Inclement weather delays start of Cracker Barrel 400 in NASCAR Cup Series at Nashville

Inclement weather in the Nashville area has delayed the start of the Cracker Barrel 400 in the NASCAR Cup Series. The race was slated to go to green flag at 7:20 p.m. ET.

That will obviously be on hold now as a few weather cells move through the area. The race marks the start of the second half of the season, following a fun race at Charlotte a week ago — albeit one that was cut short due to weather.

UPDATE: NASCAR is aiming for an 8:25 p.m. ET start time after the track is dried, according to The Athletic’s Jordan Bianchi.

Fans and drivers alike will be hoping to avoid the same fate for the Cracker Barrel 400 following the delay. But it could be dicey, as late spring thunderstorms have plagued the south for much of the weekend, impacting several NCAA Tournament baseball games, among other sporting events.

In any case, Denny Hamlin will be starting on the pole for the NASCAR Cup Series race on Sunday night. He will be joined on the front row by Tyler Reddick.

Qualifying for the Cracker Barrel 400 was rained out on Saturday, with weather hitting the track about 30 minutes before qualifying runs were scheduled to take place. Qualifying was supposed to be a single-car, single-lap qualifying format, meaning each driver would have had a chance to throw down the fastest lap, with the ensuing results determining the starting order.

Instead, Hamlin will take the pole alongside Reddick. Daniel Suarez and Christopher Bell will fill out the second row, while Kyle Larson and Ty Gibbs will be on the third row.

Cracker Barrel 400 kicks off second half

There are 13 regular-season races already in the books at the NASCAR Cup Series level. 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.