Mike McClure's computer model reveals its surprising picks and NASCAR Talladega props for the Jack Link's 500 2026 on Sunday
By Ross Kelly Apr 24, 2026 at 8:20 am ET • 3 min read 
Imagn Images 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 latest 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.
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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 (+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.
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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 +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
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