NASCAR at Talladega 2021: Odds, TV Schedule, Live Stream and Drivers

The second race of the 2021 NASCAR Cup Series playoffs' Round of 12 will take place Sunday at the Talladega Superspeedway.

Drivers hoping to advance to the next round will take on the largest oval on the circuit for 188 laps of steep banking in the always competitive and challenging YellaWood 500.

Denny Hamlin will be on the pole after his win last time out at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, but the Joe Gibbs Racing stalwart is already in the third round of the playoffs, so this race isn't as important to his title hopes as it is to those of Joey Logano (3,045 points), who is in seventh place and a whopping 51 points behind leader Kyle Larson (3,096 points).

Brad Keselowski (3,043 points) and Kevin Harvick (3,036 points) are in eighth and 10th place, respectively, so they should have vastly different strategies heading into Sunday, hoping to close the gap in the standings.

Here's a quick look at the lineup of top drivers, schedule and odds via DraftKings Sportsbook.

Geico 500 Information

Date: Sunday, October 3

Start Time: 2 p.m. ET

TV: NBC

Live Stream: NBC Sports App

Starting Lineup

Odds

Denny Hamlin: +900 (bet $100 to win $900)

Joey Logano: +1000

Chase Elliott: +1000

Ryan Blaney: +1,000

William Byron: +1100 

Brad Keselowski: +1,200

Kyle Larson: +1,200

Kevin Harvick: +1,500

Kyle Busch: +1,500

Alex Bowman: +1,800

Preview

Not all drivers are best suited for the superspeedway, so Talladega can be a bit tricky, but it's always entertaining because it's downright Darwinian on the track.

Hamlin is the favorite going into Sunday's race, but he's got some stiff competition from drivers who like to shine in Alabama.

Of all the drivers taking the track, Keselowski has the most wins at Talladega (six), followed by teammate Logano, who has three. The Team Penske duo are both trying to remain in the top eight, so they will be pushing hard to cross the finish line first.

The third member of the Penske trio, Ryan Blaney, is in fifth place in the standings (3,063 points) and oddsmakers have him as the fourth-favorite.

And even though Keselowski has one foot out of the door with Team Penske, bettors still aren't counting him out this Sunday.

"Maybe [you would overlook him] if he wasn't racing for a championship or [was] leaving on bad terms. Or if the team was folding," professional sports bettor Zack White told Marcus DiNitto of NASCAR.com. "Everyone still wants to win in this case, so no change for me."

Looking to shake things up is Hendrick Motorsports driver and reigning NASCAR Cup Series champion Chase Elliott. Sitting in sixth place with 3,061 points, Elliott will try to draw on his first and only win at Talladega (April 2019) to make good on his third-ranked odds and race to victory.

No matter what, it's going to be an unpredictable but must-see race Sunday.