The NASCAR Cup Series will travel to Music City this week to compete at Nashville Superspeedway. This will be the fourth consecutive race on an intermediate track for the Cup Series (not counting the All-Star Race). This will also be race No. 14 on the schedule. That means there are only 12 races left in the regular season at the end of the race Sunday. Only four of those races are on intermediate or short tracks. We will get more opportunities to save our top drivers over the summer, but first we need to make it through the race at Nashville. The Cracker Barrel 400 can be seen Sunday at 7 p.m. ET on Prime Video.
PRACTICE SPEEDS FOR NASHVILLE
NASCAR had their normal schedule Saturday at Nashville Superspeedway. The teams were separated into two groups and they had 25-minutes to shake down their cars for the Cracker Barrel 400. Most of the teams were able to make some long runs in practice, since this track is only 1.33-miles in length.
So, how do the practice speeds at Nashville translate into race speed last year? The race was extended five times because of cautions and that turned last year’s race into a fuel mileage race. The top-five drivers before the chaos at the end of last year’s race were Denny Hamlin, Kyle Larson, Ross Chastain, Ty Gibbs and Kyle Busch. Gibbs was fastest in practice last year, Chastain was fourth-fastest, Larson was sixth-fastest and Hamlin and Busch were well done the speed chart. Those two drivers typically run better in the race than they ran in practice, so it looks like the single-lap average speed translated into race speed at Nashville last year.
Here are the speeds from Saturday’s practice session at Nashville Superspeedway…
STRATEGY FOR NASHVILLE
There have been four races in the Cup Series at Nashville Superspeedway and those races have produced four different winners. The racing at Nashville is close and that typically produces a lot of cautions. The race last year had five overtimes and it turned into a fuel mileage race. This track can be unpredictable, but the top teams (Hendrick Motorsports, Joe Gibbs Racing and Team Penske) have had a lot of success in Music City. Do not count out Trackhouse Racing Sunday. Nashville is the location of their headquarters and Trackhouse Racing typically puts a lot of effort into this race to impress their sponsors. I plan to stick to the drivers from the teams listed above for my lineups this weekend.
Here are the picks for the Cracker Barrel 400…
CHASE BRISCOE (9): It took a while, but it seems like Briscoe is starting to figure out the Joe Gibbs Racing cars. He finished 4th at Kansas and 3rd at Charlotte. His stats at Nashville are not great, but Martin Truex Jr. was one of the best in the No. 19 car at Nashville. The car has the same speed that it had with Truex in it. Briscoe should be able to finish up front Sunday. Briscoe started on the pole and finished in the top-five last week. I think he can do it again in Nashville.
DENNY HAMLIN (6): There have been four different winners in the four races at Nashville Superspeedway. Hamlin has a good chance to extend that streak to five drivers in five races. Hamlin leads the Cup Series with 265-laps led in the Gen-7 car at Nashville and his 7th-place average finishing position is 2nd-best in the Cup Series. The No. 11 car has the speed to finish up front Sunday. ** If Hamlin doesn’t race because his wife goes into labor, I will post my updated picks on X (Twitter) Facebook and in the forum.
TYLER REDDICK (3): I wasn’t planning on using Reddick at Nashville but he has one of the fastest cars this weekend. Reddick posted the fastest single laps speed and the fastest long-run speed in practice. He then went out and qualified 4th for the race. I just cannot fade that kind of speed.
ROSS CHASTAIN (9): I am probably a week late with this pick, but it is hard to pass up on Chastain this week. Trackhouse Racing builds their cars in Concord, North Carolina, but their headquarters is in Nasshville. This is one of the most important races for the team and Chastain usually shows up for the sponsors. He won this race in 2023 and he finished 2nd in 2021. Chastain has the speed to finish up front again Sunday.
CHASE ELLIOTT (8): I know people get frustrated that Elliott does not win more races, but that could change Sunday. Elliott won in the Gen-7 car at Nashville in 2022 and he finished 4th in 2023. Elliott is typically good when he qualifies up front. Elliott starts 11th Sunday, so he should have a good chance to finish in the top-five with the upside to win the race.
* I typically do not save allocations, but I will this week. I wanted to use CHRISTOPHER BELL over CHASE ELLIOTT but I have 4 allocations left with Bell and I have four races I want to use him at this summer. I would use Bell over Elliott if you have five or more allocations left with the No. 20 car.
(GARAGE PICK) JOEY LOGANO (5): Logano won at Nashville last year, but it was because his No. 22 car was able to stretch the fuel-mileage longer than any other driver. Logano has finished three of the four races in Nashville in the top-10. The No. 22 car did not look good on the speed chart in practice but Steve Letart said, “Logano looks like one of the best cars after 20 laps. They just need to find some short run speed.” Obviously they found some because Logano starts 9th Sunday night.
Good luck and be sure to follow me on X (Twitter) @MrFantasyNASCAR. I will send out a Tweet during the race to let you know if I plan to swap out one of my drivers for my Garage pick.