Reddick's Historic Start

Tyler Reddick celebrates his win in Sunday's DuraMAX Grand Prix at Circuit of the Americas. (Photo: Stephen Spillman/AP)

DuraMAX Grand Prix:

Tyler Reddick held off a late charge from Shane Van Gisbergen to cap off a dominant day at Circuit of the Americas (COTA) and capture his third straight win to start the season. With his third consecutive win to start the season, Reddick becomes the first driver in NASCAR Cup Series history to start the season off with a three-peat. He extended his points lead over teammate Bubba Wallace and has solidified himself as (at least) the regular-season champion favorite with his historic start to the 2026 campaign.

The race was solid by road course standards. The only major difference in the race from most of last year's road course races was that SVG did not end up in victory lane, although he gave Reddick a spirited battle near the end. For most of the rest of the race, it was typical road course racing. Spread out with the cream of the crop near the top (except poor Connor Zilisch, who was spun twice and had to charge to the front twice). A huge win for the day was the pit strategy and tire wear. It was noticeable and kept the race as interesting as a road course race can be without loads of attrition. Aside from that, there wasn't much action except for the restarts, a few tense moments of battling for the lead, the aforementioned Zilisch charge (and charge again) to the front. Mike Joy did give everyone a heart attack when Carson Hocevar spun on the front stretch on the last lap - great call, Mike, but boy, you put my heart into overdrive for a minute. I would be remiss to not mention and give a huge shoutout to Myatt Snider for stepping in from his pit spotting duties to finish the race for an ailing Alex Bowman. I hope Bowman is doing well, and major kudos to Myatt for always being ready to grab the steering wheel. While all this was happening, Tyler Reddick was continuing his early season ass kicking and scooted away from SVG to capture the checkered flag.

Next up, NASCAR continues its journey west as the Cup Series and the O'Reilly Series head to Phoenix Raceway, while the Craftsman Truck Series enjoys a few weeks off before its return at Darlington on March 20. This weekend, the O'Reilly Series gets the weekend started on Saturday at 7:30 p.m. EST on The CW with the GOVX 200. The Cup Series headlines the weekend on Sunday afternoon at 3:30 p.m. EST on FS1 with the Straight Talk Wireless 500.

Phoenix Picks:

Trucks = OFF

O'Reilly = Justin Allgaier

Cup = Tyler Reddick (if it ain't broke, don't fix it)