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The Cup Series resumes after a one-week break and heads to Bristol Motor Speedway on Sunday as the 2026 Food City 500 takes place at 3 p.m. ET. NASCAR Bristol picks and Food City 500 DFS lineups will likely gravitate towards Joe Gibbs Racing, as its drivers have won three of the last four spring Bristol races, as well as two of the last three fall races at the track. However, one also can't overlook Kyle Busch with NASCAR at Bristol bets, as he's one win away from a record-setting seventh victory at the spring race. 

Kyle Larson (+340) tops the Food City 500 2026 odds board, followed by Denny Hamlin (+470). Ryan Blaney is at +600, with Christopher Bell at +650, and Chase Elliott is at +1300 to win in back-to-back starts. Tyler Reddick sits atop the Cup Series standings but is a +2500 NASCAR at Bristol longshot with no top 5s over his last seven trips to the track. Before setting NASCAR DFS lineups, making Food City 500 picks or locking in NASCAR Bristol 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 Food City 500. He's only sharing his best bets at SportsLine.

2026 NASCAR at Bristol predictions

For NASCAR at Bristol 2026, McClure is fading Ryan Blaney (+600), saying he barely cracks the top 5 despite being one of the favorites. Blaney won at Bristol on both the Truck Series and the Xfinity Series, but he's yet to carry over those winning ways onto the Cup Series. He's preparing for his 20th start at Bristol and has yet to notch a victory. Over that stretch, he has more finishes outside the top 10 than inside it. While he's been one of the best short track drivers in recent memory, Blaney just hasn't found it at Bristol as he doesn't even have a top-3 finish at the track in his career.

Another surprise: Joey Logano (+1900) is projected to make a strong run towards the title. Logano is a two-time Bristol winner with both recent success at the track and on the Cup Series. He placed fifth in his last Bristol start and is coming off a third-place finish in his most recent race this season. Logano's Bristol Motor Speedway success is just a small part of his overall excellence on short tracks. He has notched five straight top 10s on these types of circuits, and his career average finish of 12.1 on short tracks if topped by just three other active drivers. See which other drivers the model is backing at SportsLine.

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How to make 2026 Food City 500 picks

McClure is also high on three longshots of over +2000 who make a run for the top of the leaderboard, including a pair of massive longshots of at least +4000, potentially netting any backer a huge payday. You can only see who it is here.

So who wins the 2026 Food City 500, and which massive longshots could stun NASCAR at Bristol? Visit SportsLine now to see the 2026 NASCAR Food City 500 picks and best bets from a NASCAR model that nailed 11 winners last year, and find out.

2026 NASCAR at Bristol odds, lineup

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See full NASCAR Food City 500 picks at SportsLine

(Odds from FanDuel, subject to change)
Kyle Larson +340
Denny Hamlin +470
Christopher Bell +650
Ryan Blaney +600
Ty Gibbs +750
William Byron +1100
Chase Briscoe +1300
Chase Elliott +1300
Brad Keselowski +1900
Joey Logano +1900
Carson Hocevar +2000
Chris Buescher +2500
Tyler Reddick +2500
Bubba Wallace +3300
Ryan Preece +3500
Austin Cindric +3500
Kyle Busch +4000
Ross Chastain +4000
Josh Berry +5000
Zane Smith +10000
Justin Allgaier +10000
Erik Jones +12500
Michael McDowell +12500
Connor Zilisch +12500
Austin Dillon +15000
Shane van Gisbergen +15000
Daniel Suarez +17500
John Hunter Nemechek +17500
Ricky Stenhouse Jr. +17500
AJ Allmendinger +20000
Cole Custer +50000
Todd Gilliland +50000
Ty Dillon +50000
Noah Gragson +50000
Cody Ware +50000
Chad Finchum +50000
Riley Herbst +50000