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Tyler Reddick reigns supreme in the Cup Series after winning the first two races as NASCAR makes its first trip to a road course on Sunday. The 2026 DuraMAX Grand Prix takes place at 3:30 p.m. ET from Circuit of the Americas (COTA) in Austin, Texas. NASCAR at COTA has seen five different winners across its five runnings, with Christopher Bell the defending champion. Reddick is one of those winners (2023), and given his hot start, he could be highly sought after with 2026 NASCAR at COTA picks.

It's road course specialist, Shane van Gisbergen, who is the +115 favorite in the latest DuraMAX Grand Prix odds, with Cup Series rookie Connor Zilisch close behind at +380. Others to consider with 2026 NASCAR at COTA bets include Bell (+1100) and 2024 winner William Byron (+1200), while Reddick is at +1600 as he attempts to win the first three races of the season. Before making any 2026 DuraMAX Grand Prix picks or NASCAR at COTA predictions, you need to see the projected leaderboard from Mike McClure's proven model.

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McClure is a legendary professional DFS player with more than $2 million in career winnings. He uses a powerful prediction model that simulates every lap of NASCAR action 10,000 times. All told, the model has nailed a whopping 29 winners since 2021 and hit 11 winners in 2025. Anyone following his NASCAR betting picks at their favorite sportsbooks could have seen huge returns.

Now, McClure has turned his attention to the NASCAR DuraMAX Grand Prix. He's only sharing his best bets at SportsLine.

2026 NASCAR at COTA predictions

For NASCAR at Austin 2026, McClure is fading Bell, the defending champion and one of the favorites at +1100, saying he barely cracks the top 5. Despite his victory, Bell's average finish at Austin is 15, and you can find nine other drivers with an equal or better average finish at COTA. He's also not off to the best start in the 2026 Cup Series as 27 drivers have at least one top-20 finish through two races but not Bell. He placed 35th at Daytona, 21st at Atlanta, and dating back to last season, Bell doesn't have a top 5 in five straight starts.

Another surprise: Chris Buescher (+2700) is projected to finish near the top of the leaderboard despite his longer odds. Buescher has four top 15s across his five COTA starts, including notching top 10s in each of his last three appearances. Only four drivers have a better average finish in Austin than Buescher's 7.7 since 2023, as he's emerged as one of the top drivers on road/street courses. Each of his last 22 starts on these types of tracks have resulted in top 20s, with 17 of those being top 10 finishes. He enters this week in the top 10 of the 2026 Cup Series standings, so he pairs his Austin and road course success with a strong start to the year. See which other drivers the model is backing at SportsLine.

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How to make 2026 DuraMAX Grand Prix picks

McClure is also high on a longshot of well over +3000, potentially netting any backer a huge payday. You can only see who it is here.

So who wins the 2026 DuraMAX Grand Prix, and which massive longshot could stun NASCAR at COTA? Visit SportsLine now to see the 2026 NASCAR DuraMAX Grand Prix picks and best bets from a NASCAR insider, and find out.

2026 NASCAR DuraMAX Grand Prix odds, lineup

See full NASCAR at Austin picks at SportsLine

(Odds from FanDuel, subject to change)
Shane Van Gisbergen +115
Connor Zilisch +380
Christopher Bell +1100
William Byron +1200
Tyler Reddick +1600
Chase Elliott +2000
Chase Briscoe +2200
Kyle Larson +2200
Ross Chastain +2700
Alex Bowman +2700
Chris Buescher +2700
AJ Allmendinger +2700
Michael McDowell +3000
Ty Gibbs +3500
Kyle Busch +3500
Ryan Blaney +4500
Bubba Wallace +5000
Daniel Suarez +5500
Austin Cindric +6000
Ryan Preece +6000
Carson Hocevar +7500
Joey Logano +7500
Denny Hamlin +8000
Todd Gilliland +20000
Zane Smith +30000
Brad Keselowski +30000
Austin Dillon +30000
John Hunter Nemechek +50000
Noah Gragson +50000
Cody Ware +50000
Jesse Love +50000
Cole Custer +50000
Ty Dillon +50000
Riley Herbst +50000
Josh Berry +50000
Erik Jones +50000
Ricky Stenhouse Jr. +50000