Given the uniqueness of Daytona 500 qualifying, and the fact that qualifying for the following weekend's race at EchoPark Speedway (Atlanta Motor Speedway) was rained out, the NASCAR Cup Series is set for its first traditional superspeedway qualifying session of the 2026 season this weekend at Talladega Superspeedway, although the weather could still have a say in whether or not it actually happens.
Each of the 41 drivers on the entry list for Sunday's 188-lap Jack Link's 500 around the four-turn, 2.66-mile (4.281-kilometer) high-banked Lincoln, Alabama oval is set to make a single-lap qualifying attempt in the opening round of qualifying, and the fastest 10 drivers are set to advance to the second round shootout for the pole position and make an additional single-lap attempt.
The qualifying order for round one was determined by the two-variable metric that NASCAR introduced ahead of the 2025 season, the metric that replaced the old and more complicated four-variable formula that had been in place since 2020.
A full breakdown of the current formula can be found here.
The qualifying order for round two is determined by inverting the top 10 speeds from the opening round.
The slowest of the five non-chartered (open) cars from the opening round of qualifying will ultimately fail to qualify for the race, as only four can join the 36 chartered entries in the 40-car field.
And they'll know which one that is pretty early on, as the five open cars are set to lead off the session from qualifying positions No. 1 through No. 5. None of these open cars competed at Kansas Speedway this past weekend, as the only one that did is not on this weekend's entry list.
Here's a look at the full qualifying order for the first round of Saturday's qualifying session.
NASCAR Cup Series qualiyfing order at Talladega
NOTE: * = open car, not locked into the race
Order | Driver |
|---|---|
1 | Casey Mears, No. 62 Beard Motorsports Chevrolet* |
2 | Daniel Dye, No. 78 Live Fast Motorsports Chevrolet* |
3 | Joey Gase, No. 44 NY Racing Team Chevrolet* |
4 | Chad Finchum, No. 66 Garage 66 Ford* |
5 | Jesse Love, No. 33 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet* |
6 | Cody Ware, No. 51 Rick Ware Racing Chevrolet |
7 | Ty Dillon, No. 10 Kaulig Racing Chevrolet |
8 | Kyle Busch, No. 8 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet |
9 | Shane van Gisbergen, No. 97 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet |
10 | Connor Zilisch, No. 88 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet |
11 | Michael McDowell, No. 71 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet |
12 | Zane Smith, No. 38 Front Row Motorsports Ford |
13 | Noah Gragson, No. 4 Front Row Motorsports Ford |
14 | A.J. Allmendinger, No. 16 Kaulig Racing Chevrolet |
15 | Cole Custer, No. 41 Haas Factory Team Chevrolet |
16 | Josh Berry, No. 21 Wood Brothers Racing Ford |
17 | Joey Logano, No. 22 Team Penske Ford |
18 | Ross Chastain, No. 1 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet |
19 | John Hunter Nemechek, No. 42 Legacy Motor Club Toyota |
20 | Ricky Stenhouse Jr., No. 47 Hyak Motorsports Chevrolet |
21 | Erik Jones, No. 43 Legacy Motor Club Toyota |
22 | Alex Bowman, No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet |
23 | Todd Gilliland, No. 34 Front Row Motorsports Ford |
24 | Austin Dillon, No. 3 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet |
25 | Riley Herbst, No. 35 23XI Racing Toyota |
26 | Daniel Suarez, No. 7 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet |
27 | Ryan Blaney, No. 12 Team Penske Ford |
28 | Christopher Bell, No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota |
29 | Austin Cindric, No. 2 Team Penske Ford |
30 | Carson Hocevar, No. 77 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet |
31 | Ryan Preece, No. 60 RFK Racing Ford |
32 | Chris Buescher, No. 17 RFK Racing Ford |
33 | Ty Gibbs, No. 54 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota |
34 | Chase Elliott, No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet |
35 | William Byron, No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet |
36 | Brad Keselowski, No. 6 RFK Racing Ford |
37 | Chase Briscoe, No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota |
38 | Bubba Wallace, No. 23 23XI Racing Toyota |
39 | Denny Hamlin, No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota |
40 | Kyle Larson, No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet |
41 | Tyler Reddick, No. 45 23XI Racing Toyota |
The Jack Link's 500 is set to be shown live on Fox from Talladega Superspeedway beginning at 3:00 p.m. ET this Sunday, April 26. Begin a free trial of FuboTV today and catch all of the action from NASCAR's biggest oval!
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