Up to Speed: Cracker Barrel 400 at Nashville Preview

By David Morgan, Associate Editor

LEBANON, Tenn. – Night time is the right time in Nashville.

The NASCAR Cup Series is back in Music City for the fifth straight year to take on Nashville Superspeedway and Sunday night’s running of the Cracker Barrel 400.

Prior to its Cup debut in 2021, the track located on the outskirts of Nashville in Lebanon, Tennessee, was no stranger to hosting NASCAR events with both the NASCAR Xfinity Series and NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series running there from 2001 to 2011 before the track was shuttered.

The Nashville track serves as an oddity on the Cup Series schedule, a 1.33-mile D-shaped concrete oval, that is unlike any other track the series visits as it traverses the country throughout the season.

Running a month sooner than past iterations of this event, this race serves as the kick-off to the second half of the regular season, with a variety of tracks dotting the summer schedule before heading into the Playoffs at the end of August.

Thus far only eight drivers have punched their ticket into the postseason, with a lot up for grabs between now and then starting with Sunday’s race.

Will one of the winless drivers punch their ticket to the postseason or will the rich just keep getting richer? We’ll find as the sun goes down and the lights come up on a Sunday night in Nashville.

By the Numbers

What: Cracker Barrel 400, NASCAR Cup Series race No. 14 of 36

Where: Nashville Superspeedway – Lebanon Tennessee (Opened: 2001)

TV/Radio: Amazon Prime, 7:00 pm ET / PRN and Sirius XM NASCAR Channel 90

Track Size:  1.333-mile D-shaped concrete oval

Banking: 14 degrees in Turns, 9 degrees on front straightaway, 6 degrees on back straightaway

Race Length: 300 laps (399.9 miles)

Stage Lengths: 90 laps (Stage 1), 95 laps (Stage 2), 115 laps (Final stage)

2024 Race Winner: Joey Logano – No. 22 Ford (Started 26^th, nine laps led)

Track Qualifying Record: Aric Almirola – 29.557 seconds, 161.992 mph – June 2021

Top-10 Highest Driver Ratings at Nashville:

1. Denny Hamlin – No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota – 114.4
2. Kyle Larson – No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet – 113.9
3. Ross Chastain – No. 1 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet – 109.0
4. Chase Elliott – No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet – 102.7
5. Christopher Bell – No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota – 97.3
6. Ty Gibbs – No. 54 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota – 88.2
7. Kyle Busch – No. 8 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet – 88.1
8. Joey Logano – No. 22 Team Penske Ford – 86.1
9. Tyler Reddick – No. 45 23XI Racing Toyota – 85.4
10. William Byron – No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet – 84.3

From the Driver’s Seat

“Nashville is a really tough place,” said Alex Bowman. “The concrete surface makes it feel totally different from most of the tracks we go to. It’s slick, it changes a lot during the race, and it doesn’t give you much forgiveness.

“But it’s a cool atmosphere with the fans and the city close by. We haven’t had the results we want there yet, but we’re bringing a fast Ally Chevy and hoping to turn that around this weekend.”

Last Time at Nashville

After a season in which he had yet to win a race to punch his ticket into the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs, Joey Logano no longer had to answer the question of when he would win after surviving a five-overtime finish and a fuel tank running dry to win last year’s Ally 400 at Nashville.

Ascending to the lead on the fourth overtime when the leaders ahead of him started running out of fuel, Logano was in just as much danger of running out of fuel himself, but his No. 22 team elected to gamble to try to bank a win and secure their spot in the Playoffs.

It paid off.

Logano and Chase Briscoe battled for the lead in the fourth overtime before another yellow flag flew to push the race to a fifth, a mercifully final overtime restart.

Fuel concerns ramped up even further with the race now 30 laps past its original scheduled distance, Logano just had to put all of that out of his mind and focus forward out of the windshield toward the checkered flag waiting in the distance.

Once again, it was Logano and Briscoe on the front row, both with what should have been empty fuel tanks, but Logano got a clean jump on Briscoe and secured a two car-length lead over Briscoe and Zane Smith, who was now running third.

The field was able to make it to the white flag finally with a new challenger in Tyler Reddick, who had rushed from sixth up to the runner-up spot on the restart. Nonetheless, they would all have to get past a determined Logano if they wanted to score the win for themselves.

Both Reddick and Smith appeared to be in position to make a run at Logano over the final circuit around the 1.33-mile oval, but neither could pull it off in the end as Logano streaked across the line 0.068 seconds ahead of Smith, with Reddick finishing the day in third-place.

“A lot of teamwork there,” Logano said. “You have to give a lot of credit to our fueler, Nick Hensley, our engine department with Roush Yates building obviously some engines that could also manage fuel really well, and some guts – a lot of cajones made it happen.

“It’s been a hard season and being on that cut line, I tell you it sucks.  It’s just not fun.  It’s hard and you just want a little bit of relief of the pressure and with seven weeks to go until the playoffs it gives us a chance to breathe for a second and start just kind of working on our car a little bit differently and just sleep better, to be honest with you.  I’m proud of this team and proud to be here in Victory Lane, for sure.”

JOEY LOGANO WINS AT NASHVILLE SUPERSPEEDWAY!

HERE ARE THE WILD FINAL TWO LAPS FROM QUINTUPLE OVERTIME. #NASCAR pic.twitter.com/0J3gBNgjnw

— NASCAR on NBC (@NASCARonNBC) July 1, 2024

Weekend Schedule (All Times Eastern)

Saturday, May 31

• NASCAR Cup Series Practice (4:30 pm – Amazon Prime)
• NASCAR Cup Series Qualifying (5:40 pm – Amazon Prime)

Sunday, June 1

• Cracker Barrel 400 at Nashville (7:00 pm – 300 laps, 399.9 miles – Amazon Prime)