What Happened?
Tyler Reddick has won every points-paying NASCAR Cup Series race this season.
Granted, it’s only two races, but going back-to-back to start the season is still impressive.
Reddick took the lead coming to the white flag and held off a scrambling pack to win the Autotrader 400 at EchoPark Speedway on Sunday (Feb. 22), backing up his win last week in the Daytona 500. Reddick won the race from the pole after qualifying was rained out. He becomes the first driver since Matt Kenseth in 2009 to win back-to-back races to open the season.
Reddick did so without a right front fender on his No. 45 23XI Racing Toyota after he was caught up in the mayhem throughout the day. But he certainly wasn’t the only one to find trouble.
It’s Reddick’s 10th career win in the Cup Series, with each of them coming at a different track. That’s also impressive.
What Really Happened?
Need I remind you that Reddick didn’t win a single race last season?
Coming off of a 2024 season where he had a really good shot at taking home the championship, 2025 felt like a complete letdown by not finding victory lane. 23XI Racing didn’t take a step back either (no pun intended) – Bubba Wallace found victory lane in one of the biggest races of the year, the Brickyard 400.
Reddick didn’t even have that bad of a 2025 season either. A ninth-place points finish is very respectable. But even still, 2025 just felt … off.
Maybe it was the impending lawsuit his team was embroiled in. Maybe his incredible mane of hair was actually bad luck for him.
But one thing’s for sure: Based on the first two races, 2026 is a comeback tour in the making for the No. 45 team.
Now to be fair, drafting races involve a lot more luck than most tracks, but it doesn’t matter how you get them. Winning the first two races of the season is a statement, and with a revised point system that rewards the winner more than in years past, Reddick already has a 40-point lead over second-place – which, coincidentally, is his teammate Wallace.
Now, the last time a driver won back-to-back races to start the year was the aforementioned Kenseth in 2009, when he won the Daytona 500 and then won at Auto Club Speedway the next week. However, Kenseth actually had a down year overall in 2009, with those two races being his only wins, and he ended up missing the Chase entirely and finishing 14th in the standings.
In an era where parity is rampant and the winner gets rewarded more justly for winning, it doesn’t feel like what happened to Kenseth in 2009 will happen to Reddick in 2026. But the last guy before Kenseth to win back-to-back races to start the year? Jeff Gordon in 1997 – and he won the title that year.
With the way he’s radiating confidence and the way he has the support of one of the most influential people in the sport right now in NBA legend and team co-owner Michael Jordan, 2026 may be a huge year for the Reddick fandom.
Not to mention, 23XI seems to be on the upswing as a whole: Wallace has run up front a lot ever since his Brickyard victory, and even Riley Herbst, though on drafting tracks, has had a stroke of luck here and there to start the year (though crashing on Sunday didn’t help). Plus the team’s fourth car, fielded part-time for Corey Heim, is already showing flashes of excellence. Reddick winning back-to-back races fresh off of 23XI (along with Front Row Motorsports) settling the lawsuit with NASCAR is just the icing on the cake for the Jordan/Denny Hamlin-owned team.
With how 2024 ended, we know he’s capable of hunting for a championship. And after the disappointment of not winning in 2025, going back-to-back to start 2026 might be the start of a big year for Reddick and the No. 45 camp.
Paint Scheme of the Race
As a rule, Wendy’s paint schemes have almost never missed, and Ross Chastain‘s No. 1 this weekend was no different.
While nothing can top last year’s Frosty swirl paint job, the choice to switch it up and use red as the primary color of the car was an awesome choice. The pigtails on the side of the car representing the hair of Wendy herself is a design detail that is top notch. Complete with a bright blue No. 1? There was no question: this was the scheme of the weekend.
Chastain started 21st and finished third in this hot rod.
What’s Next?
It’s time to turn right for the first time this season.
The NASCAR Cup Series heads to Circuit of the Americas for the DuraMAX Grand Prix. Christopher Bell is the defending winner of the race. While the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series joins the Cup Series at COTA, perhaps the big story of the weekend will be the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series competing on the Streets of St. Petersburg as the prelude to the NTT IndyCar Series season opener. It will be a fun weekend for sure.
Coverage for the DuraMAX Grand Prix will begin on Sunday, March 1 at approximately 3:30 p.m. ET. FOX will carry television coverage (check your local listings), while the Performance Racing Network and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, Channel 90 will provide radio coverage.
Up in Boston, the Xfinity screen went black on the final restart so we enjoyed the race on what was basically a big radio. When the signal did come back after the race was over it was a choppy pixilated mess. Did anyone else have this problem?
After winning the first two races, is Reddick the favorite to win the Championship? Should we go ahead and give him the trophy now?
In years past, that would be the media’s story.
Most followers of the sport knew Reddick was a talented driver. He was never in danger of losing his ride. Before the trial, one FS writer even questioned whether Reddick might leave 23XI if they lost their charter. I see Tyler as a future champion, and not because he won a couple of races to start the season, but because he has the talent to get the job done.
how did reddick’s car get through post-race inspection missing a fender? just wondering.
Basically, if the car is damaged due to an on-track incident, and as long as there is not a safety issue, the car may continue to compete.
I’m no NASCAR rules expert, but I have stayed at a Holiday Inn Express…
thanks Carl!
So he still made minimum weight? But Alex Bowman didn’t after Charlotte in 2024?
What comeback. Just because some “experts ” at Fox said during the Daytona 500 broadcast last week that if Tyler didn’t start performing he would be out of a job, you seriously think MJ was ready to fire Tyler any week now? Prior to this year, Wallace in 5 years at 23XI, three wins. Reddick, three years at 23XI, five wins but there is no talk of Wallace being fired for lack of performance, none.