The wait is over, NASCAR is back! It all kicks off with the Clash at Bowman Gray Stadium. It’s the second year for NASCAR’s exhibition to come to the .25-mile track at the University of Winston-Salem’s sports facility. The race will serve as the warm-up for the Daytona 500 in just two weeks. Let’s dive in and look at the NASCAR Cup Series Clash picks, odds, and best bets for 2026.
NASCAR did the fans a solid this year and left the format the same as it was in 2025. They’ll use the fastest lap from each driver in their third respective practice sessions to determine their starting spots in the heat races. Fastest overall time gets pole in heat #1, second fastest pole in heat #2, and so on. Practice sessions and the four heat races will be on Saturday, January 31st.
The top five finishers in each of the four heat races will lock into Sunday’s main event. On Sunday, the last chance qualifier race will take place first, with everyone who hasn’t made the main event racing. The top two finishers in the last chance race will lock themselves into the main event. The 23rd and final starting spot will go to the highest finisher in the 2025 point standings who hasn’t already raced their way in. Meaning Kyle Larson enters the weekend as the only driver locked into Sunday’s main event.
Unless otherwise noted, most bets and DFS games are for the 200-lap main event on Sunday. Check your book’s rules on whether a driver you bet on doesn’t make the race and how that will be paid out. In that 200-lap event, only green flag laps will count. There will be a competition caution at the halfway point, and the race must end under green.
The format for the Clash didn’t change from last year. @NASCARONFOX pic.twitter.com/ITIT3a8v4E
— Bob Pockrass (@bobpockrass) January 21, 2026
Odds to Win Clash
Chase Elliott +650
Ryan Blaney +650
Denny Hamlin +700
Kyle Larson +800
Christopher Bell +850
William Byron +850
Chase Briscoe +1100
Joey Logano +1200
Ross Chastain +2000
Tyler Reddick +2200
Kyle Busch +2500
Chris Buescher +2500
Ty Gibbs +2800
Josh Berry +3000
Alex Bowman +3000
Bubba Wallace +3000
Ryan Preece +3500
Connor Zilisch +4500
Carson Hocevar +5000
Austin Dillon +5000
Austin Cindric +5500
Corey Lajoie +8000
John Hunter Nemechek +10000
Shane Van Gisbergen +10000
Erik Jones +10000
Todd Gilliland +12500
Noah Gragson +15000
Cole Custer +15000
AJ Allmendinger +20000
Michael McDowell +20000
Zane Smith +20000
Daniel Suarez +20000
Ricky Stenhouse +30000
Riley Herbst +50000
Ty Dillon +50000
Cody Ware +100000
Chad Finchum +100000
Burt Myers +100000
NASCAR Cup Series Clash Picks, Odds, and Best Bets
Ross Chastain Over Tyler Reddick (-110)
I’m very high on Tyler Reddick going into the 2026 season, but short tracks are his kryptonite. He’s simply just not very good at them overall. Comparing these two drivers’ average finish over the last three seasons on “short tracks,” Chastain (12.3) has a big advantage over Reddick (18.4). Chastain has gotten the better of Reddick in eight of the last 10 short track races.
Most notably, Chastain has beaten Reddick three races in a row at Martinsville, the closest comparison track to Bowman Gray. In last year’s Clash, the first at Bowman Gray, Chastain scored a sixth-place finish, enough to best Reddick, who finished eighth.
Ryan Blaney Top 3 (+175)
Ryan Blaney is undoubtedly one of the best short-track racers in the NASCAR garage. Over that same three-year period I referenced before, Blaney has a series-leading 8.8 average finish at short tracks. He’s the co-favorite in this race for good reason. He needed the champion’s provisional last year to make the main event after issues in the heat race. But once he got there, he drove from 23rd all the way to second and challenged Chase Elliott for the win late in the race.
Blaney has three top-two finishes in the last five Martinsville races, including two dominant wins. He knows how to do short tracks. You don’t need him to win to cash this bet; just have a solid day and place on the podium.
Kyle Larson to Win (+800)
We’re kicking the season off by getting a discount on the defending two-time series champion? Sign me up. Larson is also stellar on short tracks, checking in just behind Blaney’s 8.8 average finish at 8.9. Larson has more wins (4), top 5’s (11), and top 10’s (14) in those 18 races than Blaney, and he’s led twice as many laps, checking in at 1,442. Things didn’t go Larson’s way in the Clash last year, but honestly, a lot of things didn’t until the final five laps of the season. I simply cannot overlook Larson in this spot at this number. It could be the start of a dominant season for the driver of the Hendrick #5 Chevrolet.
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