The NASCAR Cup Series heads to Talladega Superspeedway for the 2026 Jack Link’s 500 on Sunday with Brad Keselowski being a six-time winner at this track. However, the veteran is one of 11 drivers who have won the last 11 NASCAR Talladega races, so there’s no clear lean when it comes to making Jack Link’s 500 2026 picks. Tyler Reddick is one of those 11, and the 23XI Racing member collected his fifth win of the season just a week ago. He’ll start in the pole position for the fifth time this year, and Reddick claimed the checkered flag in the previous four instances. Austin Cindric and Chase Briscoe prevailed at this track last year and could factor into 2026 NASCAR Talladega props.
The green flag will drop at 3 p.m. ET for the 188-lap race. Joey Logano has three Talladega wins, and even though none have come since 2018, he’s still the +1000 co-favorite in the latest 2026 Jack Link’s 500 odds alongside Ryan Blaney. Reddick is next on the NASCAR odds board at +1200, while Briscoe (+1900) is seeking his third top 5 in as many starts. Before locking in any NASCAR Talladega predictions or NASCAR DFS lineups, you need to see the projected leaderboard from Mike McClure’s proven model.
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McClure is a legendary professional DFS player with more than $2 million in career winnings. He uses a powerful prediction model that simulates every lap of NASCAR action 10,000 times. All told, the model has nailed a whopping 29 winners since 2021 and hit 11 winners in 2025. Anyone following his NASCAR betting picks at their favorite sportsbooks could have seen huge returns.
Now, McClure has turned his attention to the NASCAR Jack Link’s 500. He’s only sharing his best bets at SportsLine.
2026 NASCAR at Talladega predictions
For NASCAR at Talladega 2026, McClure is fading Austin Cindric (+1600), saying he doesn’t even crack the top 10 despite being one of the favorites and the defending race winner. That victory, however, looks like an outlier compared to Cindric’s other recent Talladega races. Outside of that start, Cindric has no other top 20s over his last three trips to Talladega. In October 2025, he led for multiple laps but finished 34th, and the prior year, Bell led for 29 laps but placed 32nd. Also, Cindric’s support system with Team Penske should caution anyone looking to place NASCAR bets on the driver. That’s because since the start of 2024, Penske’s average finish of 26.3 at Talladega is its third-worst across the 27 Cup Series tracks.
Another surprise: Christopher Bell (+2000) is projected to make a strong run towards the title. Bell has three top 5 finishes on the season and is as consistent as they come as he’s finished in the top 5 of the Cup Series standings in each of the past four seasons. Bell has top-8 finishes in two of his last three trips to Talladega, and if you take away crashes that derailed his chances of winning, Bell has top 15s in four straight NASCAR Talladega races. He also has the backing of a team with the proven chops to win at this track as Joe Gibbs Racing propelled Chase Briscoe to a victory in the Cup Series’ last visit to Talladega in October. See which other drivers the model is backing at SportsLine.
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How to make 2026 Jack Link’s 500 picks
McClure is also high on three other longshots of at least +2000 who make a run for the top of the leaderboard, including a longshot of at least +3000, potentially netting any backer a huge payday. You can only see who it is here.
So who wins the 2026 Jack Link’s 500, and which massive longshots could stun NASCAR at Talladega? Visit SportsLine now to see the 2026 NASCAR Jack Link’s 500 picks and best bets from a NASCAR model that nailed 11 winners last year, and find out.
2026 NASCAR at Talladega odds, lineup
See full NASCAR Jack Link’s 500 picks at SportsLine
(Odds from FanDuel, subject to change)
Joey Logano +1000
Ryan Blaney +1000
Tyler Reddick +1200
William Byron +1500
Kyle Larson +1500
Chase Elliott +1500
Brad Keselowski +1600
Austin Cindric +1600
Bubba Wallace +1600
Denny Hamlin +1700
Carson Hocevar +1800
Chase Briscoe +1900
Christopher Bell +2000
Chris Buescher +2000
Kyle Busch +2200
Ty Gibbs +2200
Ross Chastain +2700
Ricky Stenhouse Jr. +3000
Ryan Preece +3000
Alex Bowman +3500
Michael McDowell +4000
Josh Berry +4000
Noah Gragson +4500
Todd Gilliland +5000
Daniel Suarez +5000
Erik Jones +5000
Austin Dillon +5500
Connor Zilisch +5500
Zane Smith +6000
Shane van Gisbergen +6500
Ty Dillon +6500
Cole Custer +6500
Riley Herbst +6500
John Hunter Nemechek +6500
AJ Allmendinger +7500
Jesse Love +7500
Cody Ware +10000
Casey Mears +25000
Joey Gase +50000
Chad Finchum +50000
Daniel Dye +50000
