The best fast food chains (meaning cheap with drive through service) are:
1) Blake’s Lotaburger (best fast food restaurant by a mile, everytime I’m in the Southwest where I can go to one, I do. They are mostly in Texas with a few in Arizona and Western Texas.).
2) Milo’s (their “secret” sauce is better than Mickey Ds and their seasoned crinkle cut fries are always on point. They are exclusively in Alabama at the moment.).
3) Jack’s (not quite as good as their Alabama competitor Milo’s but a decent second best in the region, they’re limited to mostly Alabama with a few scattered in Mississippi, Georgia and Tennessee).
4) Maryland Fried Chicken (my favorite chain chicken narrowly edging out Krispy Krunchy, Lindy’s, Bojangles and Popeyes in that order. They are located in Florida, Georgia and South Carolina despite the name).
5) Del Taco (Basically the answer to “What if Taco Bell used real, fresh ingredients not frozen D grade meats and veggies. They’re mostly in California but I see there’s a smattering of locations in the Midwest along with those in Florida and Georgia).
As far as favorite national chain…I guess Popeyes? I’m not a big fan of any of the national hamburger chains and never go to them locally in Tallahassee other than Mickey Ds for the occasional Egg McMuffin for breakfast and Taco Bell for the occasional Mexican Pizza and other terrible “Mexican” food. Popeyes is my fifth favorite fried chicken place (excluding nugget and tender places like Guthries, Raising Cane’s, Slim Chickens and Foosacklys) so that’s not a real ringing endorsement from me. When on the highway and there’s only the biggest national chains to choose from, I usually in order go Hardee’s/Carl’s Jr, Mickey D’s, Burger King, Wendy’s and only then to Sonic, Checkers and the rest. I will say I do like both Krystal and White Castle as road food as I love the steamed sliders at both and the corn pups and little chili pups at Krystal. But neither are big enough to put on a national list imo.