The 2026 Food City 500 was a NASCAR Cup Series race that was held on April 12, 2026, at Bristol Motor Speedway in Bristol, Tennessee. Contested over 505 laps on the short track, extended from the original 500 laps due to a overtime finish, it was the 8th race of the 2026 NASCAR Cup Series season.
Ty Gibbs won the race for his first career NASCAR Cup Series win. Ryan Blaney finished 2nd, and Kyle Larson finished 3rd. Tyler Reddick and Chase Briscoe rounded out the top five, and Todd Gilliland, Joey Logano, Ryan Preece, Denny Hamlin, and Carson Hocevar rounded out the top ten.
Report
Background
The Bristol Motor Speedway, formerly known as Bristol International Raceway and Bristol Raceway, is a NASCAR short track venue located in Bristol, Tennessee. Constructed in 1960, it held its first NASCAR race on July 30, 1961. Despite its short length, Bristol is among the most popular tracks on the NASCAR schedule because of its distinct features, which include extraordinarily steep banking, an all concrete surface, two pit roads, and stadium-like seating. It has also been named one of the loudest NASCAR tracks.
Besides holding racing events, the track has hosted the Battle at Bristol, a college football game between the Tennessee Volunteers and Virginia Tech Hokies on September 10, 2016, and the MLB Speedway Classic, an MLB baseball game between the Atlanta Braves and the Cincinnati Reds from August 2-3, 2025.
Entry list (R) denotes rookie driver. (i) denotes driver who is ineligible for series driver points.
Driver Team Manufacturer 1 Ross Chastain Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet 2 Austin Cindric Team Penske Ford 3 Austin Dillon Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 4 Noah Gragson Front Row Motorsports Ford 5 Kyle Larson Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 6 Brad Keselowski RFK Racing Ford 7 Daniel Suárez Spire Motorsports Chevrolet 8 Kyle Busch Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 9 Chase Elliott Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 10 Ty Dillon Kaulig Racing Chevrolet 11 Denny Hamlin Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 12 Ryan Blaney Team Penske Ford 16 A. J. Allmendinger Kaulig Racing Chevrolet 17 Chris Buescher RFK Racing Ford 19 Chase Briscoe Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 20 Christopher Bell Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 21 Josh Berry Wood Brothers Racing Ford 22 Joey Logano Team Penske Ford 23 Bubba Wallace 23XI Racing Toyota 24 William Byron Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 34 Todd Gilliland Front Row Motorsports Ford 35 Riley Herbst 23XI Racing Toyota 38 Zane Smith Front Row Motorsports Ford 41 Cole Custer Haas Factory Team Chevrolet 42 John Hunter Nemechek Legacy Motor Club Toyota 43 Erik Jones Legacy Motor Club Toyota 45 Tyler Reddick 23XI Racing Toyota 47 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Hyak Motorsports Chevrolet 48 Alex Bowman Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 51 Cody Ware Rick Ware Racing Chevrolet 54 Ty Gibbs Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 60 Ryan Preece RFK Racing Ford 66 Chad Finchum (i) Garage 66 Ford 71 Michael McDowell Spire Motorsports Chevrolet 77 Carson Hocevar Spire Motorsports Chevrolet 88 Connor Zilisch (R) Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet 97 Shane van Gisbergen Trackhouse Racing ChevroletOfficial entry list
Practice Ricky Stenhouse Jr. was the fastest in the practice session with a time of 15.403 seconds and a speed of .
Practice results Pos Driver Team Manufacturer Time 1 47 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Hyak Motorsports Chevrolet 15.403 124.573 2 4 Noah Gragson Front Row Motorsports Ford 15.439 124.283 3 2 Austin Cindric Team Penske Ford 15.451 124.186Official practice results
Qualifying Ryan Blaney scored the pole for the race with a time of 15.101 and a speed of .
Qualifying results Pos Driver Team Manufacturer Time 1 12 Ryan Blaney Team Penske Ford 15.101 127.064 2 45 Tyler Reddick 23XI Racing Toyota 15.124 126.871 3 19 Chase Briscoe Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 15.135 126.779 4 35 Riley Herbst 23XI Racing Toyota 15.147 126.679 5 54 Ty Gibbs Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 15.164 126.537 6 1 Ross Chastain Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet 15.175 126.445 7 17 Chris Buescher RFK Racing Ford 15.190 126.320 8 5 Kyle Larson Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 15.192 126.303 9 2 Austin Cindric Team Penske Ford 15.200 126.237 10 77 Carson Hocevar Spire Motorsports Chevrolet 15.201 126.229 11 11 Denny Hamlin Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 15.225 126.030 12 23 Bubba Wallace 23XI Racing Toyota 15.231 125.980 13 7 Daniel Suárez Spire Motorsports Chevrolet 15.233 125.963 14 20 Christopher Bell Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 15.261 125.732 15 38 Zane Smith Front Row Motorsports Ford 15.277 125.601 16 4 Noah Gragson Front Row Motorsports Ford 15.279 125.584 17 60 Ryan Preece RFK Racing Ford 15.282 125.559 18 9 Chase Elliott Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 15.285 125.535 19 71 Michael McDowell Spire Motorsports Chevrolet 15.291 125.486 20 22 Joey Logano Team Penske Ford 15.311 125.322 21 6 Brad Keselowski RFK Racing Ford 15.312 125.313 22 16 A. J. Allmendinger Kaulig Racing Chevrolet 15.323 125.224 23 47 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Hyak Motorsports Chevrolet 15.331 125.158 24 3 Austin Dillon Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 15.344 125.052 25 21 Josh Berry Wood Brothers Racing Ford 15.364 124.889 26 88 Connor Zilisch (R) Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet 15.368 124.857 27 48 Alex Bowman Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 15.368 124.857 28 43 Erik Jones Legacy Motor Club Toyota 15.378 124.776 29 8 Kyle Busch Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 15.389 124.686 30 41 Cole Custer Haas Factory Team Chevrolet 15.404 124.565 31 42 John Hunter Nemechek Legacy Motor Club Toyota 15.467 124.058 32 10 Ty Dillon Kaulig Racing Chevrolet 15.498 123.810 33 97 Shane van Gisbergen Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet 15.514 123.682 34 24 William Byron Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 15.554 123.364 35 34 Todd Gilliland Front Row Motorsports Ford 15.593 123.055 36 51 Cody Ware Rick Ware Racing Chevrolet 15.613 122.898 37 66 Chad Finchum (i) Garage 66 Ford 15.711 122.131 Official qualifying results
Race
Race results
Stage Results
Stage One Laps: 125
Pos Driver Team Manufacturer Points1 5 Kyle Larson Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 102 20 Christopher Bell Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 93 12 Ryan Blaney Team Penske Ford 84 19 Chase Briscoe Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 75 21 Josh Berry Wood Brothers Racing Ford 66 11 Denny Hamlin Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 57 77 Carson Hocevar Spire Motorsports Chevrolet 48 35 Riley Herbst 23XI Racing Toyota 39 23 Bubba Wallace 23XI Racing Toyota 210 2 Austin Cindric Team Penske Ford 1
Stage Two Laps: 125
Pos Driver Team Manufacturer Points1 5 Kyle Larson Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 102 12 Ryan Blaney Team Penske Ford 93 11 Denny Hamlin Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 84 77 Carson Hocevar Spire Motorsports Chevrolet 75 19 Chase Briscoe Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 66 21 Josh Berry Wood Brothers Racing Ford 57 54 Ty Gibbs Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 48 22 Joey Logano Team Penske Ford 39 23 Bubba Wallace 23XI Racing Toyota 210 2 Austin Cindric Team Penske Ford 1
Final Stage Results
Stage Three Laps: 250
Pos Grid Driver Team Manufacturer Laps Points1 5 54 Ty Gibbs Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 505 59 2 1 12 Ryan Blaney Team Penske Ford 505 53 3 8 5 Kyle Larson Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 505 54 4 2 45 Tyler Reddick 23XI Racing Toyota 505 33 5 3 19 Chase Briscoe Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 505 45 6 35 34 Todd Gilliland Front Row Motorsports Ford 505 31 7 20 22 Joey Logano Team Penske Ford 505 33 8 17 60 Ryan Preece RFK Racing Ford 505 29 9 11 11 Denny Hamlin Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 505 41 10 10 77 Carson Hocevar Spire Motorsports Chevrolet 505 38 11 12 23 Bubba Wallace 23XI Racing Toyota 505 30 12 13 7 Daniel Suárez Spire Motorsports Chevrolet 505 25 13 7 17 Chris Buescher RFK Racing Ford 505 24 14 21 6 Brad Keselowski RFK Racing Ford 505 23 15 22 16 A. J. Allmendinger Kaulig Racing Chevrolet 505 22 16 9 2 Austin Cindric Team Penske Ford 505 23 17 23 47 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Hyak Motorsports Chevrolet 504 20 18 24 3 Austin Dillon Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 504 19 19 15 38 Zane Smith Front Row Motorsports Ford 504 18 20 6 1 Ross Chastain Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet 504 17 21 4 35 Riley Herbst 23XI Racing Toyota 504 19 22 18 9 Chase Elliott Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 504 15 23 28 43 Erik Jones Legacy Motor Club Toyota 503 14 24 19 71 Michael McDowell Spire Motorsports Chevrolet 503 13 25 29 8 Kyle Busch Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 503 12 26 16 4 Noah Gragson Front Row Motorsports Ford 503 11 27 14 20 Christopher Bell Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 501 19 28 30 41 Cole Custer Haas Factory Team Chevrolet 501 9 29 32 10 Ty Dillon Kaulig Racing Chevrolet 501 8 30 34 24 William Byron Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 500 7 31 36 51 Cody Ware Rick Ware Racing Chevrolet 500 6 32 25 21 Josh Berry Wood Brothers Racing Ford 490 16 33 26 88 Connor Zilisch (R) Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet 478 4 34 33 97 Shane van Gisbergen Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet 335 3 35 31 42 John Hunter Nemechek Legacy Motor Club Toyota 324 2 36 37 66 Chad Finchum (i) Garage 66 Ford 239 037 27 48 Alex Bowman Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 160 1 Official race results
Race statistics Lead changes: 12 among 4 different drivers Cautions/Laps: 9 for 72 laps Red flags: 0 Time of race: 3 hours, 1 minute and 50 seconds Average speed: Margin of victory: 0.055 seconds
Media
Television The race was carried by FS1 in the United States. Mike Joy, Clint Bowyer, and three-time Bristol winner Kevin Harvick called the race from the broadcast booth. Jamie Little, Regan Smith and Josh Sims handled pit road for the television side, and Larry McReynolds provided insight on-site during the race.
FS1Booth announcersPit reportersIn-race analyst Lap-by-lap: Mike JoyColor-commentator: Clint BowyerColor-commentator: Kevin Harvick Jamie LittleRegan SmithJosh Sims Larry McReynolds
Radio PRN had the radio call for the race which was simulcasted on Sirius XM NASCAR Radio. Brad Gillie and Nick Yeoman called the race in the booth when the field raced down the frontstretch. Pat Patterson called the race from atop the turn 3 suites when the field raced down the backstretch. Andrew Kurland, Brett McMillan, David Styles and Doug Turnbull covered the action on pit lane for PRN.
PRNBooth announcersTurn announcersPit reporters Lead announcer: Brad Gillie Announcer: Nick Yeoman Backstretch: Pat Patterson Andrew KurlandBrett McMillanDavid StylesDoug Turnbull
Standings after the race
Drivers' Championship standings Pos Driver Points 1 Tyler Reddick 386 2 Ryan Blaney 324 (–62) 3 Denny Hamlin 300 (–86) 2 4 Ty Gibbs 281 (–105) 1 5 Chase Elliott 264 (–122) 3 6 Kyle Larson 260 (–126) 2 7 William Byron 245 (–141) 3 8 Bubba Wallace 236 (–150) 2 9 Christopher Bell 231 (–155) 10 Chris Buescher 230 (–156) 3 11 Brad Keselowski 229 (–157) 12 Joey Logano 218 (–168) 2 13 Carson Hocevar 209 (–177) 1 14 Ryan Preece 209 (–177) 1 15 Daniel Suárez 192 (–194) 2 16 Shane van Gisbergen 177 (–209)Official driver's standings
Manufacturers' Championship standings Pos Manufacturer Points 1 Toyota 400 2 Chevrolet 295 (–105) 3 Ford 283 (–117)
Note: Only the first 16 positions are included for the driver standings.
References