Jack Link’s 500:
After a week off in observance of the Easter holiday, the NASCAR Cup Series is back on track – er, back on the track – this week with the Jack Link’s 500 at Talladega Superspeedway. This will be the first big track in a while, as the last few races have been on short or intermediate ovals. This is a 2.66-mile oval and that means that the cars are going to get up to some extreme speeds on the long straightaways.
This is the 10th race of 17 prior to the five-race inaugural NASCAR in-season tournament and there will be four more regular season events after that.
How to Watch The Jack Link’s 500
When: Sunday, April 20, 2025
Where: Talladega Superspeedway in Lincoln, AL
Time: 3 p.m. ET
Channel: Fox
2025 NASCAR Cup Series Standings
Those looking for parity during this year’s NASCAR Cup Series season may not find much of it. We’ve had nine races so far and only five different winners. If we were playing a game of “Which One Doesn’t Belong?”, it would be Josh Berry, whose win at Las Vegas remains the only major outlier thus far. The other winners are William Byron, Denny Hamlin, Christopher Bell, and Kyle Larson.
Coincidentally, that is the order of the top four, as Byron is pacing the field with 346 points. He hasn’t found the winner’s circle since the Daytona 500, but ranks second in stage points to help the cause. Hamlin has two wins and five top-five finishes, including three in a row, two of which were wins. He’s 30 points behind Byron.
Bell has three wins and 305 points, while Larson has two wins and 304 points. Chase Elliott rounds out the top five, largely because he hasn’t finished worse than 20th. Ryan Blaney, Tyler Reddick, Bubba Wallace, Joey Logano, and Alex Bowman fill out the top 10.
Jack Link’s 500 Winners
If recent history is a predictor, this could be the week that Blaney snags his first checkered flag. Blaney is the only active driver with more than one win in his last 10 races at Talladega. He last won this spring race in 2020 and the fall race in 2023, a race he also won in 2019. Only Brad Keselowski has more top-five finishes in his last 10 starts here, but he’s having a terrible season with zero top-10 finishes.
Hamlin is also a prime contender here with a win and four top-five finishes. Reddick and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. were last year’s victors in Alabama, so we’ll see if we get a surprise car on the victory lap or one of the usual suspects.
Jack Link’s 500 Predictions
For the latest odds and VSiN’s NASCAR Best Bets, head to our NASCAR Hub to see Steve Makinen’s simulation results and more stats on the drivers.
