Track: Nashville Superspeedway
Location: Lebanon, Tenn.
Track length: 1.33 miles
When: 7 p.m. ET
Where to tune in: Prime Video, HBO Max, PRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio
Race purse: $11,233,037
Race distance: 300 laps | 399 miles
Segments: 90 | 185 | 300
Sunday’s starting lineup | Cup Series pit stall assignments
NASCAR’s summer stretch set to start in Music City
LEBANON, Tenn. — NASCAR’s return to Nashville Superspeedway this year signals the start of the regular season’s second act on the eve of June.
Through 13 races, Tyler Reddick holds a commanding 122-point lead over Denny Hamlin at the midpoint to The Chase, with some teams eager to build upon their early momentum and others ready to put the past behind.
Sitting 15th in points after storming to a top-four finish in last year’s standings, Joe Gibbs Racing’s Chase Briscoe knows his time is running out if he wants to position himself well for a shot at a championship run in the 16-driver postseason gauntlet.
“For myself, it’s definitely one of those things where it’s like, ‘man, you better get it together at this point in the season,’ ” Briscoe said following Saturday’s practice at Nashville. “Especially where we’re at, I feel comfortable that we’re gonna make The Chase, right? But I want to be top five in points at least going into The Chase — and it sounds crazy, but we’re less than 100 points out of that. Like it’s not that far unachievable. I just know that I have no more mulligans; I have nothing more to give as far as that goes. I just know it’s going to take perfection these next 13 weeks if we’re going to do that.”
MORE: Weekend schedule | At-track photos
Ross Chastain, a 2023 winner at Nashville, is another past title contender looking for signs of speed after a sluggish start to the campaign has left him 23rd in the points standings, 65 points behind Ryan Preece for the provisional final spot in The Chase. Those signs started to show themselves after Saturday’s Cup Series practice session, in which Chastain was quickest in 15-, 20- and 25-lap averages. But the driver of the No. 1 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet left no doubt in his Saturday press conference that he has struggled to find the feel he’s looking for in Chevrolet’s 2026 body.
“It seems like, for me, when the car changes pitch or attitude on the track — like if it just moves — it reacts differently each time or more dramatically,” Chastain explained. “I can’t really feel it changing much more. It’s not like I can feel it pull a wheelie or put the nose down on the ground, but just the balance changes corner to corner and even throughout the corner sometimes. It’s just not as consistent for me driving the No. 1 car, where last year and years past, we could get the car set and then I could have a consistent balance and know what I had corner to corner. I don’t feel like I have that right now.”
What he has now is 13 races to climb back up the standings and take the fight to his competition to make The Chase.
“It’s hard to believe we’re already halfway through the regular season,” Ryan Blaney said.
In the details …
Not all music is sweet in Nashville. Some of NASCAR’s brightest stars have found it difficult to shine in the Volunteer State in five races at Nashville Superspeedway.
Here’s a look at the nine drivers entered in this weekend’s race with three or more Cup starts at Nashville, looking for their first top-10 finish here:
| Driver | Nashville Starts | Best Finish |
|---|---|---|
| Brad Keselowski | 5 | 11th |
| Austin Dillon | 5 | 12th |
| Michael McDowell | 5 | 13th |
| Alex Bowman | 5 | 14th |
| Chase Briscoe | 5 | 17th |
| Todd Gilliland | 4 | 17th |
| Ty Gibbs | 3 | 14th |
| Cole Custer | 3 | 19th |
| Ty Dillon | 3 | 26th |
Speed reads
Race-day essentials:
– Nashville hub: Key information, pit stalls, additional results | Read more
– Sunday Setup: How more horsepower, new tire will impact Sunday’s race | Read more
– Paint Scheme Preview: New colors set for Nashville | View gallery
– Hauler Talk: Explaining how weather impacted Charlotte weekend | Listen now
– Power Rankings: Suárez sparks 2026 season with Coke 600 victory | This week’s ranks
– NASCAR Classics: Inside the video vault from Nashville | Watch now