JGR trio run 3-wide for the lead at the white flag as Denny Hamlin wins Nashville
LEBANON, TENN. — Denny Hamlin wins Nashville as he prevails from the three-wide pass for the lead on the last lap of the Cracker Barrel 400 winner in the NASCAR Cup Series.
This is his second points win of the season and his 62nd career Cup Series win overall. He now pulls within one win of tying Kyle Busch on the all-time wins list.
What a finish! The Joe Gibbs Racing trio of Christopher Bell, Denny Hamlin, and Chase Briscoe ran three-wide for the lead of the race as they took the white flag with the veteran Hamlin prevailing.
The JGR trio battled side-by-side for much of the race as their intermediate dominance this season continued tonight.
The NASCAR Metric granted Hamlin the pole but his day started off on the wrong foot.
To everyone’s eyes, and even his own admission, he jumped the initial start of the race. NASCAR handed him a pass-through penalty for his actions. That penalty rendered him from the pole to last within the first five miles of the race.
At one point in the event, Hamlin spent some amount of time in nearly every position on the track.
The pack could only hold him back for so long. He climbed his way back into the top ten and even earned stage points in the second stage.
15 different leaders with 33 lead changes highlighted the competitive package and tire compound. The massive swings in leaders had Hamlin naturally find himself there again.
He lead some laps early in the final stage; even posting a race-high 57 circuits. But his car never seemed quite as fast as his teammates.
He fell to third and looked to settle for the position. But, the final caution of the race gave Hamlin the chance to compete again and Denny delivered in the end.
Hamlin’s victory gave Toyota their first win in the Cup Series at the track and he closes within 100 points of Tyler Reddick in the regular season standings.
Top 10
Christopher Bell was bad fast again this week but came up just shy of his first victory of the season for the second week running after having the car to beat.
Bell missed out on valuable stage points after his pit crew faulted on the left-rear early.
He came back and led four separate times in the event. His second-place finish tonight gave him back to back 2nd place finishes.
While he’s disappointed to leave empty handed, they should be among the favorites at Michigan this coming weekend.
Chase Briscoe finished a much needed third tonight. He started 31st and marched to 17th before the first caution of the night for Connor Zilisch flew. Then, the team gambled on two tires on the following pit stop and he remained near the front the rest of the night.
Ricky Stenhouse Jr finished fourth for his best result of the season on an intermediate track.
Shane van Gisbergen joined Stenhouse in the top five. Both drivers came into the night with great momentum after running consistently in the top ten with the same package last week at Charlotte.
van Gisbergen gained two spots in the standings and is firmly in the running for The Chase as he is starting to prove how well his oval racecraft has improved.
Tyler Reddick finished sixth but the story of his night is what happened after the race. After a bad push from the eighth-placed finisher Ryan Blaney, Chase Elliott came across the line in seventh and a bad push from his good friend sent him down the track and into the right quarter panel of Reddick.
Reddick was sent straight up and into the tri-oval fence at full speed as a result. thankfully, he was able to get out of the car under his own power.
Zane Smith played the most interesting hand tonight. He and his team rode the high of his Charlotte performance and decided to gamble on the fuel strategy game tonight.
He led 18 laps late but lost the lead to Christopher Bell just before the final caution flew. Smith eventually crossed the line ninth for his second consecutive top ten finish.
Finally, Carson Hocevar cooled his front-right brake rotor enough to finish the race in tenth.
Notable Results
The rain delays seems to fuel the carnage filled races this spring. It happened last week at the Coca-Cola 600 and continued right on tonight at Nashville.
Connor Zilisch started and DNF’d in last after his brake rotor failed late in the first stage. From there the chaos continued.
Then his Trackhouse Racing teammate, Ross Chastain, suffered the same fate only ten laps later as the two DNF’d in 37th and 38th. Two more drivers also suffered broken rotors. AJ Allmendinger, who won the first stage for his first stage win since 2024, who finished 35th and Chase contender Chris Buescher finished 29th.
Austin Dillon spun in the tri-oval during green flag pit stops and avoided any contact during the middle of stage two. Ten laps later Todd Gilliland spun and collected Corey Heim and Cole Custer.
The two largest wrecks of the night ensued soon after the conclusion of the second stage.
Brad Keselowski fell victim to a potential retaliation from Austin Dillon. The 2012 champion and his spotter TJ Majors claimed foul play but you can decide for yourself in the video below.
Only five laps later, Bubba Wallace slid down the track and collected Alex Bowman. They DNF’d in 32nd and 33rd while William Byron also sustained damage to come home in 30th.
Kyle Larson ran inside the top five for most of the race before suffering a flat tire in the closing laps. He finished a disappointing two laps down in 23rd as a result.
Below is the full results of the Cracker Barrel 400 from Nashville Superspeedway
Full Results
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Ryan Kemna View All
Ryan Kemna is a photojournalist for The Racing Experts, LLC. He has been with TRE since 2025.
Currently residing in the Minneapolis, MN, area, Kemna brings his passion for motorsports, photography, and a good story to readers.