| NASCAR Cup SeriesNashville SuperspeedwayCracker Barrel 400Team Chevy Post-Race ReportMay 31, 2026 |
Stenhouse Jr., Elliott Lead Chevrolet with Top-Five Finishes at Nashville Superspeedway |
| MEDIA RESOURCES: Photo Gallery | Race AdvancesChevrolet Newsroom |
| Capitalizing on a late-race pit strategy, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and the No. 47 Hyak Motorsports Chevrolet team drove from outside the top-10 to a fourth-place result in a four-lap dash to the finish to lead Chevrolet to the checkered flag in the Cracker Barrel 400 at Nashville Superspeedway – the team’s second top-five finish of the season. RACE RECAP: Stage One: With the starting lineup set by the rulebook, the Coca-Cola 600 winner, Daniel Suarez, led Team Chevy to the green flag at Nashville Superspeedway from the third position. But it was the 2021 Nashville winner, Kyle Larson, that started an early march towards the lead – making the pass for the third position after just six laps around the 1.33-mile oval. While the field quickly singled out during the opening run, Larson was able to keep the margin to then race leader, Tyler Reddick, to under four seconds as the race approached the scheduled competition caution on Lap 35. Overall happy with the handling of his Chevrolet during the first run, it was a call for four tires and fuel by the Cliff Daniels-led team to put Larson in the fifth position for the restart. Shane van Gisbergen was among the three lead pack cars that employed a two-tire strategy during the competition caution to make an early gain in track position and take over the lead for the restart. The New Zealand native showed impressive speed among those on a four tire strategy, leading 12 laps before Larson capitalized on his fresh set of Goodyear tires to take over the top position on Lap 52 and pace his first laps of the evening. Larson was able to progressively build a nearly one-second lead before the first natural caution of the day flew with just under 20 laps to go in the stage for a brake rotor issue on the No. 88 Chevrolet. This time, it was the Trent Owens-led team that made a gamble on pit strategy to give his driver, AJ Allmendinger, a spot on the front row to lead the field to the green flag for the short run to the end of Stage One. With an one-lap dash to the finish, Allmendinger was able to muscle his No. 16 Chevrolet in a side-by-side battle with Larson all the way to the line – ultimately holding on to the top position to earn the team’s first stage win of the season. Stage Two: Electing to stay out during the stage break, Larson inherited the top position to lead the field to the green flag in Stage Two. A stellar restart saw the No. 5 jump to a five car length lead, going on to pace the field until a hard charging Chase Briscoe saw the California native fall to the second position as the race hit 128 laps complete. Settled into position, Larson was among the lead cars to kickstart the green flag pit cycle on Lap 139. But an untimely caution came out just five laps later, forcing the No. 5 team to take the wave around and a spot in the eighth position. Among the handful of cars that had yet to hit pit road during the green flag cycle included Chase Elliott, enabling the team to cash in on the track position and make the jump up to his then race-high running position of second. But a late-stage caution opened up the opportunity for another shakeup in pit strategy. Those trading a trip to pit road for track position included Suarez, and with another caution ultimately bringing the stage to a close, last weekend’s winner went on to lead Chevrolet to a stage sweep. Final Stage: Taking the green flag for the final stage and 109 laps to go, it was Spire Motorsports’ Michael McDowell that took his turn to lead the Bowtie brigade from the third position. But it was the Hendrick Motorsports duo of Elliott and Larson that quickly made their way back up into the top-five early in the run of the final stage. Despite a series of caution periods throughout the beginning portions of the stage, a long green flag run looked like it was going to bring the race to a close, but the 11th caution flag of the evening flew with just 12 laps remaining. Elliott, Larson and Van Gisbergen were among the nine lead pack cars that opted to forgo a trip to pit road and maintain their track position for a four-lap dash to the finish. With a four-tire call from atop the No. 47 Hyak Motorsports pit box, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. was able to make a late-race charge to the front to lead Chevrolet to the checkered flag in the fourth position. |
| Team Chevy Unofficial Top-10 ResultsPos. Driver 4th – Ricky Stenhouse Jr. 5th – Chase Elliott7th – Shane van Gisbergen10th – Carson Hocevar  Chevrolet’s season statistics with 14 NASCAR Cup Series races complete:Wins: 5Poles: 3Top-Fives: 24Top 10s: 47Stage Wins: 11 |
| The 2026 NASCAR Cup Series season continues at Michigan International Speedway with the FireKeepers Casino 400 on Sunday, June 7, at 3 p.m. ET. Live coverage can be found on Amazon Prime, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Channel 90. |
| NASCAR Cup SeriesNashville SuperspeedwayCracker Barrel 400Team Chevy Post-Race ReportMay 31, 2026 |
Stenhouse Jr., Elliott Lead Chevrolet with Top-Five Finishes at Nashville Superspeedway |
| MEDIA RESOURCES: Photo Gallery | Race AdvancesChevrolet Newsroom |
| Capitalizing on a late-race pit strategy, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and the No. 47 Hyak Motorsports Chevrolet team drove from outside the top-10 to a fourth-place result in a four-lap dash to the finish to lead Chevrolet to the checkered flag in the Cracker Barrel 400 at Nashville Superspeedway – the team’s second top-five finish of the season. RACE RECAP: Stage One: With the starting lineup set by the rulebook, the Coca-Cola 600 winner, Daniel Suarez, led Team Chevy to the green flag at Nashville Superspeedway from the third position. But it was the 2021 Nashville winner, Kyle Larson, that started an early march towards the lead – making the pass for the third position after just six laps around the 1.33-mile oval. While the field quickly singled out during the opening run, Larson was able to keep the margin to then race leader, Tyler Reddick, to under four seconds as the race approached the scheduled competition caution on Lap 35. Overall happy with the handling of his Chevrolet during the first run, it was a call for four tires and fuel by the Cliff Daniels-led team to put Larson in the fifth position for the restart. Shane van Gisbergen was among the three lead pack cars that employed a two-tire strategy during the competition caution to make an early gain in track position and take over the lead for the restart. The New Zealand native showed impressive speed among those on a four tire strategy, leading 12 laps before Larson capitalized on his fresh set of Goodyear tires to take over the top position on Lap 52 and pace his first laps of the evening. Larson was able to progressively build a nearly one-second lead before the first natural caution of the day flew with just under 20 laps to go in the stage for a brake rotor issue on the No. 88 Chevrolet. This time, it was the Trent Owens-led team that made a gamble on pit strategy to give his driver, AJ Allmendinger, a spot on the front row to lead the field to the green flag for the short run to the end of Stage One. With an one-lap dash to the finish, Allmendinger was able to muscle his No. 16 Chevrolet in a side-by-side battle with Larson all the way to the line – ultimately holding on to the top position to earn the team’s first stage win of the season. Stage Two: Electing to stay out during the stage break, Larson inherited the top position to lead the field to the green flag in Stage Two. A stellar restart saw the No. 5 jump to a five car length lead, going on to pace the field until a hard charging Chase Briscoe saw the California native fall to the second position as the race hit 128 laps complete. Settled into position, Larson was among the lead cars to kickstart the green flag pit cycle on Lap 139. But an untimely caution came out just five laps later, forcing the No. 5 team to take the wave around and a spot in the eighth position. Among the handful of cars that had yet to hit pit road during the green flag cycle included Chase Elliott, enabling the team to cash in on the track position and make the jump up to his then race-high running position of second. But a late-stage caution opened up the opportunity for another shakeup in pit strategy. Those trading a trip to pit road for track position included Suarez, and with another caution ultimately bringing the stage to a close, last weekend’s winner went on to lead Chevrolet to a stage sweep. Final Stage: Taking the green flag for the final stage and 109 laps to go, it was Spire Motorsports’ Michael McDowell that took his turn to lead the Bowtie brigade from the third position. But it was the Hendrick Motorsports duo of Elliott and Larson that quickly made their way back up into the top-five early in the run of the final stage. Despite a series of caution periods throughout the beginning portions of the stage, a long green flag run looked like it was going to bring the race to a close, but the 11th caution flag of the evening flew with just 12 laps remaining. Elliott, Larson and Van Gisbergen were among the nine lead pack cars that opted to forgo a trip to pit road and maintain their track position for a four-lap dash to the finish. With a four-tire call from atop the No. 47 Hyak Motorsports pit box, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. was able to make a late-race charge to the front to lead Chevrolet to the checkered flag in the fourth position. |
| Team Chevy Unofficial Top-10 ResultsPos. Driver 4th – Ricky Stenhouse Jr. 5th – Chase Elliott7th – Shane van Gisbergen10th – Carson Hocevar Chevrolet’s season statistics with 14 NASCAR Cup Series races complete:Wins: 5Poles: 3Top-Fives: 24Top 10s: 47Stage Wins: 11 |
| The 2026 NASCAR Cup Series season continues at Michigan International Speedway with the FireKeepers Casino 400 on Sunday, June 7, at 3 p.m. ET. Live coverage can be found on Amazon Prime, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Channel 90. |
| Post-Race Driver Quotes: Ross Chastain, No. 1 Trackhouse Racing ChevroletSidelined by a brake rotor issue in Stage One. Finished: 37th “We had a right-front brake rotor failure. It came apart and I just put it against the fence. You can’t slow down once the rotor is out of it. The car was okay, but it’s a rule that you can’t replace the rotors. It’s a bummer for Trackhouse Racing and our No. 1 Busch Light Country Chevrolet team. We had a really good car and that’s something to hang our hats on. We had speed and grip, and we were able to pass cars after starting deep in the field. There’s a lot to take away on the good side.” Austin Dillon, No. 3 Richard Childress Racing ChevroletFinished: 18th “None of us are happy with finishing 18th at Nashville Superspeedway but after the day the No. 3 BREZTRI AEROSPHERE® (budesonide, glycopyrrolate, and formoterol fumarate) Chevrolet team had, that’s a pretty good recovery. That’s the way to fight. And how about that last restart? Wish we could have battled like that all day. Well take it.” Chase Elliott, No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports ChevroletFinished: 5th“It was just green-white-checkered craziness, as always. I was glad to see Tyler (Reddick) get out there at the end. I know that had to have been a big hit. I had my hands full. Ryan (Blaney) tried to give me a shove to the line and I was just out of shape, so it was certainly nothing intentional at all. It was nice to get our No. 9 NAPA Chevy back on the tracks. It’s been a rough month or so, I would say, since Texas (Motor Speedway), so it was nice to get a top-five finish. Hopefully we can build on this from here.” AJ Allmendinger, No. 16 Kaulig Racing ChevroletSidelined by a brake rotor issue at the end of Stage Two. Finished: 35th “A few drivers had brake rotor issues earlier in the race, but I had no warning signs of it. The pedals never went soft and I didn’t feel like I was over-using the brakes, so it was a shock when it happened. It looked like we were going to finish maybe third to fifth in Stage Two. (Michael) McDowell was a little quicker that stage, but I think fifth was going to be the worst we were going to finish there. That was going to be two really good stages. At that point, if you can finish in the top-20, that would have been a big points day. It’s just disappointing, but it’s nobody’s fault. Obviously, we’ve seen that’s been an issue here. I don’t know if it’s lower downforce or carrying more speed with more horsepower down the straightaway and you’re using more brake. I’ve never felt like this is a heavy braking racetrack, in general, so I’m not really sure.” Austin Hill, No. 33 Richard Childress Racing ChevroletFinished: 27th “Not the result we hoped for with the BetMGM Chevrolet. A lot of different things happened throughout the night, but everyone on this team kept making the most of each situation that was thrown our way. I thought we were on our way to a top-20 finish but it just wasn’t in the cards tonight. We’ll continue to learn and fight for RCR heading into Michigan International Speedway next week.” Ricky Stenhouse Jr., No. 47 Hyak Motorsports ChevroletFinished: 4th“It was an up-and-down day. I felt like our No. 47 NOS Energy Drink Chevrolet started off really tight and we kind of fell back there. We made some adjustments and stayed out in the second stage to get good stage points. We kind of found our way back into the top-15. This team gave me a great car and we made it better throughout the race. Our brakes were good. I could hustle it really all the way through a whole stage and a whole run, and I felt like that was a benefit for us. Our pit crew did a good job there. We decided to take four tires so we could be on the offense. The lanes just opened up. I was hoping they were going to fight a little bit harder up there so we could back into a win. It’s just really cool to get this NOS Energy Drink Kyle Busch tribute Chevrolet in the top-five at a place where we struggle at with the Next Gen car. We ran here good with the previous car and we’ve been struggling here as of late, so it’s really cool to come home with a top-five finish.” Connor Zilisch, No. 88 Trackhouse Racing ChevroletSidelined with a brake rotor issue in Stage One. Finished: 38th Did you get any warning of the issue? “There was no warning at all. No pedal fade. The team was telling me that we had a little bit more glow than we would like and that went away as the run went on. It just kind of came as a surprise. It’s unfortunate for our No. 88 Red Bull Chevrolet team. I felt like we were moving in the right direction. We made up around 15 spots in the first few laps of the race. Just hate to cut another night short.” Shane van Gisbergen, No. 97 Trackhouse Racing ChevroletFinished: 7th“It was a pretty awesome day for this No. 97 Tootsie’s Orchid Lounge Chevrolet team. Starting up front obviously helps, but it was cool to lead some laps and battle at the front. Our Chevy was running really well all night. I really enjoyed myself tonight. I learned a lot. I learned to be comfortable moving around in (turns) one and two, which I’ve never been able to do before. We just got the balance better on the two-tire strategy. When we were on a four-tire strategy, we were lacking that. The two-tire stop at the end, we were able to get the balance back again. It was a lot of fun. It definitely feels like we’re making headway.” |