How Many Drivers Are Set To Compete In The Food City 500 At Bristol?

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 and NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, which were each in action last weekend at Rockingham Speedway.

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.

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.

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.

Chase Elliott, who won the most recent NASCAR Cup Series event 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.

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.

Kyle Larson, the defending winner of the Food City 500, 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.

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.

Busch will carry BankOZK sponsorship on his No. 8 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet in Sunday's race.

Food City 500 Entry List

Car	Driver	Team	Sponsor	Manufacturer
1	Ross Chastain	Trackhouse Racing	Busch Light Fishing	Chevrolet
2	Austin Cindric	Team Penske	Menards / Tarkett	Ford
3	Austin Dillon	Richard Childress Racing	Bass Pro Shops / Winchester Long Beard XR	Chevrolet
4	Noah Gragson	Front Row Motorsports	Long John Silver's	Ford
5	Kyle Larson	Hendrick Motorsports	HendrickCars.com	Chevrolet
6	Brad Keselowski	RFK Racing	Consumer Cellular	Ford
7	Daniel Suarez	Spire Motorsports	NationsGuard	Chevrolet
8	Kyle Busch	Richard Childress Racing	BankOZK	Chevrolet
9	Chase Elliott	Hendrick Motorsports	NAPA Auto Parts	Chevrolet
10	Ty Dillon	Kaulig Racing	Ohio Logistics	Chevrolet
11	Denny Hamlin	Joe Gibbs Racing	National Debt Relief	Toyota
12	Ryan Blaney	Team Penske	Discount Tire	Ford
16	AJ Allmendinger	Kaulig Racing	Grizzly Nicotine Pouches	Chevrolet
17	Chris Buescher	RFK Racing	Trimble	Ford
19	Chase Briscoe	Joe Gibbs Racing	Lance	Toyota
20	Christopher Bell	Joe Gibbs Racing	Rheem	Toyota
21	Josh Berry	Wood Brothers Racing	Motorcraft / Quick Lane	Ford
22	Joey Logano	Team Penske	Shell Pennzoil	Ford
23	Bubba Wallace	23XI Racing	WWE / Chumba Casino	Toyota
24	William Byron	Hendrick Motorsports	Valvoline	Chevrolet
34	Todd Gilliland	Front Row Motorsports	Love's Travel Stops	Ford
35	Riley Herbst	23XI Racing	Monster Energy Zero Sugar	Toyota
38	Zane Smith	Front Row Motorsports	Aaron's Rent to Own	Ford
41	Cole Custer	Haas Factory Team	TBA	Chevrolet
42	John Hunter Nemechek	LEGACY MOTOR CLUB	Dollar Tree	Toyota
43	Erik Jones	LEGACY MOTOR CLUB	AdventHealth	Toyota
45	Tyler Reddick	23XI Racing	Comparion Insurance	Toyota
47	Ricky Stenhouse Jr.	Hyak Motorsports	NOS Energy Drink	Chevrolet
48	Justin Allgaier	Hendrick Motorsports	Ally	Chevrolet
51	Cody Ware	Rick Ware Racing	TBA	Chevrolet
54	Ty Gibbs	Joe Gibbs Racing	Monster Energy	Toyota
60	Ryan Preece	RFK Racing	Kroger / Muscle Milk	Ford
66	Chad Finchum	Garage 66	Brian King Roofing	Ford
71	Michael McDowell	Spire Motorsports	Delaware Life	Chevrolet
77	Carson Hocevar	Spire Motorsports	Spectrum	Chevrolet
88	Connor Zilisch	Trackhouse Racing	Roto-Rooter	Chevrolet
97	Shane van Gisbergen	Trackhouse Racing	WeatherTech	Chevrolet