What to Expect in the Cup Series Race at Talladega

What’s Happening?

It’s the calm before the storm. After a thrilling race weekend last week at the always-exciting Kansas Speedway, the stars of the NASCAR Cup Series roar into the infamous Talladega Superspeedway. Qualifying and practice on Saturday were rained out, so the drop of the green flag will be the first laps these drivers and teams will have on track. There are a lot of things to note heading into today’s race. Tyler Reddick, the Daytona 500 champion, is attempting to pick up his 6th win of the year in only 10 starts. Meanwhile, Bubba is still trying to pick up his first win of the year, while Chevy is still trying to catch up to the sheer pace of Ford and Toyota.

Due to fuel-saving tactics, NASCAR has flipped the stages. The first stage will be 98 laps, as we end on a pair of 45-lap stages. How will that affect the racing and subsequent strategies? Other rule changes to note: the merge line. Yesterday, we saw a number of drivers, most notably the JRM duo of Justin Allgaier and Carson Kvapil, commit merge line violations by merging too early in front of race leader Jesse Love. Keep an eye on that today as well.

Here’s all that and more that you need to watch out for in today’s Jack Link’s 500 at Talladega Superspeedway.

We race at @TALLADEGA today.

Hell yeah. 🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/NwePkpvCQY

— NASCAR (@NASCAR) April 26, 2026

Fast Notes:

• Qualifying on Saturday morning was washed out for the second week in a row. This results in the starting grid being lined up by the pre-determined NASCAR metric. Tyler Reddick, the points leader, will start on the pole with Kyle Larson in 2nd. The second row belongs to the Toyota drivers of Denny Hamlin and Bubba Wallace with Chase Briscoe rounding out the top 5 starters.
• Tyler Reddick is having a dream of a season. Of nine races, he’s won 5 of them. That’s a winning record. And, both he and 23XI have had success at Talladega in the past. If he can keep his nose clean, don’t be shocked if he goes 6 for 10.
• There was a lot of drama in the last week between Denny Hamlin and Kyle Busch. In fact, many fans are beginning to question whether or not KFB will ever win another race. Well, if past performance has anything to say about it, his best shot might be at a drafting track. Busch’s last NASCAR Cup Series win came at Talladega in 2023. Can he snap his over 100 race winless streak today? He’s starting 34th, so he’ll have quite a bit of work ahead of him.
• Due to qualifying being rained out, the Beard Motorsports once again missed the race. Casey Mears was scheduled to drive their No. 62 Chevy. Meanwhile, Daniel Dye will make his NASCAR Cup Series debut in the Live Fast Motorsports No. 78 Chevy. He rounds out the 40-car field.
• The race breakdown is as follows: Stages–98-45-45. The stages were inverted as a way to stop fuel saving early in the race. Teams were given 7 sets of Goodyear Eagles.
• Coverage for the Jack Link’s 500 at Talladega Superspeedway is set to begin at 3 PM ET, 2 PM CT on FOX.

Starting Lineup

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