Tyler Reddick achieved a historic feat by becoming the inaugural competitor to secure victories in the initial three NASCAR Cup Series events of a season, accomplishing this on Sunday by surpassing one of the leading road course specialists in contemporary NASCAR history.
Reddick claimed victory at the Circuit of the Americas this past Sunday, fending off Shane van Gisbergen. Following his triumph at the Daytona 500 and the subsequent race in Atlanta a week prior, Reddick joined an elite group as the sixth driver in NASCAR annals, and the first since Matt Kenseth in 2009, to win the opening two Cup Series competitions of a given year.
He has now cemented this unique distinction solely for himself.
“In today’s landscape of Cup racing, winning the Daytona 500 is incredibly challenging. It’s equally difficult to navigate [Atlanta] successfully, and we managed to do both,” Reddick commented. “And to successfully hold off Shane at the conclusion of that race to make it three consecutive wins, yes, it feels particularly apt given the obstacles we overcame, especially in the last fortnight, to achieve this.”
Reddick’s victory at the Daytona 500 came from leading only the final lap, as a substantial 37 out of 41 vehicles in the race were officially involved in an incident. Across his last two races, Reddick has led for 111 laps out of a potential 366.
His win in Atlanta occurred despite his vehicle lacking its entire right-front fender following a collision with fewer than 50 laps remaining. He skillfully maneuvered back to the forefront of the pack, seizing the lead from his teammate Bubba Wallace with two laps left, preceding a green-white-checkered finish triggered by a late caution flag.
Michael Jordan celebrates with Tyler Reddick after Reddick won his third straight race to open the 2026 NASCAR Cup Series season. (Photo by James Gilbert/Getty Images)
(James Gilbert via Getty Images)
On Sunday, he commenced the race from the pole position, while van Gisbergen began in 13th. The former Australian Supercars titlist has displayed remarkable dominance since transitioning to NASCAR. He achieved victory in his initial start at the Chicago road course in 2023, subsequently securing five out of six road course races on the Cup Series calendar in 2025, with many of those triumphs being overwhelmingly commanding.
The single road course event he did not conquer? The COTA race where Reddick commenced from the pole.
As the final laps elapsed on Sunday, Reddick acknowledged needing to remind himself that an overwhelming lead was unnecessary. His sole requirement was to cross the finish line ahead of van Gisbergen.
“It’s critically important simply to avoid errors because, who knows, Shane might have been employing tactics, right? Like easing off slightly, observing if I overextend myself and then I fall back to him by the race’s conclusion,” Reddick stated.
“There’s just so much at play. He’s simply exceptional on road courses. Even when I was pulling away, right, it was like, alright, I simply didn’t allow myself to believe it was decided until it genuinely was.”
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Reddick commenced the season with eight career wins, drawing even with Alex Bowman and Kyle Petty on NASCAR’s all-time Cup Series wins roster. With his triumph at COTA, Reddick now boasts more victories than prominent drivers such as Sterling Marlin, Clint Bowyer, and NASCAR Hall of Famer Donnie Allison, all accomplished in merely 221 starts.
This represents a winning percentage that ranks among the finest across all currently competing drivers, despite a season without wins in 2025. After securing three victories and participating in the championship race in 2024, Reddick was one of only two drivers to qualify for the 16-person playoff field in 2025 without a single win.
However, that absence of a win was an anomaly considering Reddick’s underlying performance metrics. And it appears even more incongruous now. Only seven drivers had a greater number of top-five finishes and a superior average finish than Reddick did in the previous season, and no driver completed more laps.
In 2026, Reddick is accumulating victories in a NASCAR era where the system is intentionally designed to prevent any single driver from dominating. The current Cup Series vehicle is constructed with standardized components that every team procures from the same suppliers. The margins for competitive advantages are narrower than ever before.
This might render Reddick’s continuous success even more remarkable. And it’s a run of form that his 23XI Racing team co-owner, Michael Jordan, explicitly wished for him to maintain prior to Sunday’s competition. Just as he had been present in Daytona and Atlanta, Jordan attended the event in Austin on Sunday.
“He reminded me early this week that he operates in sets of three. He anticipated nothing less today,” Reddick mentioned, referencing Jordan’s two sequences of three consecutive NBA Finals championships. “I was genuinely pleased to be able to meet the high expectations he sets for us and to deliver three in a row. That was truly a special moment to share with him.”
