Overview
- NASCAR canceled Cup qualifying at Nashville on Saturday because of rain, so officials used the league’s performance metric to set the lineup and put Denny Hamlin on the pole with Tyler Reddick alongside him.
- The Cracker Barrel 400 is scheduled for Sunday at 7 p.m. ET and will be available only by streaming on Amazon Prime Video and HBO Max rather than a traditional national cable broadcast.
- Oddsmakers list Hamlin as the pre-race favorite and the metric lineup places several contenders up front, with Daniel Suárez third, Christopher Bell fourth and Kyle Larson fifth.
- The weekend remains shaped by the sudden death of Kyle Busch, with teams and fans holding tributes and Austin Hill listed as the temporary driver in Busch’s No. 33 Chevrolet.
- Toyota has dominated the 2026 season with multiple wins but still has not taken a Cup victory at Nashville, and consecutive rain-related qualifying cancellations have made starting position and strategy more influential for the 300-lap race.