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Come Fan with UsSunday, June 21, 2026

Open Race Thread: NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Good Sam Club 500 | Talladega Superspeedway

4ever3’s pick to win; Dale Earnhardt Jr. seen here at MIS (June 2011). Credit: Bob Ellis (NASCAR Ranting and Raving www.4ever3blog.com)
4ever3’s pick to win; Dale Earnhardt Jr. seen here at MIS (June 2011). Credit: Bob Ellis (NASCAR Ranting and Raving www.4ever3blog.com)
4ever3’s pick to win; Dale Earnhardt Jr. seen here at MIS (June 2011). Credit: Bob Ellis (NASCAR Ranting and Raving www.4ever3blog.com)

Out of all of the races in The Chase, this is the one that is the wildcard. It is the hardest race to predict an outcome for because of the likelihood that there will be a wreck, or wrecks, that will take out part of the field and a few Chase contenders as well.

With that being said, I’m picking the 8 car of Dale Jr to win with the 33 as my dark horse winner. Although, now that I’ve gone on record as predicting the 8 to win it is almost a given that he won’t, because everytime I predict him to win at ‘Dega he almost certainly gets caught in a wreck or drives himself into the wall for no reason at all.

Starting line-up after the jump. See you in the comments.

This line-up comes to you via nascar.com.

POS CAR DRIVER MAKE SPONSOR SPEED TIME BEHIND
1 5 Mark Martin Chevrolet GoDaddy.com 181.367 52.799 Leader
2 48 Jimmie Johnson Chevrolet MyLowe's 181.360 52.801 -0.002
3 33 Clint Bowyer Chevrolet Chevy 100 Years 181.243 52.835 -0.036
4 21 Trevor Bayne Ford Motorcraft / Quick Lane Tire & Auto Center 181.010 52.903 -0.104
5 24 Jeff Gordon Chevrolet Drive to End Hunger 180.918 52.930 -0.131
6 88 Dale Earnhardt Jr. Chevrolet Diet Mountain Dew "Paint the 88" / National Guard 180.904 52.934 -0.135
7 27 Paul Menard Chevrolet Serta / Menards 180.655 53.007 -0.208
8 6 David Ragan Ford UPS My Choice 180.608 53.021 -0.222
9 99 Carl Edwards Ford Subway 180.210 53.138 -0.339
10 39 Ryan Newman Chevrolet U.S. Army 180.203 53.140 -0.341
11 17 Matt Kenseth Ford Jeremiah Weed Southern Style 180.197 53.142 -0.343
12 14 Tony Stewart Chevrolet El Monterey / Office Depot 180.108 53.168 -0.369
13 29 Kevin Harvick Chevrolet Jimmy John's Gourmet Sandwiches 180.047 53.186 -0.387
14 22 Kurt Busch Dodge Shell / Pennzoil 179.970 53.209 -0.410
15 42 Juan Montoya Chevrolet Energizer 179.875 53.237 -0.438
16 2 Brad Keselowski Dodge Miller Lite 179.831 53.250 -0.451
17 38 Travis Kvapil Ford Long John Silver's 179.831 53.250 -0.451
18 16 Greg Biffle Ford 3M / O'Reilly Auto Parts 179.784 53.264 -0.465
19 9 Marcos Ambrose Ford Stanley 179.736 53.278 -0.479
20 97 Kevin Conway Toyota Extenze 179.693 53.291 -0.492
21 47 Bobby Labonte Toyota Scott Products 179.672 53.297 -0.498
22 78 Regan Smith Chevrolet Furniture Row Companies 179.645 53.305 -0.506
23 115 Michael Waltrip Toyota Aaron's Dream Machine / Darrell Waltrip NASCAR Hall of Fame 179.629 53.310 -0.511
24 43 A.J. Allmendinger Ford Best Buy 179.602 53.318 -0.519
25 31 Jeff Burton Chevrolet Caterpillar 179.602 53.318 -0.519
26 4 Kasey Kahne Toyota Red Bull 179.575 53.326 -0.527
27 87 Joe Nemechek Toyota AMFMEnergy.com / Pellet & Wood Stoves 179.420 53.372 -0.573
28 55 J.J. Yeley Ford Front Row Motorsports 179.349 53.393 -0.594
29 66 Michael McDowell Toyota HP Racing LLC 179.346 53.394 -0.595
30 83 Brian Vickers Toyota Red Bull 179.054 53.481 -0.682
31 11 Denny Hamlin Toyota FedEx Office 178.944 53.514 -0.715
32 32 Terry Labonte Ford C&J Energy 178.897 53.528 -0.729
33 71 Andy Lally* Ford TRG Motorsports 178.884 53.532 -0.733
34 18 Kyle Busch Toyota M&M's Halloween 178.780 53.563 -0.764
35 20 Joey Logano Toyota The Home Depot 178.773 53.565 -0.766
36 00 David Reutimann Toyota Aaron's Dream Machine 178.673 53.595 -0.796
37 56 Martin Truex Jr. Toyota NAPA Auto Parts 178.670 53.596 -0.797
38 51 Landon Cassill Chevrolet Phoenix Construction / Thank A Teacher Today-Securit-
y Benefit
178.603 53.616 -0.817
39 1 Jamie McMurray Chevrolet Bass Pro Shops / Tracker 178.520 53.641 -0.842
40 34 David Gilliland Ford World Hunger
Relief / www.FromHungerToHope.com
178.427 53.669 -0.870
41 36 Dave Blaney+ Chevrolet Golden Corral 178.337 53.696 -0.897
42 13 Casey Mears+ Toyota GEICO 176.477 54.262 -1.463
43 7 Robby Gordon Dodge Speed Energy / Mapei / Menards 178.567 53.627 -0.828
Did Not Qualify
44 135 Geoffrey Bodine Chevrolet Luke & Associates 178.533 53.637 -0.838
45 46 Scott Speed Ford Red Line Oil 177.478 53.956 -1.157
46 277 T.J. Bell* Ford TRG Motorsports 177.071 54.080 -1.281
47 37 Josh Wise Ford Bradley University 177.055 54.085 -1.286
+ Set by Owner Points
* Denotes Rookie
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