Tyler Reddick – 23XI Racing Photo
Tyler Reddick wins COTA for historic third straight victory to open 2026
NASCAR Wire Reports – Austin, Texas — Ever since the Chicago Bulls reign of the 1990s, the “three-peat” has been the sole province of NBA superstar Michael Jordan. Now “His Airness” has to share the distinction with one of his drivers.
Tyler Reddick made history on Sunday at Circuit of The Americas, powering the No. 45 Toyota co-owned by Jordan and Denny Hamlin to victory in the DuraMax Texas Grand Prix Powered by Reladyne.
Reddick’s reaction: Three-peat ‘means the world to me’
A week earlier at EchoPark Speedway near Atlanta, Reddick became the sixth driver to win the first two races of a NASCAR Cup Series season. At COTA on Sunday, he became the only driver in NASCAR history to win the first three.
There was nothing easy about Reddick’s 11th career victory and his second at the Texas road course. In order to claim the trophy, he had to hold off New Zealander Shane van Gisbergen, who was seeking his sixth straight road-course victory.
“It means the world,” said Reddick, who led a race-high 58 of 95 laps. “Yeah, it’s so fitting. We get going at the end there, and I’m leading and there’s SVG, the guy I’ve been trying to beat for a while now. Just to be able to outlast him there and hold on for the win is just incredible.
“Just really proud of this Chumba Casino Toyota Camry, everyone at 23XI. We worked really hard. We did not like getting beat like that at road courses. It’s one race, but it was so important, so fitting that we were able to get three in a row and make history.”
After the three victories, Reddick holds a commanding 70-point lead over 23XI teammate Bubba Wallace, who finished 11th on Sunday. Chase Elliott is third in the standings, 72 points back.
Jordan was elated with the NASCAR “three-peat.”
“He had a chance to win three in a row, and that’s the hardest one to win,” said Jordan, who led the Bulls to three straight NBA titles on two separate occasions. “He kept to his strategy, and, man, the guys put together a great car.
“I think Billy (Scott, crew chief) did an unbelievable job in calling the game, calling the race, and Tyler did a good job. He beat some good competition. You see SVG coming back there, you get a little nervous, but I think he had him covered pretty much the whole day.”
Reddick maintained the lead after a restart on Lap 79, after the Chevrolet of Stage 1 winner Ross Chastain jettisoned a wheel to cause the third caution of the afternoon and the only one for an on-track incident.
Restarting third, van Gisbergen charged past Ryan Blaney and secured the second position downhill through the esses. For the first eight laps of the final 16-lap green-flag run, SVG harried the race winner, but Reddick gradually pulled away, using his Camry’s horsepower and forward drive to gap van Gisbergen’s No. 97 Chevrolet up the hill toward Turn 1.
Reddick’s winning margin over the Trackhouse Racing driver was a deceptively large 3.944 seconds.
“We lacked a little bit of turn and a little bit of drive,” van Gisbergen said. “Tyler was just amazing. The way he was driving was really good, and his car was good. We just didn’t quite have enough, but it was a great points day for this No. 97 Safety Culture Chevrolet team, which is what we need for getting into The Chase.
“It was still an amazing result, but you’re always disappointed with second when the expectations are so high. But overall, it was a really good day.”
Defending race winner Christopher Bell finished third, followed by Stage 2 winner Ty Gibbs and Michael McDowell. Hendrick Motorsports teammates Kyle Larson and Elliott ran sixth and seventh, respectively.
Eighth was Blaney, who pressured Reddick early in the final stage, pulling beside the 23XI Camry in Turn 6A. Just as he did later with van Gisbergen, however, Reddick fended off the attack and pulled away before he and Blaney came to pit road for fuel and tires on Lap 69.
AJ Allmendinger and Denny Hamlin completed the top 10, though Allmendinger needed medical attention after the race, thanks to a failure of his cool shirt in the Texas heat, with track temperatures measured at 109 degrees at the start of the race.
Alex Bowman exited his No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet due to illness after completing 70 laps. Replacing him was Myatt Snider, a former winner in the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series, making his first Cup Series appearance.
Connor Zilisch, the highly touted rookie driver of the No. 88 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet, lined up fourth on the race’s final restart, recovering from a Turn 1 spin to start Stage 2. However, chain-reaction contact sent Austin Cindric into Zane Smith, who hit Zilisch’s left rear and sent Zilisch on his second spin of the day. Zilisch ultimately came back to finish 14th, while Smith, who was seeking his third straight top 10 of 2026, finished 33rd.
The Cup Series will next compete at Phoenix Raceway on Sunday (3:30 p.m. ET, FS1, HBO Max, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).