NASCAR at Nashville: Cracker Barrel 400 Race Results, Finish Order, Winner, and Key Takeaways

Denny Hamlin won an absolute thriller at Nashville Superspeedway. The race was delayed by about one hour and finally reached the checkered flag after midnight Eastern time. Hamlin wins his 2nd race of 2026; 3rd counting the All-Star Race at Dover.

NASCAR at Nashville Race Results

Denny Hamlin’s victory was highly touted by racing fans alike. In the post-race, Mark Martin, who was on the desk as a guest analyst this week, called this “the best version of Denny Hamlin” that we have yet to see.

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Hamlin has openly critiqued himself for struggling on restarts all season long. Right as the race began, as Hamlin hit the gas before reaching the restart zone, approaching the start-finish line to begin the Cracker Barrel 400. Hamlin was handed a pit road pass-through penalty for the incursion, which cycled Hamlin to the back of the field.

In due time, Hamlin managed to cycle back up to the top 10 and eventually to first place in the first half of Stage 3.

With 12 laps to go in the race, Chris Buescher cut his right tire and slid into the outer wall on turn 3. That raised the caution flag and reduced Christopher Bell’s chances of reaching victory lane. Bell surged past Zane Smith just a couple laps earlier and seemed to be running away to victory, unchallenged by Chase Briscoe, who had surged up to 2nd place.

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Upon a restart with 4 laps to go, Bell was on the front row with Briscoe and tailed tightly behind by Hamlin, who restarted on the inside in 3rd place. The restart was one Hamlin executed as well as could be expected. He had a great fire-off in the restart zone, got to the back of Bell, and dipped to the inside of turn 1. Hamlin and Bell proceeded to battle away tightly, with Briscoe creeping behind.