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Denny Hamlin penalized for jumping start in Cracker Barrel 400 in NASCAR Cup Series at Nashville

FaceProfileby: Thomas Goldkamp06/01/26

Denny Hamlin got a great start to the Cracker Barrel 400 while sitting on the pole… seemingly. But after the first lap, NASCAR ruled that he would face a penalty for jumping the start.

Hamlin led by nearly a half-second when he crossed the start/finish line, per Dustin Albino. That’s because he was early on the start, which was penalized by NASCAR.

“Penalty here,” Hamlin’s team told him, per Matt Weaver. Meanwhile, Tyler Reddick, who started next to Hamlin on the front row, took full advantage.

“He got a start violation,” Reddick’s team informed him. “You’ll be the leader here.”

Denny Hamlin quickly headed to pit road to serve his penalty. The pass-through penalty will put him back at the rear of the field, completely negating the advantage he had by starting off on the pole.

All that after a lot of time to think about the start, too. The race was delayed by a little more than an hour after rain fell at Nashville Superspeedway in the 7 o’clock Eastern hour.

Cracker Barrel 400 kicks off second half

There are 13 regular-season races already in the books at the NASCAR Cup Series level, marking the halfway point. Daniel Suarez is the most recent winner, capturing a rain-shortened Coca-Cola 600 win last week.

The standings are beginning to take pretty clear shape, too. Five drivers have more than 400 points at this stage.

Leader Tyler Reddick has a commanding lead with his five race wins this season. He’s sitting on 620 points going into tonight’s Cracker Barrel 400 at Nashville.

Meanwhile, Denny Hamlin trails in second with 498 points, Ryan Blaney is in third with 446 points, Ty Gibbs in fourth with 425 points and Chase Elliott in fifth with 423 points. But it’s what’s happening around the current playoff cut line that might be more interesting.

Bubba Wallace sits 40 points above the playoff cut line, Shane van Gisbergen 28 points above, Chase Briscoe 16 points above and Ryan Preece 15 points above. Right now, Austin Cindric trails the cut line by 15 points, Joey Logano by 29, AJ Allmendinger by 49 and Michael McDowell by 55.