YellaWood 500

More miles and long days and nights for the NASCAR haulers, as this week’s race in Talladega is a long way from Phoenix. But, it’s very important to get all that precious cargo there in one piece, as this is race No. 34 of 36 for this season. It’s the eighth of 10 Cup Series Chase races, with Martinsville and Homestead-Miami left to go.

The YellaWood 500 is the second stop of the year at Talladega Superspeedway and our final race on a big track. We’ll see 188 laps on the 2.666-mile oval, making this race technically 500.08 miles, but calling this the YellaWood 500.08 would be a bit confusing.

How to Watch The YellaWood 500

When: Saturday, October 25, 2026

Where: Talladega Superspeedway in Lincoln, AL

Time: 2:00 p.m. ET

Channel: NBC

2026 NASCAR Cup Series Chase Schedule

  • Cook Out Southern 500 (Darlington) – September 6
  • Enjoy Illinois 300 (World Wide Technology Raceway) – September 13
  • Bass Pro Shops Night Race (Bristol) – September 19
  • Hollywood Casino 400 (Kansas) – September 27
  • South Point 400 (Las Vegas) – October 4
  • Bank of America 400 (Charlotte) – October 11
  • Freeway Insurance 500 (Phoenix) – October 18
  • Yellawood 500 (Talladega) – October 25
  • Xfinity 500 (Martinsville) – November 1
  • Straight Talk Wireless 400 (Homestead-Miami) – November 8

2026 NASCAR Cup Series Chase Standings

All 16 drivers who qualified for the Cup Series Chase will be in the running to win the championship for the duration of the postseason. The point totals were reset based on a new format, ranging from 2,100 to 2,000 to start the Chase. 

  • Kyle Larson – 2370
  • Christopher Bell – 2365
  • Chase Briscoe – 2346
  • Denny Hamlin – 2339
  • Ryan Blaney – 2330
  • Joey Logano – 2326
  • Tyler Reddick – 2314
  • Austin Cindric – 2240
  • Ty Gibbs – 2238
  • Chase Elliott – 2221
  • Carson Hocevar – 2212
  • Bubba Wallace – 2208
  • Daniel Suarez – 2182
  • William Byron – 2180
  • Chris Buescher – 2166
  • Ryan Preece – 2159

Through seven playoff races, the winners are Bell, Larson (2), Logano, Briscoe (2), and Reddick. Reddick’s win came last week, as he made a little bit of a move up the board, but the biggest mover was Bell, who closed the gap in a big way with Larson and also jumped up into second place. He finished fourth and led the most laps. Larson finished 34th and Hamlin was 28th, so that also allowed Briscoe to move up.

Blaney also improved his standing by finishing second with the fastest lap. Logano also moved up by winning Stages 1 and 2. It was a good weekend for everybody around Larson and Hamlin, but very much not a good weekend for those two.

The race winners from the regular season were Reddick (5), Hamlin (4), Blaney (3), Chase Elliott (2), Shane van Gisbergen (2), Corey Heim (2), Gibbs (2), Logano (2), Suarez, Carson Hocevar, Briscoe, and Preece.

YellaWood 500 Winners

Talladega is a tough track. There are some big crashes on the big oval with the tight racing and the restrictions on the engines. We don’t always get a Daytona-esque pile-up, but we usually see some sort of crash that impacts the race. As a result, the highest average finish for any driver with at least five Talladega starts in the last 10 is 13.2. The next highest is 14.8. Those belong to Hocevar and Elliott.

How tough is ‘Dega to handicap? Over the last 10 races, nine drivers have a victory – Hocevar, Elliott, Wallace, Blaney, Reddick, Briscoe, Stenhouse Jr., Chastain, and Cindric. Stenhouse was actually sixth here earlier in the year. Not listed here, but Buescher was second in that event and Alex Bowman was a surprise third.

YellaWood 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.

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