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 the pole position in Sunday night’s Cracker Barrel 400 (7 p.m. ET, Prime Video, HBO Max, PRN Radio, 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 looks to earn its first Cup Series win at the 1.33-mile concrete oval.
Christopher Bell paced the Cup Series field in Saturday’s 45-minute practice session at Nashville Superspeedway. The No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing driver put down a fast lap of 160.660 mph around the 1.33-mile concrete oval just outside Music City as Toyota seeks its first victory at the track and first win since Reddick won at Kansas Speedway in April.
RELATED: Practice results | At-track photos
Bell said he didn’t expect the canceled time trials to make a big difference in the 400-miler or ultimately the outcome of the race, especially after the field got some time on track in practice.
“Well, it’s good for me today, because I have a good metric, so I’m OK with that,” Bell said, smiling, of the formula NASCAR used to set the field in lieu of qualifying.
Practice was altered to a single-group session after a late-afternoon shower soaked the track. With qualifying canceled, NASCAR set the lineup per the rule book.
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2023 Nashville winner Ross Chastain (160.542 mph), Hamlin (160.526 mph), Ty Gibbs (159.947 mph) and Reddick (159.936 mph) completed the top five on the practice board. AJ Allmendinger (159.914 mph), inaugural Cup Nashville winner Kyle Larson (159.893 mph), 2025 victor Ryan Blaney (159.856 mph), Chase Briscoe (159.760 mph) and William Byron (159.579 mph) rounded out the top 10.
Gibbs posted the best 10-consecutive lap average, while Chastain was tops in 15-, 20- and 25-consecutive lap averages.
Contributing: Staff report