The NASCAR Cup Series Chase officially begins Saturday at Darlington Speedway. The Cook Out Southern 500 is the first of 10 races that will decide the championship — whoever accumulates the most points will hoist the trophy from Homestead-Miami Speedway in early November.

Our NASCAR predictions are in for Sunday's Cup Series race at Darlington Raceway. Here's who our experts are picking to win the 2026 Southern 500.

Robert Criscola's long-shot predictions and sleeper picks for the Southern 500 on Sunday, Sept. 6 include Brad Keselowski.

Racing Insights projects the 2026 Southern 500 at Darlington, site of the NASCAR Cup Series Chase opener (Sun., 5 p.m. ET, USA).

It took 138 races for Sheldon Creed to finally claim his first career NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series victory at Atlanta this February. On Saturday night, he earned his second trophy – and the timing couldn’t be better,

The NASCAR Cup Series takes center stage Sunday with the Cook Out Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway. The 77th running of the crown-jewel event starts at 5 p.m. ET on USA Network, with streaming available through HBO Max. USA Network begins its pre-race coverage at 4:30 p.m., while the green flag is scheduled for about 5:10 p.m.