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2026 Goodyear 400

The 2026 Goodyear 400 was a NASCAR Cup Series race held on March 22, 2026, at Darlington Raceway in Darlington, South Carolina. Contested over 293 laps on the egg-shaped oval, it was the sixth race of the 2026 NASCAR Cup Series season.

Tyler Reddick won the race. Brad Keselowski finished 2nd, and Ryan Blaney finished 3rd. Carson Hocevar and Austin Cindric rounded out the top five, and Ty Gibbs, Daniel Suárez, William Byron, Chris Buescher, and Erik Jones rounded out the top ten.

Report

Background

Darlington Raceway is a race track built for NASCAR racing located near Darlington, South Carolina. It is nicknamed "The Lady in Black" and "The Track Too Tough to Tame" by many NASCAR fans and drivers and advertised as "A NASCAR Tradition." It is of a unique, somewhat egg-shaped design, an oval with the ends of very different configurations, a condition which supposedly arose from the proximity of one end of the track to a minnow pond the owner refused to relocate. This situation makes it very challenging for the crews to set up their cars' handling in a way that is effective at both ends.

Since 2015, the weekend has featured a retro-themed weekend. From 2015 until 2023, the race has hosted NASCAR's Throwback weekend, which featured cars sporting paint schemes that pay homage to past teams and drivers. In 2024, NASCAR changed the theme of the retro weekend to Alumni Weekend, featuring drivers, crew chiefs, and other personalities of the sport's past. The events feature the Legends Parade on Saturday morning, featuring cars, drivers, and other personalities from the sport's past. The 2026 Alumni Weekend will feature Kurt Busch and Harry Gant (2026 NASCAR Hall of Fame inductees) as the grand marshal, Mark Martin driving the safety car at the start of the race, and Dave Marcis presenting the winner's trophy.

During the offseason, NASCAR announced that Darlington would now get the short track package, as opposed to running the intermediate package from previous years.

Entry list

  • (R) denotes rookie driver.
  • (i) denotes driver who is ineligible for series driver points.

Alex Bowman, the original driver of the No. 48, was sidelined for the race due to vertigo sustained at Austin.

Practice

Erik Jones & Riley Herbst were the fastest in the practice session, each with a time of 29.925 seconds and a speed of .

Practice results

Qualifying

Tyler Reddick scored the pole for the race with a time of 29.072 and a speed of .

Qualifying results

Race

Race results

Stage results

Stage One Laps: 90

Stage Two Laps: 95

Final Stage results

Stage Three Laps: 108

Race statistics

  • Lead changes: 16 among 8 different drivers
  • Cautions/Laps: 4 for 26
  • Red flags: 0
  • Time of race: 3 hours, 4 minutes, and 56 seconds
  • Average speed:

Media

Television

The race was carried by FS1 in the United States. Mike Joy, Clint Bowyer, and Kevin Harvick called the race from the broadcast booth. Jamie Little, Regan Smith, and Josh Sims handled the pit road for the television side. Larry McReynolds provided insight on-site during the race.

Radio

MRN had the radio call for the race, which was also simulcast on Sirius XM NASCAR Radio.

Standings after the race

Drivers' Championship standings
Manufacturers' Championship standings
  • <small>Note: Only the first 16 positions are included for the driver standings.</small>

References