(Jim Dedmon-Imagn Images) Jonathan Fjeld Mon, October 26, 2026 at 9:03 PM UTC · 4 min read About Our Ads Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement RIDGEWAY, Va. — NASCAR is heading to Martinsville Speedway for the second-to-last weekend of the 2026 season.
The Chase is winding down with a close points battle in the NASCAR O'Reilly Auto Parts Series and two clear favorites for the championship in the NASCAR Cup Series and the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series.
After this weekend, it'll become abundantly clear who the 2026 champions may be.
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Practice starts at 1 p.m. ET Saturday on truTV, qualifying at 2:05 p.m.
Last year's winner: William Byron (Spring winner: Chase Elliott)
Josh Bilicki is the lone open car on the entry list. He is racing Garage 66's No. 66 Ford.
Here are the drivers still in contention for the NASCAR Cup Series championship with the odds to win and their standing after Talladega :
Denny Hamlin is the odds-on favorite to win when he needs to the most. He has won once in the NextGen era at Martinsville – in March of 2025 – and led the most laps and swept the stages in the spring. Ryan Blaney is next with two wins in the last three fall races:
Christopher Bell, Chase Briscoe +1000 each
Alex Bowman, Brad Keselowski, Chris Buescher +5000 each
Connor Zilisch, Austin Dillon +15000 each
Zane Smith, Michael McDowell, Austin Hill +25000 each
Riley Herbst, Todd Gilliland, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., AJ Allmendinger, John Hunter Nemechek +35000 each
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Practice starts at 3 p.m. ET Friday on ESPN Unlimited app, qualifying at 4:05 p.m.
Last year's winner: Taylor Gray (Spring winner: Justin Allgaier)
With 38 entries for this weekend, no one will miss the field. Lee Pulliam is back in the No. 87 Chevrolet for Peterson Racing Group, notably. He finished top-five in the spring.
Daniel Dye with Jordan Anderson Racing, Patrick Emerling with RSS Racing and Baltazar Leguizamon with Young's Motorsports are among the unique entries.
Only seven drivers are still in contention for the championship. Here are the current standings with each driver's odds to win it after Talladega :
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Practice starts at 12:30 p.m. ET Friday on FS2/FOX One, qualifying at 1:35 p.m.
Last year's winner: Corey Heim (No. 11 TRICON Toyota)
Points leader Kaden Honeycutt will race TRICON Garage's No. 11 Toyota that won last year's race. Honeycutt leads Layne Riggs by 43 points. The next closest driver to Honeycutt is Ty Majeski, who is 141 points behind him.
Majeski has been strong on short tracks but has never won a Truck race at Martinsville, unlike three of his competitors.
Daniel Hemric won in March of 2025, while Christian Eckes swept in 2024 and Grant Enfinger won in October of 2020.
With 36 entries, no one will miss the field.
Carson Ferguson is in Kaulig Racing's No. 25 'Free Agent' truck.
Sammy Smith is trying to go back-to-back in Spire Motorsports' No. 7 truck with Tristan McKee as his teammate in the No. 77 truck.
William Sawalich is back in TRICON Garage's No. 5 truck with Gavan Boschele as his teammate in the No. 1 truck.
Kasey Kleyn will race a Toyota – a No. 62 truck – from Stewart Friesen's team. Tyler Reif will drive Niece Motorsports' No. 42 truck.
Only five drivers are still in contention for the championship. Here are the current standings with each driver's odds to win it after Talladega:
Kaden Honeycutt 2,371 points (-750 to win)
All odds according to Caesars Sportsbook.
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Source: Sports
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