Mike McClure's computer model reveals its surprising picks and NASCAR Martinsville props for the Cook Out 400 2026 on Sunday
By Ross Kelly Mar 28, 2026 at 7:06 am ET • 3 min read 
Imagn Images The Cup Series heads to Martinsville Speedway on Sunday for its first short track race of the season, as the 2026 Cook Out 400 takes place at 3:30 p.m. ET. NASCAR Martinsville picks and Cook Out 400 DFS lineups will likely gravitate towards drivers from three teams in Hendrick Motorsports, Joe Gibbs Racing and Team Penske. That's because they're drivers have combined to win the last 15 NASCAR at Martinsville races, however, no one has done more winning than Tyler Reddick this season.
Another checkered flag last week means Reddick, of 23XI Racing, has four victories across six starts. That makes him a coveted part of a NASCAR DFS strategy, but he's just ninth on the 2026 Cook Out 400 odds board at +1500. All eight drivers above him race for one of the three aforementioned teams, with the favorites to utilize in 2026 NASCAR Martinsville bets being Ryan Blaney (+450), William Byron (+550), Denny Hamlin (+600) and Kyle Larson (+650). Before setting NASCAR DFS lineups, making Cook Out 400 picks or locking in NASCAR Martinsville predictions, you need to see the projected leaderboard from Mike McClure's proven model.
New users can claim a special offer by signing up for DraftKings Sportsbook. Visit our DraftKings promo code review right now to see their latest 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 Cook Out 400. He's only sharing his best bets at SportsLine.
2026 NASCAR at Martinsville predictions
For NASCAR at Martinsville 2026, McClure is fading Ryan Blaney (+450), saying he barely cracks the top 5 despite being the favorite. Blaney's had resounding success at the track recently, but most of his highlights came at the fall Martinsville race, which is 500 laps rather than this spring 400-lap one. Over his last four fall Martinsville races, he's won twice and finished in the top 3 all four times. However, at the spring event, he has zero top 3s over his last five starts. He's never led at any point over his last three Cook Out 400 races, so there are just too many red flags to back Blaney as the favorite.
Another surprise: Tyler Reddick (+1500) is projected to make a strong run towards the title. Outside of winning four of six races this season, Reddick is coming off back-to-back top 15s at Martinsville for the first time in his career. Reddick sits atop the Cup Series standings, while his teammate, Bubba Wallace, is third in the standings as 23XI Racing has clearly been the best NASCAR team early in the season.
Reddick has led for multiple laps in two of his last three short track races, including the last time he stepped onto Martinsville Speedway in Oct. 2025. While he's yet to win at Martinsville, the same could have been said about Daytona, Atlanta and Darlington, and Reddick proceeded to prevail at all three of those stops this year. Given his start to the season and discernible progression at Martinsville, Reddick is going undervalued per his Cook Out 400 odds. See which other drivers the model is backing at SportsLine.
New users can claim a special offer by signing up for DraftKings Sportsbook. Visit our DraftKings promo code review right now to see their latest offers and get started.
How to make 2026 Cook Out 400 picks
McClure is also high on two longshots of at least +5000 who make a run for the top of the leaderboard, including a gargantuan pick at over +20000, potentially netting any backer a huge payday. You can only see who it is here.
So who wins the 2026 Cook Out 400, and which massive longshots could stun NASCAR at Martinsville? Visit SportsLine now to see the 2026 NASCAR Cook Out 400 picks and best bets from a NASCAR model that nailed 11 winners last year, and find out.
2026 NASCAR at Martinsville odds, lineup
New to sports betting? Visit our FanDuel promo code review right now to see their latest offers and get started.
See full NASCAR Cook Out 400 picks at SportsLine
(Odds from FanDuel, subject to change) Ryan Blaney +450 William Byron +550 Denny Hamlin +600 Kyle Larson +650 Christopher Bell +800 Chase Elliott +850 Joey Logano +850 Chase Briscoe +1000 Tyler Reddick +1500 Ty Gibbs +2500 Ryan Preece +2500 Bubba Wallace +2700 Austin Cindric +3300 Brad Keselowski +4000 Ross Chastain +5000 Chris Buescher +5500 Josh Berry +7000 Carson Hocevar +8000 Michael McDowell +10000 Daniel Suarez +10000 Austin Dillon +10000 Todd Gilliland +12500 Shane van Gisbergen +17500 Kyle Busch +25000 Erik Jones +50000 Riley Herbst +50000 Noah Gragson +50000 Connor Zilisch +50000 Cody Ware +50000 Austin Hill +50000 Zane Smith +50000 Ty Dillon +50000 Cole Custer +50000 AJ Allmendinger +50000 Justin Allgaier +50000 John Hunter Nemechek +50000 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. +50000
Join the Conversation comments
