Hamlin to start from pole position after Cup Series qualifying canceled at Nashville
LEBANON, Tenn.—Intermittent light rain showers forced the cancellation of Saturday’s NASCAR Cup Series Busch Light Pole Qualifying at Nashville Superspeedway, resulting in Joe Gibbs Racing driver Denny Hamlin starting from pole position in Sunday night’s Cracker Barrel 400 (7 p.m. ET, Amazon Prime, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
Championship points leader Tyler Reddick will start his No. 45 23XI Racing Toyota alongside Hamlin’s No. 11 JGR Toyota on the front row as Toyota hopes to earn its first ever series win at the 1.33-mile concrete oval.
Last week’s Charlotte race winner Daniel Suarez will start third in the No. 7 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet with JGR’s Christopher Bell (No. 20 Toyota) and reigning two-time series champion, Hendrick Motorsports Kyle Larson (No. 5 Chevrolet) rounding out the top five on the 38-car grid.
Defending race winner, Team Penske’s Ryan Blaney will start his No. 12 Ford seventh.
Bell, who was fastest in the practice session, said he didn’t expect the cancelled time trials to make a big difference in either the run of the 400-miler or ultimately the outcome of the race. Especially with the field getting some time on track with practice.
“Well, it’s good for me today, because I have a good metric, so I’m okay with that,’ Bell said smiling of the formulation NASCAR used to set the field in lieu of qualifying.
His competitors were not overly concerned with the cancellation of qualifying, either – instead just glad to turn some laps and dial in their cars.
“They put a lot of resin down in both corners, more than they’ve done in the past and we’re really curious how the cars are going to drive,’’ said Roush Fenway Keselowski owner-driver Brad Keselowski. “So it’s semi-important [to qualify] although we’ve been racing here for the last three or four years, so we all have a pretty good feel for it.’’
Nashville Superspeedway
Cracker Barrel 400
Provided by NASCAR Statistics - Saturday, 5/30/2026 @ 05:04 PM Eastern
Driver Date Time Speed
Track Race Record: Ross Chastain 06/25/23 3:00:07 132.914
Pos Car Driver Team Time Speed
Row 1: 1 11 Denny Hamlin Progressive Insurance Toyota 0.000 0.000
2 45 Tyler Reddick Pinnacle Toyota 0.000 0.000
Row 2: 3 7 Daniel Suarez Freeway Insurance Chevrolet 0.000 0.000
4 20 Christopher Bell DeWalt Toyota 0.000 0.000
Row 3: 5 5 Kyle Larson HendrickCars.com Chevrolet 0.000 0.000
6 54 Ty Gibbs Monster Energy Toyota 0.000 0.000
Row 4: 7 12 Ryan Blaney Advance Auto Parts Ford 0.000 0.000
8 24 William Byron Raptor Chevrolet 0.000 0.000
Row 5: 9 22 Joey Logano Shell Pennzoil Ford 0.000 0.000
10 97 Shane Van Gisbergen Tootsie's Orchid Lounge Chevrolet 0.000 0.000
Row 6: 11 38 Zane Smith Speedy Cash Ford 0.000 0.000
12 6 Brad Keselowski Trimble Ford 0.000 0.000
Row 7: 13 43 Erik Jones Dollar Tree Toyota 0.000 0.000
14 71 Michael McDowell Garner Trucking Chevrolet 0.000 0.000
Row 8: 15 47 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. NOS Energy Chevrolet 0.000 0.000
16 16 AJ Allmendinger Spire Academy powered by VensureHR 0.000 0.000
Row 9: 17 77 Carson Hocevar Chili's Ride the 'Dente Chevrolet 0.000 0.000
18 23 Bubba Wallace Hardee's Toyota 0.000 0.000
Row 10: 19 48 Alex Bowman Ally Chevrolet 0.000 0.000
20 41 Cole Custer HaasTooling.com Chevrolet 0.000 0.000
Row 11: 21 34 Todd Gilliland Love's Travel Stops/Fleetguard Ford 0.000 0.000
22 17 Chris Buescher Castrol Ford 0.000 0.000
Row 12: 23 35 Riley Herbst Monster Energy Toyota 0.000 0.000
24 67 Corey Heim(i) Chief's Toyota 0.000 0.000
Row 13: 25 33 Austin Hill(i) BetMGM Chevrolet 0.000 0.000
26 4 Noah Gragson Rush Truck Centers Ford 0.000 0.000
Row 14: 27 42 John Hunter Nemechek Pye-Barker Fire & Safety Toyota 0.000 0.000
28 60 Ryan Preece Kroger/Celsius Ford 0.000 0.000
Row 15: 29 9 Chase Elliott NAPA Auto Parts Chevrolet 0.000 0.000
30 10 Ty Dillon Grizzly Nicotine Pouches Chevrolet 0.000 0.000
Row 16: 31 19 Chase Briscoe Bass Pro Shops Toyota 0.000 0.000
32 3 Austin Dillon BREZTRI Chevrolet 0.000 0.000
Row 17: 33 21 Josh Berry eero Ford 0.000 0.000
34 51 Cody Ware Jacob Construction Chevrolet 0.000 0.000
Row 18: 35 1 Ross Chastain Busch Light Country Chevrolet 0.000 0.000
36 2 Austin Cindric Menards/Richmond Water Heaters Ford 0.000 0.000
Row 19: 37 66 Chad Finchum(i) Garrison Homes Ford 0.000 0.000
38 88 Connor Zilisch # Red Bull Chevrolet 0.000 0.000
Did Not Qualify: None.
Manufacturer Starting Lineup DNQs Manufacturer Starting Lineup DNQs
Chevrolet 17 0 Ford 11 0
Toyota 10 0
(i) Ineligible for driver points in this series
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