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. 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 Dega wins, and even though none have come since 2018, he’s still the +900 favorite in the just in 2026 Jack Link’s 500 odds. Ryan Blaney is at +1000, with both Cindric and Bubba Wallace priced at +1200 per the NASCAR odds. Keselowski comes in at +1400, while Reddick is a +1800 longshot. Before setting NASCAR DFS lineups, making Jack Link’s 500 DFS picks or locking in NASCAR Talladega predictions, you need to see the projected leaderboard from Mike McClure’s proven model.
Visit our DraftKings promo code review to see their just in offers and get started.
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 (+1200), 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.
Visit our Kalshi promo code review to see their just in offers and get started.
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 +900
Ryan Blaney +1000
Austin Cindric +1200
Bubba Wallace +1200
Brad Keselowski +1400
William Byron +1400
Chase Elliott +1400
Tyler Reddick +1800
Chase Briscoe +1900
Kyle Larson +2000
Christopher Bell +2000
Kyle Busch +2200
Denny Hamlin +2200
Chris Buescher +2200
Ty Gibbs +2200
Carson Hocevar +2500
Ricky Stenhouse Jr. +3000
Alex Bowman +3000
Ryan Preece +3000
Ross Chastain +3000
Todd Gilliland +3300
Josh Berry +3300
Zane Smith +3300
Michael McDowell +4000
Noah Gragson +4500
Erik Jones +4500
Daniel Suarez +5000
Austin Dillon +5500
Connor Zilisch +5500
Shane van Gisbergen +6500
Ty Dillon +6500
Cole Custer +6500
Riley Herbst +6500
John Hunter Nemechek +6500
Jesse Love +7500
AJ Allmendinger +7500
Cody Ware +10000
Casey Mears +25000
Joey Gase +50000
Chad Finchum +50000
Daniel Dye +50000
