NASCAR Entry List: Who Is Racing at Talladega This Weekend?

The NASCARCup Series returns to superspeedway racing this weekend at Talladega Superspeedway. The flagship event on the weekend will be the Jack Link’s 500, in which the Cup Series has 41 cars entered, 5 of which are open entries.

As it goes, superspeedways are the most wide-open track styles on the circuit. Thus, longshots have much higher chances at good finishes. That makes for open cars to enter the race and hope for a top-10 result.

Tyler Reddick enters the race gunning for his 6th race win in 10 races this season. In 2025, Reddick had the best average finish of any Cup driver at superspeedways. Despite having failed to win in 2025, Reddick will take all of the above statistics and try to win as the early betting favorite.

Jack Link’s 500 at Talladega Entries


Car Number	Driver
1	Ross Chastain
2	Austin Cindric
3	Austin Dillon
4	Noah Gragson
5	Kyle Larson
6	Brad Keselowski
7	Daniel Suarez
8	Kyle Busch
9	Chase Elliott
10	Ty Dillon
11	Denny Hamlin
12	Ryan Blaney
16	AJ Allmendinger
17	Chris Buescher
19	Chase Briscoe
20	Christopher Bell
21	Josh Berry
22	Joey Logano
23	Bubba Wallace
24	William Byron
33	Jesse Love
34	Todd Gilliland
35	Riley Herbst
38	Zane Smith
41	Cole Custer
42	John Hunter Nemechek
43	Erik Jones
44	Joey Gase*
45	Tyler Reddick
47	Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
48	Alex Bowman
51	Cody Ware
54	Ty Gibbs
60	Ryan Preece
62	Casey Mears*
66	Chad Finchum*
71	Michael McDowell
77	Carson Hocevar
78	Daniel Dye*
88	Connor Zilisch
97	Shane van Gisbergen

*Open Car Entry

Open Cars

Jesse Love will run in the Richard Childress Racing No. 33 car. Austin Hill is the team’s best superspeedway racer, so, interestingly, the team puts Love into the car at Talladega. This will be Love’s 2nd start of the season in Cup (COTA), with more likely to come, but unconfirmed until sponsors are secured.

Joey Gase will go behind the wheel for NY Racing Club, notably racing over the team’s commonly used JJ Yeley. Gase owns his own team, Joey Gase Motorsports, but operates only in the O’Reilly Auto Parts Series. He gets the nod with the sponsorship of the National Fire Protection Association.

Casey Mears, a NASCAR veteran, will start his 500th career Cup Series race at Talladega for Beard Motorsports. The team is superspeedway-focused, starting only at these track styles. Mears notably earned points at Daytona, having been declared for points in the series.

Chad Finchum will start in the No. 66 for Garage 66. The race will be Finchum’s 2nd start in 2026, after racing at Bristol. The team makes its 4th start overall. They expect to be the longest shots in the field.

Daniel Dye got a surprise deal with Live Fast Motorsports, owned by BJ McLeod. Dye has recently been in the headlines for rash comments made on a livestream. That forced his departure from Kaulig Racing’s RAM Trucks team. Yet, he will race in the Cup at Talladega, taking the car over team owner, McLeod, who generally makes these superspeedway starts.

Best Historical Performers at Talladega

William Byron and Kyle Larson restart during the NASCAR Cup Series at Talladega Superspeedway in Talladega, AL. (Photo by Jeff Robinson/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)Photo by Jeff Robinson/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images

William Byron is the sole racer with an average top-10 finish at Talladega since 2022. However, Byron has never won, despite being arguably the best superspeedway racer in the series. He has 5 top-5’s in that 8-race span.

Chase Elliotthas a race win and 4 top-10 finishes in the 8-race NextGen era at Talladega. He is the only driver to have 4+ top-10 finishes and win in that span. He is one of only 1 of 3 drivers to average >15th place in finishing position.

Worst Historical Performers at Talladega

Joey Logano has 8 NextGen starts at Talladega, with zero top-10 finishes. His average finishing position is 27.5, with 2 races being unfinished due to wreckage. His average start, however, is 8.3

Josh Berry has never run at a lick at Talladega, with zero top-10’s in 4 starts and the worst average finish (27.8) of any chartered driver in the series.

This story was originally published by Athlon Sports on Apr 22, 2026, where it first appeared in the Racing section. Add Athlon Sports as a Preferred Source by clicking here.

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