The NASCAR Cup Series Food City 500 takes place on Sunday at Bristol Motor Speedway, with the green flag scheduled for 3:11 PM ET. The eighth race of the season runs 500 laps over 266.5 miles on the 0.533-mile concrete oval, with stages set at 125, 250, and 500 laps.
The $11,233,037 purse is the backdrop for what promises to be one of the most physical short-track events of the season. Before qualifying, five cars – the No. 5 of Kyle Larson, No. 71 of Michael McDowell, No. 1 of Ross Chastain, No. 41 of Cole Custer, and No. 66 of Chad Finchum – failed pre-qualifying inspection on their first two attempts. Each team loses a car chief and the right to pit selection.
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Saturday’s practice session gave teams their first chance to test the new Goodyear tire package, designed specifically for this weekend. NASCAR has brought new left and right-side tires to minimize the temperature swings that have complicated recent Food City 500 races while handling the track’s high banking loads.
In practice, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. recorded the fastest single lap at 124.573 mph. Noah Gragson was second at 124.283, with Austin Cindric third and Erik Jones fourth. Bubba Wallace rounded out the top five. The long-run picture told a different story. While Gragson led the 5- and 10-lap averages, Ryan Blaney dominated the 15-, 20-, 25-, and 30-lap averages heading into qualifying.
Who is on pole for the 2026 Food City 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway?
Bristol uses a best-of-two-laps qualifying format to determine the Food City 500 grid. Saturday’s qualifying session ran in two groups of 18-19 drivers each, with conditions complicated by PJ1 traction compound applied to the bottom groove. It was done to take away the advantage the top groove had developed, but it made the entry to corners tricky, with cars getting loose on the way in.
Riley Herbst was the early story. The 23XI Racing No. 35 went third overall and set a lap of 15.147 seconds at 126.679 mph, holding the top spot for most of qualifying. He held the top spot until Chase Briscoe came in as the 23rd driver. His first lap was average, but a strong second lap produced a 15.135 at 126.779 mph to push Herbst off the top spot with 12 cars remaining.
Tyler Reddick, having already won two poles, then broke through, posting a 15.124s run at 126.871 mph to take the provisional with six drivers left. However, Ryan Blaney clinched the pole on his second run. The Team Penske driver got down to the yellow line, rubbed the apron, went high, and applied early throttle without pushing into the corners to beat him.
The lap came in at 15.101 seconds and 127.064 mph, as Blaney claimed his first Bristol pole and first this year. After qualifying, he said:
“I just kind of got free lap one landing into one… Luckily, the rear tires came in better with the second lap, and in one and two and then three and four, I thought it was a really good corner. So, really great job by the whole 12 boys. Our race car in practice was pretty good, and it was nice that we made pretty good adjustments for qualifying with the pace being up… Cool start to the weekend. Now we got to do 500 laps. Should be fun.”
Ryan Blaney‘s Bristol record in the Next Gen era is substantial. His average finish at the track is 7.8, and he has finished inside the top six in each of the last three Bristol races. Sunday will be his 20th attempt to win his first Food City 500.
Starting Lineup for the 2026 Food City 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway
Qualifying for the Food City 500 uses the best-of-two-laps format, with the fastest single lap determining each driver’s grid position. Here is the complete starting lineup for Sunday’s NASCAR Cup series at Bristol Motor Speedway:
- #12 – Ryan Blaney
- #45 – Tyler Reddick
- #19 – Chase Briscoe
- #35 – Riley Herbst
- #54 – Ty Gibbs
- #1 – Ross Chastain
- #17 – Chris Buescher
- #5 – Kyle Larson
- #2 – Austin Cindric
- #77 – Carson Hocevar
- #11 – Denny Hamlin
- #23 – Bubba Wallace
- #99 – Daniel Suarez
- #20 – Christopher Bell
- #38 – Zane Smith
- #4 – Noah Gragson
- #60 – Ryan Preece
- #9 – Chase Elliott
- #71 – Michael McDowell
- #22 – Joey Logano
- #6 – Brad Keselowski
- #16 – AJ Allmendinger
- #47 – Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
- #3 – Austin Dillon
- #21 – Josh Berry
- #88 – Connor Zilisch
- #48 – Alex Bowman
- #43 – Erik Jones
- #8 – Kyle Busch
- #41 – Cole Custer
- #42 – John Hunter Nemechek
- #10 – Ty Dillon
- #97 – Shane van Gisbergen
- #24 – William Byron
- #34 – Todd Gilliland
- #51 – Cody Ware
- #66 – Chad Finchum
The Food City 500 gets underway at 3:00 PM ET on Sunday, April 12. Catch the race live on FS1, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, and HBO Max.
Edited by Parag Jain
