Who Can be the Superspeedway Ace at Talladega?

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NASCAR

Stratta’s Six: Who Can Pull off the Winning Moves at Talladega?

Already the third drafting race of 2026, a lot of hopeful drivers eye a timely Talladega victory. Sunday’s Jack Link’s 500 will be a wide open free-for-all for most of its 40 competitors. The 2.66-mile high banked ribbon of Alabama asphalt has seen 11-straight different winners. Here are a few who hope to end Sunday holding the prized trophy high as a Talladega victor.

Tyler Reddick

Can Tyler Reddick continue his superspeedway mastery on Sunday? The 23XI Racing driver has back-to-back wins from February at Daytona and Atlanta. Both of these wins saw every circumstance fall right into the No. 45’s favor late. The last man to win three drafting races in a season was Dale Earnhardt, who Reddick’s already been linked to thanks to his historic start to 2026.

Reddick is already a recent Talladega winner, taming the draft in this race two years ago. Riding high into Alabama off of a Kansas win and with a 105-point lead, a lot is looking up for Reddick on Sunday. Despite a winless 2025 campaign, this team’s standout performances were on superspeedways, where they scored more points than anyone else. Reddick also leads all Cup competitors in drafting track average finish (13.2) since 2024. Should the entire 45 team execute to their full potential, we may see another page written in NASCAR record books by Reddick.

Ryan Blaney

Another man who’s deft in the draft and can never be counted out at Talladega is Ryan Blaney. The Penske driver owns three career wins from the Alabama track, and more recently tamed Daytona last summer. Team Penske trumps the rest of the field with three very stout superspeedway ringers, including Blaney. Between the last nine trips to Daytona and Talladega, the 12’s average running position (14.6) is one of the series-best marks. Blaney shed some light on how tweaked Talladega stages may impact Sunday’s on-track product.

“I don’t know if it’ll change much,” Blaney said. “I think you just have to figure out a new approach to how you want to go about it. How do you want to go about the different lengths and stuff like that. You’re still gonna be wanting to come out in the top three or four rows. I mean, that’s just kind of what it is there, so we’ll adjust to it and try to figure out the best way to do it and you just hope you hit it right. One thing I do know is that we’ve been consistent there because we’re bringing really fast cars and that’s a huge part of it. I have no doubt we’re gonna do that again and then just hope we hit the strategy side right. Hopefully I do my job correctly on that side.”

“I personally despise the fuel save stuff. I think any driver does. It’s an interesting strategy play, but, to me, it’s like you’re not racing the whole time. You are racing, but not 100 percent and you’re forced to do it because it’s what everyone else is doing and you have to do that to keep track position. That’s the game that it has become, but I’m not a big fan of that. I hope what NASCAR is doing by taking action on it is good. We’ll see where that goes.”

Blaney’s last Talladega win in fall 2023 was a third-straight top two finish here for the 12. In the four races since, however, Blaney’s best result was 20th. Kansas a week ago also ended a run of three-straight top 10s for the 12. In short, Blaney needs to find his groove again but easily can as a co-favorite at Talladega.

Chase Elliott

The ever-popular Elliott family is synonymous with superspeedway success, especially at Talladega. Both Bill and Chase Elliott own two wins apiece in Alabama. The modern-day driver 9 aims to beat his father this weekend. Chase Elliott has called Talladega like a second home track, and has high expectations for Sunday.

“I feel good about going there,” Elliott said. “It’s a speedway and just so much is out of your control, but I feel like our team has been doing a pretty good job throughout the course of the year of executing the things that we can control and hopefully we can do that. I think that’s really kind of the name of the game when you go to those speedways and just try to give yourself a shot. There’s so much that can go good or go bad or anywhere in the middle that you have no say so in. So we just try and do our best at the things that we can control and hope it falls our way.”

The Hendrick No. 9 last won here in October 2022, but has a 15.6 superspeedway average finish since 2024. Elliott was within eyesight of a Daytona 500 victory in February, and hopes this speed translates to Talladega. Heading to Alabama at sixth in points, Elliott envisions making inroads on Reddick’s mammoth points lead.

Bubba Wallace

Tyler Reddick may have taken a lion’s share of spotlight with five wins so far in 2026. 23XI Racing teammate Bubba Wallace is not far off, though. The No. 23 Toyota earned its first career triumph at Talladega in October 2021, and has been a contender in nearly every trip since.

Wallace’s last three trips to Talladega in particular have been perfect with top-10s and seen improvement each time. Wallace led on the last lap here in October, before being passed for the win by Chase Briscoe. Coming off his first top-five of 2026 from Kansas, Wallace eyes another breakout Talladega run. Do not be surprised to see the No. 23 in the wind and leading laps, and perhaps even be up front late on Sunday.

Brad Keselowski

No list of possible Talladega winners is complete without mentioning Brad Keselowski. Driver No. 6 for RFK Racing has six Alabama victories, and three top-10s in the last four races. Both 2024 Talladega dates saw Keselowski be a painfully close runner-up, showing his drafting prowess remains dangerous. Keselowski was also fifth in February’s Daytona 500, proving he’s still one of the best ever in the draft.

Despite so many strong runs, RFK Racing has been locked out of Talladega victory lane for nine years. Now at ninth in points, Keselowski is eyeing a chance at a seventh career Talladega checkered flag. Another Talladega victory would break Keselowski’s tie with Jeff Gordon and Dale Earnhardt Jr. for second-most all-time wins here.

Austin Cindric

Sunday at Talladega will mark a full season since Austin Cindric’s most recent win. A year ago in Alabama, the Next Gen drafting ace picked up his second superspeedway win after leading seven laps. Driver 2 trails only teammate Joey Logano in drafting average running position (12.5) over the last nine races.

Cindric is only the latest Ford talent to earn a maiden Talladega triumph. 2025’s win for the 2 extended a Team Penske winning streak to 11 checkered flags in the last 23 Talladega trips. Currently the first man outside of the top-16 Chase cutoff, Cindric knows he can make up ground on the high banks in Alabama.

Talladega is equal parts a proving ground and an ultimate unknown for every team on its grid. The Jack Link’s 500 goes green Sunday at 3 p.m. ET on FOX, MRN, and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio. Whoever outlasts the very hungry competition to earn this elusive win will be celebrated on one of NASCAR’s biggest stages.

Written by Peter Stratta

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Photo credit to Logan Riely/Getty Images