Talladega Superspeedway is NASCAR’s largest oval, measuring 2.66 miles around. The turns are banked up to 33 degrees, which lets the cars run full throttle for all 188 laps. That keeps them bumper-to-bumper in one big pack, and multi-car crashes are common.
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Top DraftKings Picks for the Yellawood 500 at Talladega
- Chase Elliott ($8,900) — Over 28 races at Daytona, Talladega and Atlanta since 2022, the No. 9 car has the best average finish in this field at 14.0. Elliott won at Talladega in October 2022. He also finished fourth in both the Daytona 500 and the April Talladega race this year.
- Carson Hocevar ($9,000) — The No. 77 team has finished sixth, sixth and first in its last three Talladega races. The win came this April after starting 12th. Hocevar was also third in the July race at Atlanta.
- Daniel Suarez ($7,200) — Daytona has gone well in the last two August races, with a second-place finish each time. He also won at Atlanta in February 2024 and has four top-10 finishes in nine Talladega races since 2022. Spire Motorsports won at Talladega in April with Carson Hocevar.
- Tyler Reddick ($10,500) — The 23XI Racing No. 45 Toyota has won three super-speedway races since 2022. Those wins came at Talladega in April 2024, then the Daytona 500 and Atlanta this February. Reddick has eight top-five finishes in 29 plate races.
- William Byron ($9,400) — No driver in this field has a better average finish at Talladega than the 12.1 that Byron has posted in nine races. Five of them ended in the top 10. He has also won two Daytona 500s and two Atlanta races since 2022. The risk is wrecks, with seven finishes of 30th or worse in 29 races.
- Alex Bowman ($7,300) — April at Talladega has been the best race for the No. 48 Hendrick Chevy, with top-10 finishes in four of the last five. The finishes were ninth, fifth, seventh and third. Bowman also finished second in the 2024 Daytona 500.
- Ryan Blaney ($11,000) — No driver in this field has more top-five finishes at the three super-speedway tracks than the 10 Blaney has in 29 races. He has also won at each of them since 2022: Talladega in October 2023, Daytona in August 2025 and Atlanta this July. This year has been rougher at Daytona and Talladega, with finishes of 27th, 37th and 33rd.
- Brad Keselowski ($8,600) — The RFK No. 6 Ford finished second at Talladega in both April and October of 2024. Keselowski also finished second at Atlanta in June 2025 and fifth in this year’s Daytona 500. The old man still has it.
- Ricky Stenhouse Jr. ($7,500) — The legend that is “Wrecky Spinhouse” won the 2023 Daytona 500 and the October 2024 race at Talladega. Stenhouse has finished second, sixth and fifth in his last three races at Daytona and Talladega.
- Austin Cindric ($9,200) — He won the 2022 Daytona 500 and the April 2025 race at Talladega. The Team Penske No. 2 Ford has four top-10 finishes in nine Talladega races, including an eighth this April. Cindric also finished sixth at Daytona in August.
- Erik Jones ($6,300) — Atlanta has been the best track for the No. 43 Toyota, with a fifth in each of the last two summer races. At Talladega, Jones has four top-10 finishes in nine races, with a best of fifth. He has 10 top-10s in 29 races at the three drafting tracks.
- Todd Gilliland ($6,900) — Last October’s second-place finish at Talladega came from 27th on the starting grid. Gilliland’s average finish at the Alabama Superspeedway is 12.9 over nine races, the second best in this field. Four of those races ended in the top 10.
- Ross Chastain ($7,100) — The Watermelon Man won at Talladega in April 2022 and finished seventh there this April. He also has three podium finishes at Atlanta, with runner-up finishes in March and July of 2022 and a third this February. Chastain is known to smash melons at super speedways.
- Zane Smith ($6,800) — The No. 38 FRM team is an established super-speedway competitor. Smith finished sixth in the Daytona 500 and fifth at Talladega this year. A 32nd at Daytona in August followed. That’s plate racing. Smith also has a seventh at Atlanta in both June 2025 and this February.
- Noah Gragson ($5,400) — The cheapest driver on this list finished third, fourth and ninth in the last three April races at Talladega. The risk is steep, with 11 finishes of 30th or worse in 27 races at the three tracks since 2022.
