Live updates: Denny Hamlin wins historic NASCAR Cup Series race at Bristol

Denny Hamlin is a winner at Bristol again.

A spring race at Bristol that wasn’t on dirt, nor was it run under the lights. Just 500 laps around the high-banked short track.

Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series race shattered the record for most lead changes at a track of one mile or less — 54 by the time Hamlin passed second-place finisher Martin Truex Jr. for the final time. There were nine cautions — but the race stayed green toward the end, forcing drivers to make green-flag pit stops during the final stage.

Following Hamlin and Truex, Brad Keselowski finished third, Alex Bowman fourth and Kyle Larson fifth. Ty Gibbs swept both stages, the first stage wins of his career.

Here’s a look at the race’s biggest moments as they unfolded:

Lap 500: Denny Hamlin wins at Bristol! What a race!

Lap 497: Truex is within two car lengths of Hamlin!

Lap 490: Denny Hamlin back in the lead. Front of the field is battling other traffic as well.

Lap 484: Martin Truex Jr. passes Denny Hamlin for the lead!

Lap 480: Your Top 10: Denny Hamlin, Martin Truex Jr., Brad Keselowski, Josh Berry, Kyle Larson, Chris Buescher, John Hunter Nemechek, Christopher Bell, Justin Haley and Alex Bowman.

Lap 460: What a race we’ve got here. Under 50 laps to go, and everyone is pitting under green.

Lap 447: Denny Hamlin pits.

Lap 444: Drivers have been individually heading down pit road, including Christopher Bell and Ty Gibbs.

Lap 431: At 65 laps, this is the longest green flag run we’ve had today. Denny Hamlin has moved back into the race lead, followed by Martin Truex Jr., Brad Keselowski, Alex Bowman and Ty Gibbs. Hamlin, Truex and Keselowski are the oldest drivers in the Cup Series.

Lap 420: Your Top 10: Gibbs, Bell, Hamlin, Truex, Brad Keselowski, Justin Haley, Michael McDowell, Erik Jones, John Hunter Nemechek and Alex Bowman.

Lap 398: And for the ninth time today, Ty Gibbs is in the lead! Those four Toyota drivers — Gibbs, Bell, Hamlin and Truex — continue pacing the field.

Lap 379: Denny Hamlin and Christopher Bell lead the field to green! Ty Gibbs is third, and Martin Truex Jr. runs fourth.

Lap 368: Caution! Ricky Stenhouse spins on Turn 4!

Lap 366: Denny Hamlin passed Ty Gibbs for the race lead. Gibbs, who won both stages, has set a new personal record with 103 laps led.

Lap 363: No caution, but Daniel Hemric just hit the wall. Noah Gragson heads down pit road as well.

Lap 332: We’re up to 41 lead changes. That sets the record for the most ever recorded at a track of 1.00 miles or fewer in NASCAR history (1,385 races).

Lap 322: Green again! Ty Gibbs, Denny Hamlin, Christopher Bell and Martin Truex Jr. fly out toward the front. Gibbs emerges as the leader.

Lap 320: With 40 lead changes, that ties the record for most lead changes in a short-track race.

Lap 310: Caution No. 8! Trouble for Josh Berry!

Berry, who started on the front row, was running eighth and spun around Turn 2.

Lap 287: Martin Truex Jr. passes Ty Gibbs for the race lead.

Lap 280: With 220 laps to go and no more stage breaks, your current Top 10: Gibbs, Martin Truex Jr., Christopher Bell, John Hunter Nemechek, Todd Gilliland, Kyle Larson, Denny Hamlin, Brad Keselowski, Ross Chastain and Josh Berry.

Lap 265: Green for the Final Stage! Ty Gibbs maintains his lead.

Lap 255: Halfway through this race, we’ve had 36 lead changes and 14 different leaders. Again, every team is receiving an extra set of Goodyear tires.

Lap 252: Your points-getters following an eventful Stage 2: Gibbs, Brad Keselowski, Joey Logano, John Hunter Nemechek, Christopher Bell, Martin Truex Jr., Denny Hamlin, Kyle Larson, Bubba Wallace and Ryan Preece.

Stage 2

Lap 250: Ty Gibbs went from the rear to the lead to claim the second stage win of his career — also his second in the last hour or so. Make that back-to-back stage wins for the series’ reigning Rookie of the Year.

Lap 244: Joey Logano passes Christopher Bell, battling for the lead! Logano opens up a lead of about three car lengths.

Lap 239: Green again, 11 to go in Stage 2!

Lap 235: Ryan Blaney to the rear for speeding on pit road. Will likely go back to green with about 10 laps left in the stage.

Lap 227: Kyle Busch spins on Turn 2, running 31st. Caution out with 20 laps left.

Lap 214: Each team will receive one additional set of Goodyear tires, NASCAR says.

Lap 209: Christopher Bell runs in the race lead, followed by fellow Toyota drivers Martin Truex Jr. and John Hunter Nemechek.

Lap 188: Green again! Chris Buescher, Christopher Bell, Martin Truex Jr., Todd Gilliland lead.

Lap 186: Ty Gibbs with some trouble on pit road. The Stage 1 winner has a tire go rolling away from his team, and a crew member reached over the wall to grab it. Gibbs was dropped to the rear with equipment interference.

Lap 175: Caution! Ricky Stenhouse Jr. makes contact and slides into Daniel Hemric farther back in the field.

Lap 174: Ty Gibbs has been running fast since the stage break and leads the field.

Lap 160: Denny Hamlin leads this thing again! Kyle Larson, who’d passed Ty Gibbs for the lead, is side-by-side with Hamlin. Christopher Bell and Ty Gibbs are pushing behind them.

Lap 148: Make that 20 lead changes in this wild race at Bristol. Martin Truex Jr. passed Ty Gibbs for the lead.

Lap 140: Green for Stage 2! Ty Gibbs leads.

Lap 130: Sixteen — 16! — lead changes in Stage 1.

Your points-getters after a wild opening stage: Gibbs, Kyle Larson, Chris Buescher, Brad Keselowski, John Hunter Nemechek, Ryan Blaney, Martin Truex Jr., Ryan Preece, Josh Berry and Christopher Bell.

Stage 1

Lap 124: Kyle Busch spins! And with a caution during the final lap of Stage 1, Ty Gibbs has the first stage win of his career!

Lap 120: Ty Gibbs surges into the lead! Kyle Larson moves into second.

Lap 112: Been a great stretch of green-flag racing as Stage 1 nears its finish. The field is becoming more separated around the half-mile oval, with Denny Hamlin, Ryan Blaney, Christopher Bell and Kyle Busch leading.

Lap 87: Ryan Blaney and Denny Hamlin are battling for the race lead, with Kyle Busch surging toward them.

Lap 82: A milestone: When Chase Elliott led during Lap 62, that marked 80,000 laps led by Hendrick Motorsports in the Cup Series, extending their record.

Lap 79: Back under green! Denny Hamlin leads, followed by Ryan Blaney, Chase Elliottt and Kyle Busch.

Lap 70: Caution is out, the third of the day. Zane Smith appears to have damage to the right side of his car after blowing a tire on the front straightaway, along with Noah Gragson, whose tires are worn. Kyle Busch had taken the lead from Blaney just before.

Lap 65: Ryan Blaney moved back into the lead, marking the 10th lead change already.

Lap 54: Bubba Wallace is passed by Denny Hamlin for the race lead. Ryan Blaney, Chase Elliott and Wallace are not far behind.

Lap 38: Back to green! Josh Berry led the field back to green. Bubba Wallace passes him for the lead. Michael McDowell running third.

Lap 37: Still under caution. At five laps down, William Byron will get the free pass. Josh Berry and Bubba Wallace will lead the field to the restart.

Lap 30: Tyler Reddick, the one driver who didn’t pit under the first caution (from William Byron), led the field back to green and slid coming around Turn 4. Bubba Wallace, Josh Berry and Joey Logano are among those who remain under the damaged vehicle policy.

Lap 29: Green again!

Lap 26: Every driver pits under caution — except Tyler Reddick.

Lap 23: William Byron says his toe links broke as he heads down pit road.

Lap 22: Caution is out for debris.

Lap 20: William Byron hits the wall! No caution immediately. Meanwhile, Denny Hamlin had been running third and surged past Josh Berry for the race lead.

Lap 11: Josh Berry, who started on the front row for the first time, passed pole-sitter Ryan Blaney early. Berry and Blaney are pacing the field by more than two seconds.

Green flag, 3:49 p.m.: Boogity, boogity, boogity, let’s go racing!

3:41 p.m.: Cars are rolling onto the track! Racin’ soon!

3:39 p.m.: “Gentlemen, start your engines.” Richard Petty, Kyle Petty, Richard Childress and Joe Gibbs get us started at Bristol! Engines are fired.

2:55 p.m.: Some timing info for today’s race, from NASCAR: Driver introductions begin at 3 p.m. The invocation will be at 3:30, and the national anthem at 3:31.

Then at 3:38 p.m., NASCAR legends Richard Petty, Kyle Petty, Richard Childress and Joe Gibbs will deliver the most famous words in motorsports. Longtime Performance Racing Network lead anchor and president Doug Rice will wave the field to green at 3:47 p.m.

2 p.m.: Happy Race Day! The NASCAR Cup Series returns to Bristol Motor Speedway’s half-mile concrete track for the fifth race of the 2024 season.

Ryan Blaney won his first pole since April 2022 at Richmond. The defending series champion starts on the front row alongside Josh Berry, who secured the best starting position in his Cup Series career (excluding the All-Star Open race he won after starting second last year at North Wilkesboro).

It’s the 10th pole of Blaney’s career and his first in 15 starts at Bristol. While still winless, Blaney has finished in the Top Five in three of this season’s four races thus far.

He leads the Cup Series standings and will start today’s race from the pole, but it’s been nearly a year since a pole-sitter took the checkered flag in a Cup race (Ross Chastain at Nashville last June).

Who’s the favorite to win the Food City 500?

Blaney has emerged as the favorite following his pole win and strong start to the season, at +450 odds on DraftKings and FanDuel Sportsbooks. Kyle Larson (+550 on DraftKings, +500 on FanDuel) and Denny Hamlin are right behind him, with Hamlin tied with Blaney at +450 odds to win the race on FanDuel. Christopher Bell, Kyle Busch and Chase Elliott have the next-best odds on both sports books.

Shane Connuck is picking Kyle Busch to win Sunday’s race. Busch boasts eight career victories at Bristol, but hasn’t won there since 2019 in a Toyota. The No. 8 Richard Childress Racing Chevy has been fast this year, but his third-place finish after coming within a split-second of victory at Atlanta is the only Top 10 he has to show for it. Back on the concrete for a daytime spring race, why can’t Rowdy get it done at Bristol for a ninth time?

How to watch the NASCAR race at Bristol

Race: Food City 500

Place: Bristol Motor Speedway

Date: Today

Time: 3:30 p.m. ET (Green flag at 3:47 p.m.)

Purse: $8,182,531

TV: FOX, 3 p.m. ET

Streaming: Fox Sports

Radio: PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio

Distance: 266.5 miles (500 laps)

Stages: Stage 1 ends on Lap 125; Stage 2 ends on Lap 250; and the Final Stage ends on Lap 500

Starting lineup for the Food City 500