Starting Lineup: 2026 NASCAR Cup Food City 500 At Bristol

Ryan Blaney was able to score the pole position for Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series Food City 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway. The driver of the No. 12 Team Penske Ford turned a fast lap of 15.101 seconds (127.064 mph) which was able to narrowly defeat Tyler Reddick for the best qualifying lap.

Reddick circled the 0.533-mile short track 0.023 seconds slower than Blaney’s time, but it was enough to secure him the outside position on the front row for Sunday’s race.

Chase Briscoe, Riley Herbst, and Ty Gibbs rounded out the top-five fastest qualifiers for Sunday’s Food City 500 at Bristol.

Official Food City 500 Starting Lineup

Pos	Car	Driver	Team	Lap time	Diff	Speed
1	12	Ryan Blaney	Team Penske Discount Tire Ford	15.101	--	127.064
2	45	Tyler Reddick	23XI Racing Comparion Insurance Toyota	15.124	0.023	126.871
3	19	Chase Briscoe	Joe Gibbs Racing Lance Toyota	15.135	0.034	126.779
4	35	Riley Herbst	23XI Racing Monster Energy Zero Sugar Toyota	15.147	0.046	126.679
5	54	Ty Gibbs	Joe Gibbs Racing Monster Energy Toyota	15.164	0.063	126.537
6	1	Ross Chastain	Trackhouse Racing Busch Light Fishing Chevrolet	15.175	0.074	126.445
7	17	Chris Buescher	RFK Racing Trimble Ford	15.190	0.089	126.320
8	5	Kyle Larson	Hendrick Motorsports HendrickCars.com Chevrolet	15.192	0.091	126.303
9	2	Austin Cindric	Team Penske Menards / Tarkett Ford	15.200	0.099	126.237
10	77	Carson Hocevar	Spire Motorsports Spectrum Chevrolet	15.201	0.100	126.229
11	11	Denny Hamlin	Joe Gibbs Racing National Debt Relief Toyota	15.225	0.124	126.030
12	23	Bubba Wallace	23XI Racing WWE / Chumba Casino Toyota	15.231	0.130	125.980
13	7	Daniel Suarez	Spire Motorsports NationsGuard Chevrolet	15.233	0.132	125.963
14	20	Christopher Bell	Joe Gibbs Racing Rheem Toyota	15.261	0.160	125.732
15	38	Zane Smith	Front Row Motorsports Aaron's Rent to Own Ford	15.277	0.176	125.601
16	4	Noah Gragson	Front Row Motorsports Long John Silver's Ford	15.279	0.178	125.584
17	60	Ryan Preece	RFK Racing Kroger / Muscle Milk Ford	15.282	0.181	125.559
18	9	Chase Elliott	Hendrick Motorsports NAPA Auto Parts Chevrolet	15.285	0.184	125.535
19	71	Michael McDowell	Spire Motorsports Delaware Life Chevrolet	15.291	0.190	125.486
20	22	Joey Logano	Team Penske Shell Pennzoil Ford	15.311	0.210	125.322
21	6	Brad Keselowski	RFK Racing Consumer Cellular Ford	15.312	0.211	125.313
22	16	AJ Allmendinger	Kaulig Racing Grizzly Nicotine Pouches Chevrolet	15.323	0.222	125.224
23	47	Ricky Stenhouse Jr.	Hyak Motorsports NOS Energy Drink Chevrolet	15.331	0.230	125.158
24	3	Austin Dillon	Richard Childress Racing Bass Pro Shops / Winchester Long Beard XR Chevrolet	15.344	0.243	125.052
25	21	Josh Berry	Wood Brothers Racing Motorcraft / Quick Lane Ford	15.364	0.263	124.889
26	88	Connor Zilisch	Trackhouse Racing Roto-Rooter Chevrolet	15.368	0.267	124.857
27	48	Alex Bowman	Hendrick Motorsports Ally Chevrolet	15.368	0.267	124.857
28	43	Erik Jones	LEGACY MOTOR CLUB AdventHealth Toyota	15.378	0.277	124.776
29	8	Kyle Busch	Richard Childress Racing BankOZK Chevrolet	15.389	0.288	124.686
30	41	Cole Custer	Haas Factory Team Chevrolet	15.404	0.303	124.565
31	42	John Hunter Nemechek	LEGACY MOTOR CLUB Dollar Tree Toyota	15.467	0.366	124.058
32	10	Ty Dillon	Kaulig Racing Ohio Logistics Chevrolet	15.498	0.397	123.810
33	97	Shane van Gisbergen	Trackhouse Racing WeatherTech Chevrolet	15.514	0.413	123.682
34	24	William Byron	Hendrick Motorsports Valvoline Chevrolet	15.554	0.453	123.364
35	34	Todd Gilliland	Front Row Motorsports Love's Travel Stops Ford	15.593	0.492	123.055
36	51	Cody Ware	Rick Ware Racing Chevrolet	15.613	0.512	122.898
37	66	Chad Finchum	Garage 66 Brian King Roofing Ford	15.711	0.610	122.131