Matt Johnson
The theme of the NASCAR race tonight? Crashes and cautions. After rain delayed the start of the Cracker Barrel 400, the cars hit the track an hour later and chaos soon became the star at Nashville Superspeedway. Between the wrecks, some intentional, and blown brake rotors, tonight’s race was purely about survival.
Let’s dive into our winners and losers from the NASCAR race tonight.
Winner: Denny Hamlin
For the first time in his Cup Series career, Denny Hamlin had a restart violation when he went early far too early at the start of the Cracker Barrel 400. After taking the penalty and methodically working his way through the field, he reached fifth in Stage 2 (five points) and then took early control of the race on the final stage. Fittingly, Hamlin then beat teammates Chase Briscoe and Christopher Bell on the final laps after the restart to win.
Loser: Connor Zilisch
It’s turning into a disastrous rookie year for Connor Zilisch. The expectations for Zilisch, a genuine generational talent, were extreme coming into 2026. He had minimal experience in the Next Gen car and it’s not like Trackhouse Racing has a sterling reputation. To that point, two Trackhouse cars blew a rotor in Stage 1. Zilisch’s was the first to go and the youngster has now finished 29th or worse in eight of 14 races this season.
Winner: A.J. Allmendinger
Is it still a longshot that A.J. Allmendinger makes The Chase? Yes. With that said, he’s certainly going to make things interesting for the rest of the season. Allmendinger secured the Stage 1 win, beating out Ryan Blaney and Kyle Larson for those 10 points. He’s largely kept himself right on that cutline and if not for the brake rotor failure on the No. 16 car, another example of Kaulig Racing letting Allmendinger now, he almost certainly would’ve finished top-10 in points for the Cracker Barrel 400.
Loser: Ross Chastain
Ross Chastain deserves so much better than this. Even put him with a team like 23XI Racing and we can almost guarantee you he makes The Chase and smashes at least one watermelon per season. Both seem out of the question right now at Trackhouse. Chastain came into Nashville confident and then disaster struck with 9 laps to go in Stage 1. Just like with his teammate, the rear rotor blew on Chastain’s car and he slammed into the wall. That’s a DNF for Chastain and he’s scored 3 total points in the last two races. It feels wrong that he’s stuck in this bad spot that is Trackhouse’s doing.
Winner: Shane van Gisbergen
Shane van Gisbergen is starting to prove he can race on ovals. While the driver of the No. 97 car didn’t get any stage points tonight, he delivered a top-10 finish in the same race where his two Trackhouse teammates went down with blown brake rotors. Heck, SVG even led 12 laps in the Cracker Barrel 400. The road-coarse master is now demonstrating that he’s a viable threat to keep recording top-10 finishes on ovals and that will punch his ticket into The Chase.
Loser: Brad Keselowski
A caution before the end of Stage 2 played out in Brad Keselowski’s favor, allowing him to earn a stage point at Nashville. Unfortunately, whether it was out of revenge or just a racing incident, Austin Dillon drove into Keselowski moments later. The damage to the No. 6 car ended his day for a 34th-place finish, earning just 4 points on the night.
Loser: Bubba Wallace
This is starting to feel a lot like the 2025 season for Bubba Wallace. He picked up his third DNF of the year, once again caused by what’s going on around him. With the No. 23 battling for a top-15 spot on the final stage, Chris Buescher and Carson Hocevar got into it. That sent the No. 17 car right up, slamming into Wallace. The No. 23’s brakes were killed, ending his day. Wallace’s car didn’t have race-winning speed by any means in the NASCAR race today, but this is at least the third race this spring where Wallace effectively gets taken out by someone else’s actions.
