The NASCAR Cup Series will hold its first Saturday race of the year as the 2026 Cook Out 400 takes place from Richmond Raceway. The green flag drops at 7 p.m. ET as the NASCAR Richmond 2026 winner will be declared under the lights. Austin Dillon has been the victor each of the last two years as he looks to join Richard Petty, who won five in a row, as the only drivers with at least three straight checkered flags. Visit our DraftKings promo code review and get $150 in bonus bets instantly as a new user after $5+ in wagers here:
However, Ryan Blaney is the +400 favorite, per the 2026 Cook Out 400 odds as he has two wins already this season and will start in the pole position on Saturday. Other top contenders include Denny Hamlin (+500), Christopher Bell (+650), Chase Briscoe (+700) and Joey Logano (+750). Dillon is a longer shot at +1600. Before locking in any NASCAR at Richmond predictions or NASCAR DFS lineups, you need to see the projected leaderboard from Mike McClure’s proven model.
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 30 winners since 2021 and nailed Denny Hamlin’s back-to-back wins at Michigan and Pocono in June. Anyone following his NASCAR betting picks at their favorite betting apps could have seen huge returns.
Now, McClure has turned his attention to the NASCAR Cook Out 400. He’s only sharing his best bets at SportsLine.
2026 NASCAR at Richmond predictions
For NASCAR at Richmond 2026, McClure is fading Joey Logano, one of the favorites at +750. The model projects that he doesn’t even finish in the top 5. Logano has a relatively strong overall track history at Richmond, but hasn’t taken first place since 2017. He’s finished three straight races this year in the top 10, but didn’t finish better than 12th in his previous four events.
Another surprise: The model is high on Tyler Reddick at +2500. He has five wins this season overall and a pair of top-10 finishes in the past three races. He has finished in the top 10 at Richmond twice in his time with 23XI Racing as well. See which other drivers the model is backing at SportsLine.
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How to make 2026 Cook Out 400 picks
McClure is also high on another longshot at around +2000 who makes a run for the top of the leaderboard, potentially netting any backer a huge payday. You can only see who they are here.
So who wins the 2026 Cook Out 400, and which longshots could stun NASCAR at Richmond? Visit SportsLine now to see the 2026 NASCAR at Richmond picks and best bets from a NASCAR model that nailed back-to-back Denny Hamlin wins, and find out.
2026 NASCAR at Richmond odds, lineup
See full NASCAR Cook Out 400 picks at SportsLine.
(Odds from FanDuel, subject to change)
Ryan Blaney +400
Denny Hamlin +500
Christopher Bell +650
Chase Briscoe +700
Joey Logano +750
Ty Gibbs +1000
Kyle Larson +1300
Austin Dillon +1600
Bubba Wallace +1800
William Byron +1900
Josh Berry +2200
Chase Elliott +2500
Tyler Reddick +2500
Austin Cindric +3500
Ryan Preece +4000
Brad Keselowski +4500
Carson Hocevar +4500
Chris Buescher +5500
Ross Chastain +6000
Alex Bowman +7000
Daniel Suarez +8000
Riley Herbst +8000
Shane van Gisbergen +10000
Erik Jones +12500
Connor Zilisch +12500
Zane Smith +12500
Michael McDowell +20000
Todd Gilliland +25000
Austin Hill +25000
AJ Allmendinger +30000
John Hunter Nemechek +30000
Ricky Stenhouse Jr. +40000
Ty Dillon +50000
Cole Custer +50000
Cody Ware +50000
Josh Bilicki +50000
Noah Gragson +50000
