5 Points to Ponder: Tyler Reddick Makes a Statement, Not Just History

1. Tyler Reddick Goes From Life-Changing to Narrative-Changing in a Week

If you’ve ever been to the Wikipedia page of a NASCAR driver, you’ll know that there’s a field for each series in the info box that says ‘Last win.’ From October 2024 to earlier this month, no one has to change that for Tyler Reddick. Now someone has done it on consecutive weeks.

Reddick captured the biggest trophy of his racing career by prevailing in the 68th Daytona 500. It was the kind of accomplishment that legitimately made you wonder what he could do for an encore.

Turns out he and his No. 45 team took that idea as literally as possible and figured they would just win at EchoPark Speedway, too. As methods of breaking a long winless drought go, that’s about as emphatic as it gets.

It proved a lot about Reddick and his 23XI Racing crew. It showed they weren’t going to be satisfied or complacent after winning the sport’s most prestigious race, coming back with the same focus and speed — certainly helped by having another drafting track right after Daytona.

They’re going to need to stay after it. Only five drivers won the first two NASCAR Cup Series races to start a season prior to Reddick, and the most recent one, Matt Kenseth, did not figure into the championship picture when he did it in 2009. It would be somewhat ironic if Reddick finds himself in a similar situation, since under the playoff system NASCAR just left behind, he would be sitting quite pretty right now.

But while contending all season isn’t guaranteed, the story around Reddick has already shifted. He’s no longer trying to find his form or figure out how to be around at the end of races. Winning the Daytona 500 was equal parts accomplishment and relief. Winning Atlanta was more of a statement, the kind that will have people in the stands and in the garage looking differently at Reddick for the rest of 2026.

2. Some Things That Will Definitely Hold Up Over the Full NASCAR Season (Unless They Don’t)

Overreacting to what happens over the first few weeks of any sports season isn’t an original idea by any means. Quite a few columnists do it, and while the rest of us probably shouldn’t join in, it’s hard to resist. Because it’s just … so … fun.

So let’s do it, with some extra exclamation points for that extra dash of hyperbole.

• 23XI is the best team in the Cup Series! Hey, its drivers have won every race and sit 1-2 in the points. Riley Herbst is even contributing.
• Spire Motorsports is a powerhouse! Carson Hocevar has been both the storm and the eye of the storm at various times, but usually near the front. Daniel Suarez has a bunch of points despite leading no laps. Hendrick Motorsports could only dream of such success.
• Zane Smith is this year’s breakout star! All he does is record top 10s.
• Shane van Gisbergen has figured out ovals! He already has a top 10 and was suspiciously high in the running order, even when getting caught up in wrecks instead of, you know, being in the back half of the pack and getting caught up in wrecks.
• A bunch of top names will miss The Chase! Sorry Kyle Larson, Denny Hamlin, Christopher Bell and Alex Bowman. There’s always next year.

Definitely look for all of these to hold up to this fall. And just imagine the winking emoji being there at the end of that sentence.

3. If You’ve Ever Tried and Tried and Tried Before Succeeding, You Identify With Sheldon Creed

Seeing as we’re just coming off another two weeks of Olympic competition and have been exposed to so many expertly packaged human interest stories by NBC, it’s easy to be a little cynical about sporting drama without any buildup. Despite that, it was hard not to be moved by the end of the Atlanta NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series race, which saw things finally fall just right for Sheldon Creed to find victory lane after being the proverbial bridesmaid so many times (15, to be exact, coming over 138 series starts).

You could tell from his post-race interview that failing to break through in NASCAR’s second series has been weighing on Creed. He talked about his victory in terms of how it might revive his career, explaining that after winning at the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series level, it’s just expected that a driver will do the same once they move up.

Whether that’s unnecessarily self-critical or merely realistic is a fair question. It’s almost certainly true that without wins, eventually teams would give up on Creed and he’d have to watch opportunities that might have gone to him slip away to others instead.

Now? Maybe not. Between Ryan Preece at the Cook Out Clash and Creed at Atlanta, it’s already been a good season for real, authentic emotion from NASCAR winners.

4. The Oddest Couple in NASCAR Actually Worked Well Together

While it’s possible he has moved into the “we’re pulling for him now because he’s a veteran who doesn’t win as much now” phase of his career, Kyle Busch famously and comfortably played the heel for much of his storied career. Hocevar seems like he has no problem filling that role for this decade. So logic would suggest that there’s no way pairing them on the same Truck Series team would work.

Except it did. Spire Motorsports put Busch and Hocevar in its trucks at Atlanta and it turned out to be the best possible decision. That’s meant literally, as Busch does what he’s done more often than any driver ever and won the race, with Hocevar coming home second.

Rowdy may not have taken the checkered flag if not for a push at just the right time from Hocever, and Busch even said nice things about him after the race, calling him “a great teammate.”

It seems inconceivable, but there have been plenty of great villain team-ups over the years, at least in fictional worlds. The Busch-Hocevar duo may be giving Legion of Doom, but at least for now, it’s producing wins and surprisingly good vibes.

5. Should We Expect Connor Zilisch to Challenge Shane van Gisbergen for the W at COTA?

The first road course race of the Cup season arrives quickly this year, as it will be this coming weekend at Circuit of the Americas. Barring a mechanical failure or bad luck, that should mean another dub for van Gisbergen, if for no other reason than he won the last five of them in 2025.

It’s worth pointing out that the one he didn’t win was COTA, where he came home sixth. There’s also a new contender to challenge for victories in the form of Connor Zilisch, who has established himself at a young age as a threat on any road course (and not just in stock cars).

Zilisch proved that by doing a pretty fair impression of van Gisbergen during his brief but dominant stay in the O’Reilly Series, winning at Watkins Glen International in a cameo appearance in 2024 and ripping off five road course victories in 2025. He also got a start at COTA in Cup last year, but he finished 37th after getting caught up in a crash.

Still, he’s a full-timer in the top series this year and should feel more comfortable because of that, despite having dreadful luck at the two drafting tracks that kicked off the season. We know Trackhouse Racing provides cars that can win since they’re the ones van Gisbergen is driving, too.

Maybe a better question is whether it’s fair to expect Zilisch, still just 19 years old, to be the dragon slayer at COTA. For the people who are rooting against van Gisbergen, it may be either that or hoping the rest of the field got better over the offseason. Give me the young phenom in that case, though hopefully he doesn’t feel any additional pressure being viewed in that way.