Three big questions ahead of the Cracker Barrel 400 at Nashville

The NASCAR Cup Series enters the second half of its regular-season schedule in Sunday's Cracker Barrel 400 at Nashville Superspeedway (7 p.m. ET, Prime Video, HBO Max, PRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

Here are three big questions ahead of the 14th race of the season.

Can Toyota carry dominance into first Nashville win?

The Coca-Cola 600 appeared to be going Toyota's way until a two-tire call and a pair of excellent restarts helped Daniel Suarez put his Spire Motorsports Chevrolet in Victory Lane in a rain-shortened finish.

Until he got the lead, it was a night dominated by Toyota with Tyler Reddick (119), Denny Hamlin (75) and Christopher Bell (44) leading the majority of the laps. In fact, four of the top-six finishers were Toyota drivers, only with nothing to show for the speed in the end.

All signs point to that speed continuing in the "Music City" if previous concrete tracks are any indication after Ty Gibbs picked up his first career win at Bristol and Hamlin was victorious in the All-Star Race at Dover.

While Toyota is still in search of its first Cup Series win at Nashville, it has been competitive there despite coming away empty-handed each time for one reason or another. Judging by the manufacturer's performance so far this season, a Nashville win may finally be in the cards on Sunday night.

Will there be another different winner at Nashville?

There have been five Cup Series races at the 1.33-mile speedway in Lebanon, Tennessee, and each of them have produced a different winner.

Kyle Larson (2021) and Chase Elliott (2022) won the first two Cup races at Nashville, so it is entirely possible that Larson's winless streak ends on Sunday and Elliott adds a third 2026 win. Ross Chastain (2023), Joey Logano (2024) and Ryan Blaney (2025) are also previous winners there, though Chastain and Logano are still looking to get more consistent results this season.

You also cannot sleep on Carson Hocevar, who nearly won this race last season, and all of Joe Gibbs Racing and Toyota, which are long overdue for a breakthrough in Nashville. 

Who can start making up ground in Chase standings?

As the second half of the regular season gets set to commence, a lot more focus will turn to the Chase picture as drivers try to qualify for the 16-driver field that will be set following the race at Daytona International Speedway on Aug. 29.

While Suarez (10th) and Shane van Gisbergen (14th) have impressed up to this point, three-time champion Logano (18th) and Chastain (23rd) have disappointed. Meanwhile, 2025 Las Vegas winner Josh Berry (31st) and rookie Connor Zilisch (34th) have underwhelmed, while Alex Bowman is mired in 33rd after missing four races due to vertigo symptoms.

Their 2026 results do not immediately point to an immediate turnaround, but Logano was eighth at Charlotte and Chastain's Trackhouse Racing teammate van Gisbergen ran among the front-runners before finishing 11th, so there is at least some reason for optimism.