Denny Hamlin wins at Nashville after three-wide finish!

Nick Bowden - Staff Writer

Denny Hamlin hoists the infamous Gibson guitar after three-wide finish at Nashville. May, 2026 (Andrew Nelles, The Tennessean)

Nashville, Tenn. — Drivers fired their engines Sunday night for the NASCAR Cup Series Cracker Barrel 400 at Nashville Superspeedway. After qualifying  was canceled due to rain, Denny Hamlin led the field to the green flag with Tyler Reddick alongside him on the front row. The starting order was set by the NASCAR metric. 

The competition caution that everyone had anticipated came out on Lap 35. Denny Hamlin was forced to serve a pass-through penalty after jumping the start of the race. The first caution for an incident came out on Lap 72 after Connor Zilisch blew a brake rotor and hit the outside wall. Another caution came out on Lap 91 after Ross Chastain hit the wall, and Michael McDowell spun. This would be another brake issue for a Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet. 

AJ Allmendinger scored an impressive Stage 1 win, his first since 2022. Allmendinger was able to hold off Ryan Blaney and a surging Kyle Larson, to secure a valuable 10 points. 

On Lap 173, AJ Allmendinger who was having quite an impressive race, had his night cut short after he hit the outside wall. It was reported that it was a brake issue for the No. 16. 

Daniel Suarez picked up 10 points after winning Stage 2 under caution. The stage came to an end after a wreck involving Todd Gilliland, Corey Heim, and Cole Custer. 

The trend of brake issues continued on Lap 204 after Bubba Wallace lost his brakes and went into the wall. Alex Bowman, Chris Buescher, and William Byron were also involved. 

Chris Buescher hit the outside wall with 13 to go, changing a lot of the team's strategies. 

The final restart came and three Joe Gibbs Racing teammates put on an absolute clinic. Denny Hamlin, Christopher Bell, and Chase Briscoe had a three-wide battle on the front stretch coming to the checkered with Denny Hamlin capturing his 2nd win of the 2026 season.

This marks Hamlin’s 62nd career win, and the first win at Nashville Superspeedway for Toyota in the Cup Series. 

Top 10 at Nashville:

1. Denny Hamlin

2. Christopher Bell

3. Chase Briscoe

4. Ricky Stenhouse JR.

5. Chase Elliott

6. Tyler Reddick

7. Shane Van Gisbergen

8. Ryan Blaney

9. Zane Smith

10. Carson Hocevar

NEXT UP:

The NASCAR Cup Series will head to Michigan for the FireKeepers Casino 400 at Michigan International Speedway, Sunday at 3PM. The race can be found on Prime Video.