2026 Cracker Barrel 400 (Nashville) Race Recap
- Adam Carabine
- 5 minutes ago
- 6 min read
By Adam Carabine
A chaotic four-lap shootout, multiple brake rotor failures, and an interesting penalty at the start of the race – all of which Denny Hamlin overcame and earned his 62nd Career Cup Series win at Nashville!
Let’s have a look at how it all shook down!
Pre-Race: The start was delayed due to some light showers in the area. Once they got the track dry, NASCAR opted to include a Competition Caution at (or around) Lap 35.
Lap 1: Denny Hamlin was on pole, with Tyler Reddick beside him. As they were approaching the restart zone, Hamlin hit the gas too soon and jumped the restart, earning him a pass-through penalty. Reddick was credited with leading the first lap and took over the lead as Denny quickly fell to the rear.
Lap 8: A lap of silence from the TV broadcast in honour of Kyle Busch.
Lap 26: Reddick still leads, but Christopher Bell is still holding on tough, only 0.6 seconds back in 2nd.
Lap 36: CAUTION – Competition Caution. Reddick is still in the lead. Notables: Carson Hocevar up 7 spots into the Top 10, last week’s winner Daniel Suarez fell 8 spots to 11th.
Lap 38: Pit road opens, Shane Van Gisbergen, Joey Logano and Brad Keselowski each take only two tires and catapult to the front of the field.
Lap 41: Back to green, SVG leads Logano.
Lap 43: SVG manages to keep the lead with only two new tires. Reddick and Kyle Larson have moved to P2 and 3, respectively, on four new tires.
Lap 45: Major battle for P2 with Reddick and Larson. Larson eventually takes it, and the fight allows Christopher Bell to catch up and he snags P3 from Reddick.
Lap 50: Larson is now challenging SVG for the lead. Great battle as SVG is not giving up without a fight!
Lap 54: Larson finally wrestles the lead from SVG. SVG had to lift to avoid contact with Larson, and so Bell gets by him too for P2.
Lap 57: Now a big battle for the lead with Larson and Bell!
Lap 73: CAUTION – Connor Zilisch’s bad luck continues. The front-right brake rotor explodes, sending him into the outer wall and ending his day.
Lap 76: Pit road opens, AJ Allmendinger and Riley Herbst stay out. A few others take only two tires to gain some track position.
Lap 80: Green flag. Allmendinger and Herbst front row.
Lap 81: Three-wide for the lead!
LAP 82: CAUTION – Ross Chastain’s brake rotor ALSO explodes, Michael McDowell also spins trying to avoid contact. Chastain’s done for the day.
Lap 88: Carson Hocevar and Ryan Preece come down pit road. Hocevar is getting some tape taken off as they’re worried about brake rotors now. Preece has some water pressure issues. It will be a one-lap shootout to the end of Stage 1.
Lap 90: Ryan Blaney leads AJ Allmendinger to the start-finish line. Larson makes a strong case to get the lead, but Allmendinger reigns supreme and hangs on for the Stage 1 victory!
Lap 98: Back to green for Stage 2 – Kyle Larson and Ryan Blaney lead.
Lap 100: Blaney is already fading, Chase Briscoe makes his way up to P2.
Lap 105: Don’t look now but Denny Hamlin has made his way back into the Top 10 after having an early pass-through penalty.
Lap 122: Chase Briscoe is starting to put some pressure on Larson for the lead. Reddick is in P3, but still 2.5 seconds behind the two of them.
Lap 127: Briscoe takes the lead from Larson.
Lap 137: Briscoe’s lead is now 3 seconds ahead of Larson. Reddick has now caught up to the 5 car, challenging for P2.
Lap 139: Reddick pits from P3, starting the pit cycle.
Lap 140: Larson reacts to Reddick and pits, and a few more takers too.
Lap 145: CAUTION – Austin Dillon is around! The pit cycle is still in the middle, so this complicates things a bit for the entire field.
Lap 152: Green flag, with Ryan Blaney leading Chase Elliott.
Lap 155: Blaney is off to a fast start on this restart, already a second ahead of Elliott.
Lap 172: Reddick is up 6 spots since the restart and is now P5.
Lap 174: CAUTION – AJ Allmendinger has a blown brake rotor! What is going on!?
Lap 178: Pit road is open, six cars stay out, a bunch take only two tires. Quite a few different strategies with another short run to end the stage.
Lap 180: Penalty – to the rear for Carson Hocevar for his crew over the wall too soon.
Lap 182: Green flag with 4 to go in the stage. Daniel Suarez and Alex Bowman, who both stayed out, lead.
Lap 183: CAUTION – Todd Gilliland gets a bump from Corey Heim and spins. It collects Cole Custer too. Stage Two will end under caution.
Lap 185: End of the stage – Suarez officially wins it.
Lap 192: Green flag, but a CAUTION comes out on the same lap – Noah Gragson checks up some of the field as he got loose, Brad Keselowski and Austin Cindric get the worst of it.
Lap 202: Green flag again, Hamlin leads Chase Briscoe.
Lap 204: CAUTION – Bubba Wallace, Alex Bowman, Chris Buescher and William Byron are all involved. Buescher got loose, contact with Wallace, the rest is history.
Lap 212: Green flag, Hamlin once again leads Briscoe.
Lap 214: CAUTION – John Hunter Nemechek had to lift after getting out of shape over some bumps on the track. Hocevar had nowhere to go and tapped him, sending him spinning. Todd Gilliland also spins.
Lap 217: Some takers on pit road, but most leaders stay out.
Lap 221: Back to green. Hamlin and Briscoe again.
Lap 223: Christopher Bell is pushing for P2 from Briscoe.
Lap 225: They’re still side by side for P2!
Lap 227: Chase Briscoe finally comes out with the win, and keeps P2.
Lap 236: Bell is closing back in; he looks like he has the faster car but he can’t get the pass done.
Lap 237: William Byron returns to the track, 33 laps down after earlier incident.
Lap 239: P2 and P3 have both caught Hamlin’s tail. Three Joe Gibbs Racing cars all within half a second.
Lap 244: Briscoe tries to make a move on Denny Hamlin, but it doesn’t work, and Bell ends up capitalizing and taking P2 from him.
Lap 245: Now Bell flies by Denny. He’s clearly the fastest car on the track now, watch for him to take off.
Lap 253: As predicted, Bell’s lead is now 1.5 seconds.
Lap 256: After some differing strategies, it would appear that the Top 10 need to pit in order to have enough fuel until the end of the race. However, Zane Smith in P11, and Ryan Blaney in P12 have enough to make it if they can pace themselves…
Lap 257: The pit cycle is now starting. Hamlin is the first one on pit road.
Lap 259: Now Briscoe comes down pit road.
Lap 260: This brings Bell down now, among many others.
Lap 265: Tyler Reddick pits from the lead. Zane Smith is up to P3, but can his tires hold on?
Lap 271: Zane Smith to the lead. Christopher Bell is 16 seconds back on fresh tires, and with no need for fuel-saving.
Lap 275: Blaney, who was on the same strategy as Zane Smith, decides it won’t work and hits pit road. Riley Herbst is 6 seconds back on the same strategy.
Lap 279: Bell is really gaining on Smith. The lap time differential is just too big for Smith to hold onto the lead, it would appear.
Lap 283: Herbst gives up on the strategy too, hits pit road. Bell is now P2.
Lap 288: Bell takes the lead from Zane Smith, without much fight as Smith’s tires are clearly much more worn. However, quickly after the pass for the lead – CAUTION for Chris Buescher blowing a tire rotor!!
Lap 294: Smith has to pit as he’s on majorly old tires. Reddick joins him and the two take 2 tires. Blaney hits pit road as well and takes 4 tires.
Lap 297: Green flag with four to go! It’s Bell and Briscoe on the front row.
Lap 298: Crazy battle up front, Hamlin and Bell side by side for the majority of the lap, with Briscoe in waiting – hoping for them to falter!
Lap 299: Briscoe pulls up beside them and it’s now three-wide for the lead just as the white flag comes out!
Lap 300: Hamlin holds on and gets the win!!! Big crash just at the start-finish for Tyler Reddick. Looks like Chase Elliott got a bump and spun into Reddick, sending him nearly head-on into the outer wall. He’s okay though.
Hamlin earns his 62nd victory, and the first win for Toyota at Nashville! A wild finish, and a well-deserved win.
Next week we are in Michigan!
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