{"id":588372,"date":"2026-04-07T16:39:08","date_gmt":"2026-04-07T16:39:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/588372\/"},"modified":"2026-04-07T16:39:08","modified_gmt":"2026-04-07T16:39:08","slug":"how-many-drivers-are-set-to-compete-in-the-food-city-500-at-bristol","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/588372\/","title":{"rendered":"How Many Drivers Are Set To Compete In The Food City 500 At Bristol?"},"content":{"rendered":"

The NASCAR Cup Series heads to the 0.533-mile Bristol Motor Speedway, which is a high-banked concrete oval, for the eighth of 36 races in the 2026 NASCAR Cup season. The Cup Series will be joined this weekend by the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series<\/a> and NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series<\/a>, which were each in action last weekend at Rockingham Speedway.<\/p>\n

As the NASCAR Cup Series is coming off of its first off-weekend of the season, this will represent a good gauge as to which teams were able to make improvements in their time away from the track last weekend, and which ones will likely be fighting things for the remainder of the campaign.<\/p>\n

On Monday evening, NASCAR revealed the preliminary entry list for Sunday’s Food City 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway, and contained on the list are 37 cars, comprised of the 36 Chartered entries, which compete every weekend, and one “open” entry team.<\/p>\n

The lone “open” entry team this weekend will be the No. 66 Garage 66 team, which will field the Brian King Roofing Ford Mustang Dark Horse for Chad Finchum, a Tennessee native.<\/p>\n

Chase Elliott, who won the most recent NASCAR Cup Series event<\/a> at Martinsville Speedway a couple of weeks ago, will carry his anchor partner — NAPA Auto Parts — on his No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet this weekend.<\/p>\n

Elliott, who has only won back-to-back NASCAR Cup Series events once in his career, will look to add a second two-race winning streak to his resume this weekend.<\/p>\n

Kyle Larson, the defending winner of the Food City 500<\/a>, will carry his familiar HendrickCars.com paint scheme on his No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet this weekend. Larson is a three-time race winner in NASCAR Cup Series competition at Bristol Motor Speedway.<\/p>\n

Kyle Busch, who is in the midst of a career-long 100-race losing skid, has the most wins at Bristol Motor Speedway among all active drivers with eight career wins. Busch will compete in Friday’s NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series event, driving the No. 7 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet Silverado, and then will look to snap his Cup Series losing streak in Sunday’s race at one of his best tracks.<\/p>\n

Busch will carry BankOZK sponsorship on his No. 8 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet in Sunday’s race.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tFood City 500 Entry List<\/p>\n

Car
\nDriver
\nTeam
\nSponsor
\nManufacturer<\/p>\n

1
\nRoss Chastain
\nTrackhouse Racing
\nBusch Light Fishing
\nChevrolet<\/p>\n

2
\nAustin Cindric
\nTeam Penske
\nMenards \/ Tarkett
\nFord<\/p>\n

3
\nAustin Dillon
\nRichard Childress Racing
\nBass Pro Shops \/ Winchester Long Beard XR
\nChevrolet<\/p>\n

4
\nNoah Gragson
\nFront Row Motorsports
\nLong John Silver’s
\nFord<\/p>\n

5
\nKyle Larson
\nHendrick Motorsports
\nHendrickCars.com
\nChevrolet<\/p>\n

6
\nBrad Keselowski
\nRFK Racing
\nConsumer Cellular
\nFord<\/p>\n

7
\nDaniel Suarez
\nSpire Motorsports
\nNationsGuard
\nChevrolet<\/p>\n

8
\nKyle Busch
\nRichard Childress Racing
\nBankOZK
\nChevrolet<\/p>\n

9
\nChase Elliott
\nHendrick Motorsports
\nNAPA Auto Parts
\nChevrolet<\/p>\n

10
\nTy Dillon
\nKaulig Racing
\nOhio Logistics
\nChevrolet<\/p>\n

11
\nDenny Hamlin
\nJoe Gibbs Racing
\nNational Debt Relief
\nToyota<\/p>\n

12
\nRyan Blaney
\nTeam Penske
\nDiscount Tire
\nFord<\/p>\n

16
\nAJ Allmendinger
\nKaulig Racing
\nGrizzly Nicotine Pouches
\nChevrolet<\/p>\n

17
\nChris Buescher
\nRFK Racing
\nTrimble
\nFord<\/p>\n

19
\nChase Briscoe
\nJoe Gibbs Racing
\nLance
\nToyota<\/p>\n

20
\nChristopher Bell
\nJoe Gibbs Racing
\nRheem
\nToyota<\/p>\n

21
\nJosh Berry
\nWood Brothers Racing
\nMotorcraft \/ Quick Lane
\nFord<\/p>\n

22
\nJoey Logano
\nTeam Penske
\nShell Pennzoil
\nFord<\/p>\n

23
\nBubba Wallace
\n23XI Racing
\nWWE \/ Chumba Casino
\nToyota<\/p>\n

24
\nWilliam Byron
\nHendrick Motorsports
\nValvoline
\nChevrolet<\/p>\n

34
\nTodd Gilliland
\nFront Row Motorsports
\nLove’s Travel Stops
\nFord<\/p>\n

35
\nRiley Herbst
\n23XI Racing
\nMonster Energy Zero Sugar
\nToyota<\/p>\n

38
\nZane Smith
\nFront Row Motorsports
\nAaron’s Rent to Own
\nFord<\/p>\n

41
\nCole Custer
\nHaas Factory Team
\nTBA
\nChevrolet<\/p>\n

42
\nJohn Hunter Nemechek
\nLEGACY MOTOR CLUB
\nDollar Tree
\nToyota<\/p>\n

43
\nErik Jones
\nLEGACY MOTOR CLUB
\nAdventHealth
\nToyota<\/p>\n

45
\nTyler Reddick
\n23XI Racing
\nComparion Insurance
\nToyota<\/p>\n

47
\nRicky Stenhouse Jr.
\nHyak Motorsports
\nNOS Energy Drink
\nChevrolet<\/p>\n

48
\nJustin Allgaier
\nHendrick Motorsports
\nAlly
\nChevrolet<\/p>\n

51
\nCody Ware
\nRick Ware Racing
\nTBA
\nChevrolet<\/p>\n

54
\nTy Gibbs
\nJoe Gibbs Racing
\nMonster Energy
\nToyota<\/p>\n

60
\nRyan Preece
\nRFK Racing
\nKroger \/ Muscle Milk
\nFord<\/p>\n

66
\nChad Finchum
\nGarage 66
\nBrian King Roofing
\nFord<\/p>\n

71
\nMichael McDowell
\nSpire Motorsports
\nDelaware Life
\nChevrolet<\/p>\n

77
\nCarson Hocevar
\nSpire Motorsports
\nSpectrum
\nChevrolet<\/p>\n

88
\nConnor Zilisch
\nTrackhouse Racing
\nRoto-Rooter
\nChevrolet<\/p>\n

97
\nShane van Gisbergen
\nTrackhouse Racing
\nWeatherTech
\nChevrolet<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The NASCAR Cup Series heads to the 0.533-mile Bristol Motor Speedway, which is a high-banked concrete oval, for…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":588373,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[446],"tags":[49,48,634,82],"class_list":{"0":"post-588372","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nascar","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-nascar","11":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/588372","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=588372"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/588372\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/588373"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=588372"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=588372"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=588372"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}