Cup - 2026 - Jack Link's 500

Date: 2026-04-26 | Track: Talladega Superspeedway

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Three ways to measure this race

Official winner TLS leader Best ARP
Driver Carson Hocevar (#77) Ross Chastain (#1) Ross Chastain (#1)
Finish P1 P7 P7
TLS points 4393 5961 5961
ARP 17.76 9.46 9.46
Laps led 19 22 22

Three different ways to measure a race — and they often point to different drivers.

Official winner — Carson Hocevar (#77): where the car was at the checkered flag (P1). Led 19 laps with 17.76 average running position and 4,393 TLS points.

TLS leader — Ross Chastain (#1): most position-weighted points across every scored lap (5,961 points). Finished P7 with 22 laps led and 9.46 ARP. TLS rewards running up front all afternoon, not only the final lap.

Best ARP — same as the TLS leader (9.46). The official winner ran a worse average position (17.76).

The checkered flag reflects who survived the final seconds. TLS reflects where drivers ran across the whole race. ARP tells you the typical running spot — but not who banked the most valuable laps.

Hocevar clears the Talladega wreck

A 25-car crash on lap 115 brought out a red flag and reshuffled the Talladega order. More cautions followed, including lap-124 contact that sent Ty Gibbs (#54) and Michael McDowell (#71) into the wall. Ross Chastain (#1) won stage 2 after getting by Christopher Bell (#20).

Carson Hocevar (#77) was near the front when Erik Jones (#43) got stuck in the infield grass on lap 182. On lap 188, as Austin Dillon (#3), Bell (#20), Todd Gilliland (#51), and Van Gisbergen (#97) crashed behind him, Hocevar (#77) took the Jack Link's 500 win.

Finish Position Points Position Driver Car Number Manufacturer Team Start Position Laps Led ARP Points
1 15 Carson Hocevar 77 Chevrolet Spire Motorsports 12 19 17.76 4393
2 3 Chris Buescher 17 Ford RFK Racing 10 22 10.37 5789
3 6 Alex Bowman 48 Chevrolet Hendrick Motorsports 20 0 13.09 5275
4 13 Chase Elliott 9 Chevrolet Hendrick Motorsports 8 0 17.23 4493
5 21 Zane Smith 38 Ford Front Row Motorsports 30 0 22.26 3542
6 14 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. 47 Chevrolet HYAK Motorsports 22 2 17.31 4478
7 1 Ross Chastain 1 Chevrolet Trackhouse Racing 24 22 9.46 5961
8 20 Austin Cindric 2 Ford Team Penske 13 0 22.12 3569
9 19 Noah Gragson 4 Ford Front Row Motorsports 29 2 20.03 3963
10 10 Kyle Busch 8 Chevrolet Richard Childress Racing 34 0 15.04 4907
11 9 Todd Gilliland 34 Ford Front Row Motorsports 19 0 14.46 5017
12 18 Daniel Suarez 7 Chevrolet Spire Motorsports 16 0 20.00 3969
13 28 Ty Dillon 10 Chevrolet Kaulig Racing 35 0 24.14 3187
14 16 Tyler Reddick 45 Toyota 23XI Racing 1 2 18.81 4194
15 23 Denny Hamlin 11 Toyota Joe Gibbs Racing 3 28 23.24 3356
16 17 AJ Allmendinger 16 Chevrolet Kaulig Racing 28 0 19.25 4111
17 4 Christopher Bell 20 Toyota Joe Gibbs Racing 14 31 12.04 5473
18 2 Ryan Preece 60 Ford RFK Racing 11 21 10.10 5840
19 5 Austin Dillon 3 Chevrolet Richard Childress Racing 18 5 13.12 5297
20 11 Shane Van Gisbergen 97 Chevrolet Trackhouse Racing 33 0 16.66 4600
21 7 Cody Ware 51 Chevrolet Rick Ware Racing 36 0 13.51 5196
22 12 John Hunter Nemechek 42 Toyota Legacy Motor Club 23 0 16.66 4575
23 8 Erik Jones 43 Toyota Legacy Motor Club 21 0 13.87 5100
24 37 * Daniel Dye(i) 78 Chevrolet Live Fast Motorsports 40 0 0.00 0
25 33 Riley Herbst 35 Toyota 23XI Racing 17 0 28.50 2338
26 29 Connor Zilisch # 88 Chevrolet Trackhouse Racing 32 0 24.12 3140
27 37 * Jesse Love(i) 33 Chevrolet Richard Childress Racing 37 0 0.00 0
28 37 * Chad Finchum(i) 66 Ford Garage 66 38 8 0.00 0
29 32 Chase Briscoe 19 Toyota Joe Gibbs Racing 5 3 25.72 2765
30 37 * Joey Gase(i) 44 Chevrolet NY Racing Team 39 0 0.00 0
31 22 Brad Keselowski 6 Ford RFK Racing 6 0 19.83 3536
32 35 Michael McDowell 71 Chevrolet Spire Motorsports 31 1 26.75 2137
33 30 Josh Berry 21 Ford Wood Brothers Racing 26 0 17.24 2970
34 27 Ty Gibbs 54 Toyota Joe Gibbs Racing 9 17 14.59 3248
35 25 William Byron 24 Chevrolet Hendrick Motorsports 7 0 13.55 3294
36 31 Bubba Wallace 23 Toyota 23XI Racing 4 3 16.13 2860
37 24 Ryan Blaney 12 Ford Team Penske 15 0 11.89 3348
38 36 Cole Custer 41 Chevrolet Haas Factory Team 27 0 25.00 1840
39 26 Joey Logano 22 Ford Team Penske 25 3 12.70 3255
40 34 Kyle Larson 5 Chevrolet Hendrick Motorsports 2 0 20.73 2331

Season Points Standings (Up to This Race)

Previous Next
Rank Driver Car Number Season Points Average Running Position Total Laps Led Points this race
1 Denny Hamlin 11 83954 10.27 603 3356
2 Tyler Reddick 45 82410 9.11 201 4194
3 Kyle Larson 5 81003 8.97 499 2331
4 Ryan Blaney 12 80460 9.72 244 3348
5 Ty Gibbs 54 75357 10.79 60 3248
6 Christopher Bell 20 73895 11.17 303 5473
7 Chase Elliott 9 73333 12.78 109 4493
8 Chris Buescher 17 72233 12.55 68 5789
9 Bubba Wallace 23 71116 12.56 89 2860
10 Austin Cindric 2 70171 13.82 26 3569
11 William Byron 24 66541 12.58 34 3294
12 Ryan Preece 60 66417 15.41 25 5840
13 Carson Hocevar 77 65626 16.84 31 4393
14 Joey Logano 22 64893 14.87 114 3255
15 Chase Briscoe 19 64069 14.01 65 2765
16 Brad Keselowski 6 63785 16.33 156 3536
17 Ross Chastain 1 61443 16.20 52 5961
18 Daniel Suarez 7 56813 18.15 1 3969
19 Zane Smith 38 49965 20.56 10 3542
20 Josh Berry 21 49054 19.19 15 2970
21 Austin Dillon 3 49001 20.55 5 5297
22 Erik Jones 43 47785 21.67 0 5100
23 Michael McDowell 71 46185 21.15 16 2137
24 Riley Herbst 35 45032 21.94 0 2338
25 Shane Van Gisbergen 97 44942 20.55 6 4600
26 AJ Allmendinger 16 42454 22.84 2 4111
27 Todd Gilliland 34 42278 22.30 1 5017
28 Kyle Busch 8 40591 21.51 19 4907
29 Noah Gragson 4 37150 25.23 2 3963
30 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. 47 35616 24.52 6 4478
31 John Hunter Nemechek 42 34515 24.28 19 4575
32 Connor Zilisch # 88 31787 25.75 0 3140
33 Ty Dillon 10 28916 27.00 3 3187
34 Cole Custer 41 25551 27.58 1 1840
35 Alex Bowman 48 21527 20.88 0 5275
36 Cody Ware 51 20613 30.19 2 5196
37 * Jimmie Johnson 84 2399 30.00 0 0
38 * Casey Mears 66 1101 36.38 0 0
39 * BJ McLeod 78 821 30.24 0 0