RACE REPORT: Nashville – Jeffrey Earnhardt / No. 26 ForeverLawn Toyota GR Supra

Image by Daylon Barr Photography

Jeffrey Earnhardt made his track debut at Nashville Superspeedway on Saturday in the No. 26 ForeverLawn Toyota GR Supra, bringing home a 7th-place finish in the Tennessee Lottery 250.

Earnhardt qualified 11th out of 38 cars, tying Sam Hunt Racing’s third-highest qualifying effort to date.

Nemechek qualified 11th at Phoenix earlier this year.

Out of 60 NASCAR Xfinity Series starts, Earnhardt’s 7th-place finish is the Sam Hunt Racing’s fifth Top-10 in team history

.The No. 26 ForeverLawn Toyota GR Supra battled loose handling conditions getting into Turn 3 for the majority of the event, while also working against tight conditions from center to exit

.Earnhardt went for a spin after getting loose under the No. 2 of Sheldon Creed during the final stage, but had no damage to the No. 26 ForeverLawn machine. 

Earnhardt restarted 20th after that caution and improved 13 positions in 66 laps.

In the final laps of the race, Earnhardt was one of the top-five cars on speed. 

Stage One Recap
Earnhardt started 11th in the Tennessee Lottery 250 on Saturday at Nashville Superspeedway, starting on the inside.
The first stage went caution-free. 
Earnhardt reported that the No. 26 ForeverLawn Toyota GR Supra was handling free in Turn 3 from the drop of the green flag, but as the run continued, the car began to get tight from center to exit.
Earnhardt completed Stage One in the 15th position.
During the stage break, Earnhardt pitted for four tires, fuel, and track bar and wedge adjustments.

Stage Two Recap
Earnhardt restarted Stage Two in the 10th position after gaining five positions on pit road.
Stage Two also went caution-free.
The tight handling conditions continued during this stage.
Ending the stage in the 12th position, Earnhardt brought the ForeverLawn machine down pit road for four more fresh tires, fuel, and another track bar adjustment.

Final Stage Recap
Earnhardt restarted 13th for the final stage. 
On Lap 104, the caution flew for an incident ahead of Earnhardt.
Earnhardt restarted 11th once the green flag waved on Lap 109.
On lap 116, Earnhardt got loose under the No. 2 and spun with no damage.
Earnhardt was able to maintain the lead lap, but was forced to pit for four tires. Additional handling adjustments were made during this stop.
Earnhardt restarted 20th with 66 laps remaining, and he rallied back to a 7th-place finishing position.

Tell us about your weekend from start to finish.


“Solid weekend for our Sam Hunt Racing #26 Toyota GR Supra. We ran pretty decent in practice…made a lot of changes that we felt were in the right direction. I felt like we made some speed and that we made the right changes that we needed to to be good for the race and qualifying. I felt good about everything. We made a couple of more adjustments, went out for qualifying and was a little bit free, but we still put together a decent qualifying run. We started 11th in the race. We kept adjusting on it all day long and got a little too far out of the box, but Allen [Hart] and all of the guys dialed it back in and got it pretty solid right there. I think we just needed a little more speed to be a race-winning car. I’m really happy for all the guys at Sam Hunt Racing who put together a solid weekend like this. It was really great to have all of the ForeverLawn people come out — they had 70-something people here. It’s awesome to see their support for this program and what we’re doing on the racing side of things. All in all, a good weekend. We’ll take the momentum from this, build on it and go get them in Atlanta.”




— Jeffrey Earnhardt, Driver of the No. 26 ForeverLawn Toyota GR Supra

Sam Hunt Racing PR
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