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NASCAR Entry List: Who Is Racing at Bristol This Weekend?

Originally posted on Athlon Sports | By Thomas Carelli | Last updated Apr 8, 2026 11:55 AM ET

The NASCAR Cup Series makes its return this Sunday for the Food City 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway. After Easter Weekend free from Cup racing, the series comes forward with its latest entry sheet, featuring one open car entry and another week of Justin Allgaier as the No. 48 fill-in driver.

Bristol will make the 2nd short-track on the 2026 NASCAR Cup Series schedule, and the 3rd 500-mile race. It is the 66th edition of the Bristol Spring Race, held on Sunday afternoon, while the fall race is generally a night event.

Food City 500 Entries


Car Number	Driver
1	Ross Chastain
2	Austin Cindric
3	Austin Dillon
4	Noah Gragson
5	Kyle Larson
6	Brad Keselowski
7	Daniel Suarez
8	Kyle Busch
9	Chase Elliott
10	Ty Dillon
11	Denny Hamlin
12	Ryan Blaney
16	AJ Allmendinger
17	Chris Buescher
19	Chase Briscoe
20	Christopher Bell
21	Josh Berry
22	Joey Logano
23	Bubba Wallace
24	William Byron
34	Todd Gilliland
35	Riley Herbst
38	Zane Smith
41	Cole Custer
42	John Hunter Nemechek
43	Erik Jones
45	Tyler Reddick
47	Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
48	Justin Allgaier
51	Cody Ware
54	Ty Gibbs
60	Ryan Preece
66	Chad Finchum*
71	Michael McDowell
77	Carson Hocevar
88	Connor Zilisch
97	Shane van Gisbergen

Open Cars

The No. 66 of Garage 66 is an open car, piloted by Chad Finchum. The Food City 500 will be Finchum's first start of 2026 and the 3rd start for the Garage 66 team. Their car featured Timmy Hill at Darlington, finishing 37th. Casey Mears drove the No. 66 car at Daytona, qualifying for the race and earning stage points, despite a 32nd-place finish.

Historical Great Performers at Bristol

Kyle Larson during pre-race ceremonies prior to the NASCAR Cup Series Bass Pro Shops Night Race. (Photo by Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images)Photo by Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images

Kyle Larson, No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet

Larson is the far-and-away best driver at Bristol Motor Speedway in the NextGen era. In the 8-race sample, Larson has 3 victories, and he is one of two drivers to average a top-10 finish (Denny Hamlin). He is the clear race favorite.

Denny Hamlin, No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota

Hamlin is the only other driver with multiple wins at Bristol since 2022 and an average finish in the top 10. Bristol and short tracks alike generally make for big names to take the checkered flag, as seen at Martinsville with Chase Elliott fending off Hamlin.

Historical Poor Performers at Bristol

Austin Cindric, No. 2 Team Penske Ford

Bristol is not the forte for Cindric, who has 6 starts here with zero top-10 finishes and an average finish of 23.8. In none of those starts did Cindric wreck out of the race. He is purely below par.

Carson Hocevar, No. 77 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet

The aggressive racing style of Hocevar projects to struggle at Bristol. Racing in tight and around traffic all race long will make it very hard for Hocevar to race like Dale. He has 5 starts at Bristol, and despite earning 1 top-10, he has little chance of winning. His risky racing will outweigh any reward.

This article first appeared on Athlon Sports and was syndicated with permission.

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