, though the latter remained on the lead lap.
Ten laps later, Reddick stabilized his early advantage to eight-tenths of a second over Bell while Larson, Ty Gibbs and Byron followed suit in the top five, respectively. By then, Blaney and Suarez dropped to sixth and ninth, respectively, while Erik Jones moved up to seventh place. In addition, Zane Smith moved into 10th place and Logano dropped to 13th place. Meanwhile, Hamlin was mired in 37th place and he trailed the lead by 28 seconds while Suarez was outdueled by Zane Smith for ninth place by Lap 29. Meanwhile, Reddick retained the lead by nine-tenths of a second at the Lap 30 mark.
On Lap 35, a competition caution was flown, with Reddick leading by more than a second over Bell, Larson, Ty Gibbs, Byron, Blaney, Erik Jones, van Gisbergen, Zane Smith and Hocevar, respectively. During the competition caution, the lead lap field of 36 led by Reddick pitted. Following the pit stops and with mixed pit strategies ensuing around the field, van Gisbergen, Logano and Brad Keselowski all utilized two-tire pit services to exit off of pit road in the top-three spots, respectively. Reddick and Larson, both of whom pitted for four fresh tires, followed suit in the top five as Bell, Alex Bowman, Chase Briscoe, Byron and Blaney exited in the top 10.
The next restart on Lap 41 featured van Gisbergen and Logano dueling for the lead through the frontstretch and the first two turns as the field behind fanned out. Van Gisbergen managed to motor his No. 97 Tootsie’s Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 entry ahead of Logano and lead for the remaining turns and the next lap while Logano maintained the runner-up spot in front of Reddick, Larson, Bell and Keselowski. Reddick then assumed the runner-up spot from Logano prior to Lap 43 as both he and Larson used their four fresh tires to move into second and third. As Bell overtook Logano for fourth place, Larson then drag-raced and dueled with Reddick through the frontstretch on Lap 44. Both Larson and Bell then overtook Reddick for second and third just past the Lap 45 mark as van Gisbergen maintained the lead with his two fresh tires.
On Lap 48, Larson used a strong run from the outside lane in Turns 3 and 4 to drag-race with van Gisbergen through the frontstretch and the first two turns. With both making slight contact in the backstretch, they continued to duel in front of Bell until van Gisbergen fended off Larson and stormed back ahead clear with the lead by Lap 50 through the frontstretch. Both Larson and van Gisbergen then dueled for the lead for a full lap for a second time before Larson assumed the lead through the backstretch on Lap 53. With Larson leading, van Gisbergen, who briefly stepped off the throttle through the backstretch, was overtaken by a hard-charging Bell and he was left to challenge Reddick for third place.
On Lap 57, Bell, who spent the previous several laps reeling in Larson for the lead, briefly made a move to Larson’s inside and another to the outside, but the latter retained the top spot as van Gisbergen fended off and started to build a slight gap between himself and Reddick with third place. Behind, Byron overtook Logano for fifth place while Keselowski, Briscoe, Blaney and Erik Jones occupied the remaining top-10 spots over Bowman, Zane Smith, Ty Gibbs, Carson Hocevar and Suarez, respectively. At the front, Larson continued to lead by three-tenths of a second over Bell by Lap 60.
At the Lap 70 mark, Larson continued to lead by four-tenths of a second over Bell, third-place van Gisbergen trailed by more than three seconds and the remaining top-five competitors of Reddick and Byron trailed by as far back as five seconds. A lap later, the caution flew due to Connor Zilisch scrapping and damaging the right side his No. 88 Red Bull Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 entry against the outside wall through the first turn. The incident was due to a broken brake rotor as Zilisch was the first competitor to be taken out of contention.
During the caution period, AJ Allmendinger and Riley Herbst remained on the track while most of the leaders pitted. The latter two led the field with 11 laps remaining in the first stage period, with Allmendinger fending off Herbst before he was challenged by Blaney. Two laps later, the caution returned due to Ross Chastain experiencing a similar fate to teammate Zilisch by having a right-front brake rotor broken and wrecking his No. 1 Busch Light Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 entry against the outside wall through the first two turns. Amid the chaos, Michael McDowell spun beneath Buescher, but the former continued while Chastain joined teammate Zilisch in the garage and was ruled out of further contention.
During a one-lap dash to conclude the first stage period, Allmendinger battled with Blaney and Larson before he then edged Larson to capture his first Cup stage victory of the 2026 season. Larson settled in second ahead of Blaney, Elliott, Reddick while Wallace, Byron, Briscoe, Herbst and Heim were scored in the top 10, respectively. Under the first stage break period, some led by the leader Allmendinger and including Chase Elliott and Riley Herbst pitted while the rest led by Larson remained on the track. Meanwhile, Ryan Preece, who was having issues with his water temperature, took his No. 60 Kroger/Celsius Ford Mustang Dark Horse entry to the garage to have a radiator replaced.
The second stage period started on Lap 99 as Larson and Blaney occupied the front row in front of Reddick, Wallace, Byron and Briscoe. At the start, Larson motored ahead of Blaney, Reddick and Briscoe as the field fanned out through the first two turns. Amid the battles within the field, Larson proceeded to lead at the Lap 100 mark.
By Lap 110, Larson, who has led since the start of the second stage period, was leading by six-tenths of a second over Briscoe while Reddick, Blaney, Erik Jones, Heim, Wallace, Hamlin, Byron and Bell were racing in the top 10 ahead of van Gisbergen, Logano, Ty Gibbs, Buescher, Keselowski, Austin Dillon, Zane Smith, Bowman, John Hunter Nemechek and Hocevar, respectively. Fifteen laps later, Briscoe, who spent the previous several laps stalking and reeling in Larson, challenged Larson for the lead from the inside lane as he dueled with the latter for a full lap. Despite leading Lap 126, he remained locked on in a side-by-side battle with Larson for another lap before he motored his No. 19 Bass Pro Shops Toyota Camry XSE entry ahead through the frontstretch and lead another lap for himself. As Briscoe led, Reddick and Blaney remained in third and fourth, respectively, while Heim was being challenged by Erik Jones for fifth place. Meanwhile, Briscoe extended his advantage to a second over Larson by Lap 130 before he added another second to his lead on Lap 135.
Then on Lap 138, a cycle of green flag pit stops commenced as Reddick pitted from the top-five mark. Ty Dillon also pitted with Reddick before Larson surrendered the runner-up spot to put during the next lap. Wallace, Jones, Byron, Logano, Cindric, Noah Gragson, Heim, Hamlin, Buescher, Keselowski, Hamlin and the leader Briscoe all pitted by Lap 140, with more that included Keselowski, Austin Dillon, Josh Berry, Nemechek and Berry pitting during the next lap. Amid the pit stops, Briscoe managed to blend back on the track in front of Larson.
On Lap 145, the caution flew when Austin Dillon spun through the frontstretch after he was bumped by Buescher while trying to lift off the throttle and avoid hitting Keselowski, which left Dillon’s crew displeased over the contact from Keselowski. The incident occurred amid a stack-up that occurred in front of Dillon as a handful of competitors had to take evasive action to avoid hitting Ricky Stenhouse Jr. as Stenhouse was peeling off the track to pit under green. By then, the top-eight competitors led by Blaney had yet to pit while Briscoe and Larson were mired in ninth and 10th.
During the recent caution period, some led by Blaney and including Elliott, McDowell, Allmendinger, Suarez, Todd Gilliland, Austin Hill and Cole Custer pitted their respective entires, but all cycled ahead of Briscoe as Briscoe was the first competitor scored a lap down, but received the free pass. All other competitors scored a lap down took the wavearound to cycle back on the lead lap.
As the event restarted on Lap 151 and just past the halfway mark, Blaney motored ahead of Elliott through the frontstretch and the first two turns as the field fanned out and jostled for spots through the backstretch. Blaney led the next lap over Elliott while a three-wide battle between McDowell, Allmendinger and Suarez ensued for third place. Suarez then managed to clear both through the backstretch as Custer, Gilliland and Austin Hill trailed behind. Larson and Briscoe eventually navigated their way up to eight and ninth while Hamlin was mired in 13th after battling Heim, Bell and Erik Jones, all while Blaney continued to lead by more than a second over Elliott by Lap 160. Blaney proceeded to extend his lead to two seconds over Elliott through the Lap 170 mark.
Then on Lap 172, the caution flew due to AJ Allmendinger, who was having a stellar run in third place, driving his No. 16 Kaulig Racing Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 entry dead straight into the outside wall through the first two turns, with his damaged entry being engulfed in flames on the right-front area due to a broken brake rotor. During the caution period, mixed pit strategies ensued while a majority of the field that included McDowell, Briscoe, Gilliland, Hamlin, Bell, van Gisbergen, Elliott and Blaney pitted. Meanwhile, Suarez, Bowman, Stenhouse, Cindric, Keselowski and Byron did not pit, with Suarez leading the event.
The next restart with four laps remaining in the second stage period only last a single lap before the caution returned due to van Gisbergen making contact and sending Todd Gilliland for a spin as Gilliland then hit the outside wall with the rear end through the first two turns. Heim and Cole Custer would also wreck with Gilliland as they slid through the turns. The multi-car incident was enough for the second stage period scheduled to conclude on Lap 185 to officially conclude under caution. As a result, Suarez was awarded his first Cup stage victory of the 2026 season. Bowman, Stenhouse, Cindric, Hamlin, McDowell, Byron, Bell, Briscoe and Keselowski were scored in the top 10, respectively while 30 of 38 starters were scored on the lead lap. During the second stage break period, a majority of the filed remained on the track while some including Bowman, Stenhouse and Byron pitted.
With 109 laps remaining, the final stage period commenced as Hamlin and McDowell occupied the front row. At the start, Hamlin motored ahead of McDowell through the first two turns to clear the field that had fanned out through the backstretch with the lead. Seconds later, the caution returned when Keselowski, who was racing within the mid-pack region and was being mired within a stacked group of competitors being jumbled up when Noah Gragson got loose entering the frontstretch, was bumped by Austin Dillon while trying to steer just below the apron. Keselowski then made contact with Austin Cindric before he slid backwards and hit the outside wall hard on the left side as Cindric also spun sideways.
Hamlin outdueled Briscoe to lead during the next restart with 99 laps remaining, but the caution returned two laps later when Hocevar rubbed and made contact with Buescher. This sent Buescher up the track through the first two turns and he was hit by Bubba Wallace. The carnage resulted with both Wallace and Byron hitting the outside wall before Wallace’s wrecked No. 23 Hardee’s Toyota Camry XSE entry came down the track with no brakes and clipped Bowman, which sent Bowman’s No. 48 Ally Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 entry backwards and back across into the outside wall. As the field restarted with 89 laps remaining, the caution returned when Hocevar got Nemechek sideways through Turns 3 and 4, with Nemechek bouncing off the entries of Herbst and Berry before he proceeded to spin his No. 42 Pye-Barker Toyota Camry XSE entry through the frontstretch’s grass.
During the next restart with 80 laps remaining, Hamlin motored ahead of teammates Bell and Briscoe to retain the lead for a full cycle. As Hamlin proceeded to stabilize his advantage, Briscoe and Bell fiercely dueled for the runner-up spot over the next four laps before Briscoe managed to clear and motor ahead of Bell with the runner-up spot through the backstretch. As Briscoe and Bell settled in second and third, Elliott and Larson were racing in the top five as Hamlin stretched his advantage to nearly a second with 74 laps remaining. While both Briscoe and Bell tried to reel in their teammate that was leading, Hamlin stabilized his lead to within six-tenths of a second with less than 70 laps remaining.
Down to the final 60 laps of the event, the battle at the front started to brew as Briscoe and Bell reel in and trailed Hamlin by two- and three-tenths of a second through the turns and straightaways. Three laps later, Bell dueled with Briscoe from the outside lane after Briscoe tried to get beneath Hamlin entering the first turn, but ending up clipping the apron when Hamlin blocked and stalled Briscoe’s momentum. As Bell overtook Briscoe for the runner-up spot, Bell then made a bold move in between a lapped competitor and Hamlin from Turns 3 and 4 and the frontstretch to overtake Hamlin for the lead entering the first two turns with 55 laps remaining. Bell proceeded to build an advantage as he led by a second over Hamlin with 50 laps remaining while third-place Briscoe and fourth-place Elliott both also trailed by a second.
Then with 43 laps remaining, Hamlin surrendered his battle with Briscoe for the runner-up spot by pitting under green. Van Gisbergen and Ty Dillon also pitted before Briscoe pitted from the runner-up spot two laps later. Bell then pitted from the lead a lap later along with Larson as Elliott cycled to a brief lead before he pitted. Meanwhile, Bell managed to cycle his No. 20 DeWalt Toyota Camry XSE entry ahead of teammates Briscoe and Hamlin following gate pit stops as Reddick, who has yet to pit, was leading.
Down to the final 35 laps of the event, Reddick continued to lead Ty Gibbs and Erik Jones, though the trio have yet to pit prior to the event’s conclusion. Meanwhile, Zane Smith and Blaney, both of whom were trying to stretch their fuel tank to the scheduled distance after pitting during the latest caution period, were racing in fourth and fifth while Bell was mired in 11th place in front of teammates Briscoe and Hamlin, with all trailing the lead by more than 24 seconds. Once Reddick, Gibbs and Jones pitted over the next four laps, Smith and Blaney cycled atop the leaderboard with 30 laps remaining. By then, Blaney continued to stalk and intimidate Smith while Bell trailed the leaders by 16 seconds in sixth place.
Then with 26 laps remaining, Blaney pitted from the runner-up spot under green as Smith continued to lead. Buescher also pitted while Bell cycled up to fourth place as he, Briscoe and Hamlin trailed by in between 12 and 16 seconds. A lap later, Smith’s advantage was five seconds over runner-up Herbst while Bell trailed by 11 seconds. Over the next 10 laps, Smith stabilized his advantage to one-and-a-half seconds while Bell and Briscoe were trailing in second and third, but both were reeling in on Smith amid lapped traffic. Meanwhile, Hamlin trailed by six seconds in fourth place while Elliott trailed by nine seconds in fifth place.
With 13 laps remaining, Bell overtook Smith and the lapped competitor of Logano to lead. Seconds later, the caution flew due to Buescher, who was racing just behind the leaders, scraping the outside wall exiting the backstretch and entering Turns 3 and 4 due to a broken brake rotor on the right-front area of his No. 17 Castrol Ford Mustang Dark Horse entry. During this caution period, Smith, Reddick, Blaney, McDowell, Stenhouse, Hocevar and Ty Dillon pitted while the rest led by Bell remained on the track.
As the event restarted with four laps remaining, Hamlin pushed Bell ahead of Briscoe through the frontstretch. As Bell led through the first two turns, Hamlin outdueled Briscoe amid a side-by-side battle for the runner-up spot and he carried forth the momentum from the inside lane to draw even and battle against Bell for the lead through the backstretch. As Briscoe trailed in third place by a close distance, Hamlin and Bell remained dead even for the lead over the next two laps and through every turn and straightaway.
When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Bell and Hamlin continued to duel for the lead as Briscoe reeled in. Both Briscoe and Hamlin then pinned Bell in a tight three-wide battle through the frontstretch before Bell briefly rocketed ahead entering the first two turns. Bell then drifted up the track in front of Briscoe, which allowed Hamlin to use the inside lane to overtake and clear Bell entering the backstretch. With Bell unable to respond through Turns 3 and 4, Hamlin was able to claim the checkered flag for a thrilling victory and by a tenth of a second over Bell.
With the victory, Hamlin notched his 62nd career win in the NASCAR Cup Series division in his 735th series start. He also achieved his second victory of the 2026 season, his first since Las Vegas Motor Speedway in March and his first at Nashville Superspeedway. Hamlin’s Nashville victory was also the eighth victory of the 2026 season for the Toyota manufacturer, with the manufacture achieving its first Cup victory at Nashville Superspeedway, and the third for Joe Gibbs Racing.
“Well, I think [Bell] and [Briscoe] were battling so hard on that first corner,” Hamlin said on the frontstretch on Prime Video. “Just letting me get to the inside of [Bell] in the first corner there after the restart and from there, it was just side by side with [Bell]. Man, he drove it in so deep on that last lap into [Turn] 1 that it just allowed me to barely clear off into [Turn] 2. What an unbelievable day. Starting first, going to last and back to first. I definitely jumped the start, no doubt about that. Looking back on it, [I] just didn’t wait quite long enough…thank you to this sellout crowd. Appreciate y’all sticking around. It’s been an honor.”
Bell, who is still seeking his first Cup victory of the 2026 season, settled in the runner-up spot for a third time in the 2026 season and for a second straight week. Meanwhile, Briscoe ended up in third place for his fifth top-five result of this season. Amid their late-race duel with Hamlin, both Joe Gibbs Racing competitors were left disappointed after falling short of winning at Nashville.
“Just disappointment,” Bell said. “I got nobody, nothing, no circumstances to blame except myself. I just didn’t win the race. That’s it. That’s all there is to it. ”
“With [Hamlin and Bell] running side by side, I kept trying to back up my entries to try and get a big run, to take’em three wide,” Briscoe added. “They just kept running each other up the racetrack, so I just kept trying to hit the bottom [lane]. I went to the top and was able to get to Christopher’s right rear and then, we’re just all driving in so deep that we slide up the racetrack I was just kind of in No Man’s Land after that. Hate that we weren’t on the better end of that. I felt like [our car] was certainly capable of winning, and ended up third. Just wish we were the ones in first.”
Ricky Stenhouse Jr., who pitted for fresh tires prior to the final restart, muscled up to fourth place while Shane van Gisbergen finished in fifth place for his third top-five result of the 2026 season and his second on an oval/superspeedway event this season. Tyler Reddick and Chase Elliott finished sixth and seventh despite both being involved in a hard accident just past the checkered flag through the frontstretch while Ryan Blaney, Zane Smith and Carson Hocevar completed the top 10 in the final running order.
There were 31 lead changes for 15 different leaders. The event featured 12 cautions for 75 laps. In addition, 15 of 38 starters finished on the lead lap.
Following the 14th event of the 2026 NASCAR Cup Series season, Tyler Reddick continues to lead the standings by 97 points over Denny Hamlin, 174 over Ryan Blaney, 195 over Chase Elliott and 208 over Ty Gibbs.
Results:
- Denny Hamlin, 57 laps led
- Christopher Bell, 29 laps led
- Chase Briscoe, 14 laps led
- Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
- Shane van Gisbergen, 12 laps led
- Tyler Reddick, 42 laps led
- Chase Elliott, three laps led
- Ryan Blaney, 46 laps led
- Zane Smith, 18 laps led
- Carson Hocevar
- Erik Jones, three laps led
- Ty Dillon
- Ty Gibbs, one lap led
- Joey Logano, one lap led
- Michael McDowell
- Noah Gragson, one lap down
- Riley Herbst, one lap down, one lap led
- Austin Dillon, one lap down
- Daniel Suarez, one lap down, 10 laps led, Stage 2 winner
- Todd Gilliland, one lap down
- Cole Custer, one lap down
- Cody Ware, one lap down
- Kyle Larson, one lap down, 56 laps led
- John Hunter Nemechek, two laps down
- Corey Heim, two laps down
- Austin Cindric, four laps down
- Austin Hill, seven laps down
- Chad Finchum, 18 laps down
- Chris Buescher – OUT, Accident
- William Byron – OUT, Accident
- Josh Berry – OUT, Accident
- Bubba Wallace – OUT, Accident
- Alex Bowman – OUT, Accident
- Brad Keselowski – OUT, Accident
- AJ Allmendinger – OUT, Accident, seven laps led, Stage 1 winner
- Ryan Preece – OUT, Radiator
- Ross Chastain – OUT, Accident
- Connor Zilisch – OUT, Accident
Next on the 2026 NASCAR Cup Series schedule is the FireKeepers Casino 400 at Michigan International Speedway in Brooklyn, Michigan. The event is scheduled to occur next Sunday, June 7, and air at 3 p.m. ET on Prime Video, MRN Radio, SiriusXM and HBO MAX.
