After a date at Circuit of The Americas, the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series continues westward for a contest at Phoenix Raceway on Saturday (7:30 p.m. ET, The CW, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
The 1-mile Avondale, Arizona, venue will be the first non-superspeedway or road course event of 2026. Jesse Love won the most recent contest at the track, clinching the 2025 championship as a result.
Cup Series regular William Byron will make an appearance, driving the No. 88 JR Motorsports Chevrolet as Rajah Caruth makes his first start for Jordan Anderson Racing this year. Brent Crews will additionally make his second career O’Reilly start this weekend. The 17-year-old Crews tallied a sixth-place result in his series debut last weekend at Circuit of The Americas.
The NASCAR Cup Series heads west for a date in the desert on Sunday at Phoenix Raceway (3:30 p.m. ET, FS1, HBO Max, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
The 1-mile Avondale, Arizona, facility will be the first non-superspeedway or road course event on the 2026 regular-season schedule. Ryan Blaney won the most recent contest at the track in November, while Christopher Bell is the defending spring victor.
Austin Hill will race in the No. 33 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet. Hill piloted the No. 33 machine five times in 2025, tallying one top-10 finish (ninth, Chicago).
Thirty-seven cars are entered into this week’s event.
Martinsville Speedway is a special track for Lee Pulliam; he has two victories, nine top fives and almost 200 laps led in the facility’s prestigious Late Model Stock Car race, the annual ValleyStar Credit Union 300.
Pulliam always dreamed of making NASCAR national series starts at Martinsville, but as the years progressed, those aspirations faded.
Now Pulliam is still emotional about the day Dale Earnhardt Jr. confirmed the 37-year-old will drive JR Motorsports’ No. 9 Chevrolet in the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series race at Martinsville on March 28. Pulliam never imagined such an opportunity.
Pulliam just two years ago considered himself retired, content with being both a team owner and a father. Now he’s is preparing to fulfill a lifelong dream in a race he believes he can win.
“I always thought I would make it one day,” Pulliam said. “I’ve had a ton of success, but it just never worked out. It wasn’t the right time for me. When I quit racing to take care of my family and further my business, I really thought that dream of driving in the top series was just not going to happen.”
“It’s so crazy how quick things in life can change.”
Lee Pulliam’s stout short-track career includes four NASCAR Local Racing Series titles and two victories in the ValleyStar Credit Union 300 at Martinsville Speedway. (Photo: Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images)
Such an opportunity is not exactly unfamiliar territory to Pulliam, as he came close to breaking into the national ranks in 2014.
Driving for Hattori Racing Enterprises at the time, Pulliam excelled in his ARCA Menards Series East debut at Florida’s New Smyrna Speedway, earning a fifth-place finish after rebounding from a flat tire. Pulliam backed up that performance with another fifth at Daytona International Speedway’s short track, which placed him second in the East Series standings behind Daniel Suarez.
The momentum Pulliam was generating fell apart during the following race at Bristol Motor Speedway.
While Pulliam was running inside the top five, a slower car driven by Jerry Dawson spun to the inside of Turns 1-2. Pulliam’s spotter did not alert him to the spin in time, causing Pulliam to drive nearly full speed into Dawson’s driver’s side and destroying both cars.
Hattori Racing Enterprises did have a backup for Pulliam to utilize, but he admitted it lacked the efficiency of the car Pulliam had driven to two top fives. After two disappointing showings at Greenville-Pickens Speedway and Richmond Raceway, Pulliam and Hattori Racing Enterprises parted ways, leaving the Late Model Stock veteran back where he started.
“It looked like I was going to get a good chance and a good opportunity there, but it just didn’t pan out,” Pulliam said. “I’ll always be thankful for those few races I did with [the East Series]. There were some great memories and some tough memories at the same time.
“I felt like I was so close to breaking in but so far away at the same time.”
Pulliam had no issues picking up where he left off in Late Model Stocks; he won his second ValleyStar Credit Union 300 that same year and later claimed two NASCAR Local Racing Series national titles, bringing his total to four. At the end of the decade, Pulliam shifted his focus to team ownership with the goal of imparting his knowledge on the next generation.
Among those who have driven for Lee Pulliam Performance are Corey Heim and Brenden “Butterbean” Queen, both of whom have won titles at the national level. Seeing his drivers excel outside of Late Model Stocks is a great source of pride for Pulliam, though he still expressed a desire to one day get back behind the wheel himself.
As a car owner, Lee Pulliam continued his efficiency in Late Model Stocks, winning races with drivers like Brenden “Butterbean” Queen. (Photo: Adam Fenwick/NASCAR)
Pulliam’s return to racing ultimately was sparked by his father Stuart’s health battle; his Whipple procedure in 2024 resulted in complications that included kidney failure and dialysis.
There were moments when Pulliam was unsure whether his dad would fully recover. Knowing how much Stuart supported his racing endeavors over the years, Pulliam offered him some motivation that led to both men fulfilling their respective promises.
“I made a deal with [my dad] that if he’d fight hard and pull through it, I’d find the funds to go race Martinsville later that year,” Pulliam said. “Butterbean and his sponsors knew about it, and Butterbean was actually able to run the Truck [Series] race at Kansas, which was the same weekend as Martinsville.
“His sponsors asked me if I wanted to drive the No. 03 car so I wouldn’t have to search for different sponsorship to be able to run. What a blessing it was.”
A recovering Stuart witnessed Pulliam make his first Late Model Stock in four years during the 2024 ValleyStar Credit Union 300 at Martinsville. Although Pulliam’s 13th-place showing was below his expectations, he cherished the experience at such a special venue.
When he left Martinsville that evening, Pulliam had already decided he would give the ValleyStar Credit Union 300 another go in 2025. He spent the next year quietly preparing, determined to re-establish himself as a favorite for the prestigious grandfather clock.
Pulliam unloaded as one of the fastest cars in the 2025 ValleyStar Credit Union 300 field and ended up qualifying on the outside pole. That speed carried into the main event, as Pulliam maintained solid track position all evening and passed one of his former drivers in Landon Pembelton for the lead with 10 laps to go, putting himself within reach of a third Martinsville win.
A late caution forced Pulliam to play defense against Pembelton in overtime, with Pembelton gaining the upper hand by 0.024 seconds at the start-finish line. The loss was heartbreaking for Pulliam, but the entire weekend at Martinsville validated to Pulliam that he could still contend for victories against the best in Late Model Stocks.
“Confidence is everything in sports,” Pulliam said. “No matter who you are, if you’re [out] that long, you’re going to question things. After running 13th the year before, I thought ‘that’s not bad, but that’s not who Lee Pulliam is.’ It was nice to know that was still inside of me. I felt like I was my old self.”
Lee Pulliam remains confident in his driving ability following two runner-up finishes in his two 2025 starts, including the ValleyStar Credit Union 300 at Martinsville Speedway. (Ted Malinowski/NASCAR)
Earnhardt Jr. took notice of what Pulliam accomplished at Martinsville and worked out a deal to put him in his No. 88 Chevrolet for the Thanksgiving Classic at Southern National Motorsports Park. Just like he did at Martinsville, Pulliam drove a clean, precise race and ended up settling for another strong runner-up finish.
Now Pulliam will find himself in one of JR Motorsports’ O’Reilly Series cars in just a few weeks, an opportunity he considers to be once in a lifetime.
While Martinsville is familiar territory to Pulliam, the O’Reilly Series chassis presents plenty of unknowns. Pulliam plans to work closely with Earnhardt Jr. and his crew chief Philip Bell to understand every component of his car and other aspects of the O’Reilly Series, such as how to properly execute a pit stop.
The circumstances could not be better for Pulliam ahead of his O’Reilly Series debut, but he understands he needs to be fully committed to have a chance at being competitive alongside his four JR Motorsports teammates.
“It’s going to be different,” Pulliam said. “You have to use a ton of brake pressure in these things, and you move the apex further around the corner than you do the Late Model Stocks. It’s not going to be an easy task my any means; it’s going to take a lot of hard work and studying by me. I know Philip Bell is going to have a rocket ship for me to drive. That’s the nice part.
“I’m in the best equipment there is, and I’ve got the best people working on it, so it’s up to me to perform.”
An immense challenge lies ahead for Pulliam at Martinsville, but it is one he has waited long enough to tackle.
Pulliam more than a decade ago watched his first chance at NASCAR fade away due to elements outside of his control. Rather than let the setback deter him, he devoted himself to Late Model Stocks by becoming one of the most successful figures in the discipline’s history as a driver and later as an owner.
A lot has changed for Pulliam on his journey toward his first O’Reilly Series start, but one prevailing constant is Martinsville’s impact. The historic track was where Pulliam first made a name for himself with his maiden ValleyStar Credit Union 300 win in 2011. Fittingly, Martinsville also became the track where Pulliam revitalized his driving career.
The 2026 schedule is Pulliam’s busiest as a driver this decade, especially with the ongoing preparations surrounding his O’Reilly Series debut. He knows he might never get another chance to race at the national level, but that concept is only motivating him to upset the series regulars and earn his most cathartic Martinsville victory to date.
“I’m getting goosebumps thinking about the possibility of [winning],” Pulliam said. “It’s not going to be easy. The whole field is stout. There’s so many that can win, but if I do get it done, it would be unbelievable. I know it’s possible, and I know we can do it, so I’m going to give it all I got.
“Whether I run 30th or I cross the finish line P1, I can promise you that I gave everything that I had and I will be grateful for every second of it.”
AUSTIN, Texas — There may have been something to Tyler Reddick crossing paths with the self-ordained “Best in the World” as Reddick and WWE wrestler CM Punk both climbed out of the No. 45 23XI Racing Toyota on last Monday’s taping of “Monday Night Raw” in Atlanta.
Reddick can march to a similar, prideful drum as he’s NASCAR’s best with three consecutive victories to start the 2026 Cup Series season.
It’s a daunting enough task for drivers to win just one race at the Cup level.
That task only becomes greater when it’s the Daytona 500. Reddick delivered to earn his first Harley J. Earl Trophy.
The adrenaline-snatching EchoPark Speedway demands the utmost mental focus with its close-quartered, handling-dependent drafting action. Reddick made it two in a row, despite a missing right-front fender.
Then, there’s the 2.4-mile, 17-turn road course of Circuit of The Americas that presents one of NASCAR’s great challenges to get your car to handle at its best for both left and right turns.
Reddick entered the weekend as one of the best on road courses, but beating Shane van Gisbergen in this discipline is an enormous challenge. After all, the New Zealander had won five consecutive races on such tracks and was one victory away from matching Jeff Gordon for the longest road-course win streak in the sport.
How did Reddick’s weekend go?
He soared to pole position on Saturday and led a race-high 58 laps to become the first driver ever to score three wins to open a season — all while holding off the man to beat in van Gisbergen throughout the closing laps.
“I think it’s so fitting that it had to happen coming here,” Reddick said in his race-winning press conference. “The Daytona 500 is so hard to win. It’s so hard to survive at EchoPark Speedway. We were able to do that and to be able to hold off Shane at the end of that race to make it three in a row. Yeah, seems just very fitting that we had to go through the hurdles we did, especially these last two weeks, to pull this off.”
James Gilbert | Getty Images
At the drop of the green flag, Reddick’s advantage leading the field was swiftly taken as he fell outside the top five with van Gisbergen ahead of him. As the race went on, Reddick put himself back in front with a constant challenge of 2023 series champion Ryan Blaney on his rear bumper. One mistake and Blaney was going to pounce to the lead.
Reddick was perfect and was well on his way to a dominant win, but a Lap 75 caution re-racked the field. And suddenly, Reddick had the dilemma of van Gisbergen in his mirror for a restart into the Turn 1 climb, where the Kiwi is stellar in his braking and making passes.
Reddick held serve on van Gisbergen, but the No. 97 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet wasn’t going away.
Van Gisbergen stayed within striking distance for most of the final run to the checkered flag, but a perfect performance from Reddick ultimately saw van Gisbergen fade, and the afterburners of the No. 45 Toyota kicked in to take the win by a near four-second margin.
Did Reddick think about what he was about to accomplish in the final laps?
“I think for me in the heat of the battle, it’s like, ‘alright, I’ve got to find a way to hold off Shane,’ ” Reddick said. “As I started to pull away, certainly, it’s like, ‘alright, there’s a lot on the line here.’ Hit your marks. Don’t be a hero. You don’t have to win by eight seconds. So important to just not make mistakes. Shane could have been playing games, right? Like back off a bit, see if I burn my stuff up, and I back up to him at the end of the race. I just didn’t let myself think it was over until it was truly over. So certainly used the pressure of what’s on the line to motivate myself to hit my marks and close it out.”
Not only is Reddick’s individual feat historic, but for 23XI Racing, it became the first organization to win the first three races of a season since 1963 (Petty Enterprises).
Accolades like that are what 23XI co-owner Denny Hamlin envisioned when he made the surprise signing of Reddick in the summer of 2022.
But what does Hamlin believe the most impressive part of Reddick is?
“He’s complete,” Hamlin said. “I mean, the one area that we continue to work on with him is the short tracks. I think that’s where he can still improve a little bit, but we’re working pretty hard on improving him at those types of tracks. But he’s complete and certainly more complete than I am at this stage. He’s got really good things going on. I think we’re steadily seeing him continue to get better. What I love to see is that the work he puts in and things that we provide him for information, he’s soaking it all in and he’s using it and executing it. What I’ve seen out of him over the last few years, where he had some weaknesses, our team has helped him shore those up, and it’s amazing to see how well he’s doing.”
And of course, there’s Hamlin’s 23XI ownership partner in NBA Hall of Famer Michael Jordan, who’s been front and center at each race to witness Reddick’s historic start.
Jordan may know a thing or two about “three-peats” as he was the star of two different three-peat championship runs with the Chicago Bulls in the 1990s.
But one could argue that Jordan may be relishing his accomplishments as a racing owner almost as much as his untouchable greatness on the hardwood.
“Tyler came in with the most pressure,” Jordan said to FOX Sports after the race. “Everybody expected him … or he had a chance to win three in a row, and that’s the hardest one to win. He kept to his strategy, and man, the guys put together a great car. I think [crew chief] Billy [Scott] did an unbelievable job in 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.”
James Gilbert | Getty Images
Now, Reddick embarks on territory that could put him among the untouchables.
Four wins in a row haven’t been accomplished since seven-time Cup champion Jimmie Johnson did so in 2007.
With additional points paid to race winners in the new Chase championship format, Reddick’s lead has ballooned to 70 points over teammate Bubba Wallace. To put Reddick’s lead into context, the next largest difference in points is between Chase Elliott and Ryan Blaney (14), who are third and fourth, respectively.
As it stands, Reddick is NASCAR’s best, and as the weeks go by, that will come with chasing history yet maintaining his margin as he pursues his first Cup Series championship.
“We’ll just manage it lap after lap, corner after corner,” Reddick said. “Certainly, I’ll just have to be mindful, understand what I’m racing for in those moments. Is it worth the risk or is it not? But certainly, I think to an extent, if we just continue to bring really fast race cars, we won’t have to put ourselves in tricky spots in the race. We’re able to kind of race a little bit smarter. For me, I enjoy this. I know it’s ironic I’m saying that with a 70-point lead, but just to be able to execute in the first two races that are just hard to have clean days, to get the points that we did there, and then come in here and be able to grab stage points in Stage 2 and then obviously win the race is real special.”
AUSTIN, Texas — Through the opening two NASCAR Cup Series races in 2026, nothing had gone the way of Joe Gibbs Racing’s Christopher Bell and Ty Gibbs. Both drivers responded in a big way in Sunday’s DuraMax Texas Grand Prix Powered by RelaDyne at Circuit of The Americas.
Entering COTA, the JGR teammates were buried outside the top 30 in points, tallying 42 points combined. It wasn’t for a lack of speed, however, as Bell was wrecked from behind while running inside the top 10 in the final 10 laps of the Daytona 500. Last weekend in overtime at EchoPark Speedway, Carson Hocevar filled a hole and nudged the No. 20 Toyota from the front row and into the outside wall.
No such trouble found the teammates in Texas. Bell nabbed a third-place finish while Gibbs took the checkered flag fourth, both earning their best respective finishes of 2026 so far.
An added emphasis were on points for both Bell and Gibbs at COTA in different ways. Adam Stevens, crew chief of the No. 20 car, elected to flip the stages to put Bell in a position to capitalize come the final stage. Sophomore Cup crew chief Tyler Allen’s play was to keep Gibbs out for stage points, which included the Stage 2 victory, Gibbs’ first stage win at a road course. Each time Gibbs dropped to the middle of the field after pitting, the No. 54 car surged forward.
“There was so much going on with strategy today that my team did a great job with that,” Gibbs said. “I just stayed after it and listened to them and brought it home for a good finish.”
Bell, however, wasn’t as pleased as Gibbs. The handling for him wasn’t as secure as Gibbs’ No. 54 Toyota, as he slipped late in runs on multiple occasions, including a freefall outside the top 10 during Stage 1. The bold strategy call for Stevens was to pit Bell during a caution with 20 laps remaining, believing a fresh set of Goodyear tires could power him forward.
Power, indeed.
Restarting outside the top 10, Bell rallied to third over the final 16-lap stint, pressuring Shane van Gisbergen for second position in the race’s final laps. Ultimately, he couldn’t work past either SVG or eventual race winner Tyler Reddick, with Bell earning 34 points in third.
“We were super aggressive on strategy, jumping the stages, keeping our track position the best that we could,” Bell noted. “We gambled on making an extra pit stop in the third stage and it got us a good finish out of it, but clearly, I wasn’t going to run with the top guys.
“We knew that we would run good. We honestly thought we would run better than we did. We got a good finish out of it, but we ran worse than where we finished. This team does a good job of grinding out races, that’s for sure. We were there whenever it mattered and got a good finish out of it.”
By chasing stage points and finishing fourth overall, Gibbs netted 48 points, trailing only Reddick for the most in the race. He leaped Bell and 15 other drivers in the regular-season standings, bumping up to 17th and is the lead driver for JGR through three events. Bell jumped seven positions himself, now sitting 24th in the regular-season battle, nine points below Ryan Preece who currently sits on the cutline for The Chase.
“We’ve been fast all year, just had crappy luck and not good finishes,” Gibbs added. “Just keep going: good finish, good points day. Wish we could have won.”
Both JGR drivers are thrilled to get away from superspeedways and road courses, despite their usual prowess while making left- and right-handed turns. With Tyler Reddick’s scorching start — becoming the first driver in NASCAR history to win the first three Cup races of the season — Bell and the No. 20 car are 127 points behind the championship lead despite entering the season as one of the favorites to win the championship.
“I’m just glad that we’re done with the lottery races,” Bell said.
The series heads further west to Phoenix Raceway on Sunday (3:30 p.m. ET, FS1, HBO Max, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio), where Bell has won the last two spring events.
AJ Allmendinger received medical assistance exiting his race car following Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series race at Circuit of The Americas.
Allmendinger wheeled the No. 16 Kaulig Racing Chevrolet to a ninth-place finish in the DuraMax Grand Prix Powered by RelaDyne, but a malfunctioning cool suit left Allmendinger in need of assistance post-race.
After laying on pit road following the event, Allmendinger was helped onto a stretcher and taken to the infield care center, where a NASCAR spokesperson confirmed he was evaluated and released.
Despite the adversity, Allmendinger rallied to his third consecutive top-20 finish to open the 2026 campaign and earned his first top 10 of the season.
AUSTIN, Texas — After winning Saturday’s NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series race at Circuit of The Americas, Shane van Gisbergen admitted his No. 97 Cup Series hot rod for Trackhouse Racing was lacking pace. He wasn’t certain he’d be able to contend for the victory, a rarity for the New Zealander at road courses.
But come the green flag in Sunday’s DuraMax Grand Prix, van Gisbergen did what SVG does on road courses, maneuvering the car forward in a hurry. By Lap 7, he had already progressed to sixth position, more than cutting his track-position deficit in half from a 13th-place starting spot, his worst starting effort in 12 career road-course appearances.
Ultimately, van Gisbergen’s pursuit fell just short of history. After winning each of the last five road-course races in the Cup Series, van Gisbergen ended Sunday second, 3.944 seconds shy of tying Jeff Gordon’s record of six consecutive triumphs at a road course in Cup competition.
“It’s still good. I’ve always had [expletive] results here,” van Gisbergen said. “It’s good to get a win and a second for the weekend. Yesterday, I felt like we were a long way off and today, I think the car was much better, so the guys did a good job of tuning it up.”
It took just over 10 laps for van Gisbergen to crack the top five. He and Trackhouse Racing teammate Ross Chastain chased stage points in Stage 1, as the No. 97 car earned nine of them, one spot short of Chastain’s stage win.
“I need to keep scoring points and accumulate as much as we can,” van Gisbergen said. “I’m pretty stoked about that.”
Meanwhile, Ryan Blaney was the car to beat in the opening stage. At the start of Stage 2, polesitter Reddick showed his hand while van Gisbergen continued marching forward. At the end of the second stage, that trio had separated itself as the elite cars, all electing to flip the stage to have track position come the start of the final stage.
Compared to earlier in the race, No. 97 crew chief Stephen Doran thought the team’s Trackhouse entry had closed the gap on Reddick, who led a race-high 58 laps. Yet prior to a caution flying for Chastain dropping a right-rear tire onto the course with 20 laps remaining, van Gisbergen still ranked behind Reddick and Blaney. The threesome stayed out while other drivers pitted for fresh Goodyear tires, hoping to make a difference in the final stint.
“I think maybe I was a little deceived in the next to last run,” Doran told NASCAR.com. “I thought we had closed the gap enough to him that we could fight it out on equal stuff. My initial instinct was to pit on that last caution. I thought we were as good to race it out – and we weren’t.”
Van Gisbergen passed Blaney on the opening lap of the restart and was in the tracks of Reddick. He hounded the No. 45 Toyota for upward of 10 laps before Reddick took off. After the checkered flag, the six-time road-course victor gave Reddick all the credit for beating him straight up. Van Gisbergen wasn’t certain that Reddick was showing his full hand either, believing the No. 45 car could separate further from him.
“I knew I had gotten beaten by somebody better,” van Gisbergen said. “[Reddick’s] car was really good and he never put a foot wrong. He was driving really well, consistent line, accurate through the bundles. It was impressive to watch. Knowing we got beat by someone that was better is good, just need to work harder and make our car a bit better and there are some things I can do better too.”
With the runner-up finish, van Gisbergen netted 48 points, trailing only Reddick and Ty Gibbs in points scored Sunday. He gained 11 spots in the regular-season standings, moving to fifth after the first three races of the 2026 campaign and one week after netting his best career oval finish (sixth, EchoPark Speedway).
The driver and crew chief had mixed emotions on coming up short, knowing they fell short of the ultimate goal.
“I guess it’s a good consolation to come out of here with a lot of points,” Doran said, “but it burns right now not to win.”
Van Gisbergen was pleased: “Second sucks, but to get good points days, that’s what I need to get into this Chase.”
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.
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.
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).
Note: Post-race inspection concluded without issues, confirming Reddick as the race winner.
Alex Bowman exited the NASCAR Cup Series race early after feeling unwell Sunday at Circuit of The Americas.
Bowman, driver of the No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet, completed 70 of 95 laps in the DuraMax Grand Prix Powered by RelaDyne before driving to the garage, where he was relieved by Myatt Snider.
Bowman was taken to the infield care center after exiting the vehicle and was later evaluated and released. He had never finished outside the top 10 in five prior COTA starts, including a ninth-place finish at the 2.4-mile road course in 2025.
“It was an unexpected situation. Alex wasn’t feeling well enough to continue, so we made the call to get him out of the car,” said Jeff Andrews, president and general manager of Hendrick Motorsports. “It came on suddenly. He was seen in the care center and received fluids, but we don’t have anything further to share at this time. We’re grateful to Myatt for stepping in on such short notice.”
Snider had never previously competed in the Cup Series but is a veteran of NASCAR’s O’Reilly Auto Parts Series and Craftsman Truck Series, with 112 O’Reilly starts and 36 Truck Series starts to his credit. Snider won at Homestead-Miami Speedway in O’Reilly Auto Parts Series competition in 2021.
Snider began the day working for FOX Sports as a pit spotter with pit reporter Jamie Little.
Snider ultimately wheeled the No. 48 Chevrolet to a 36th-place finish, six laps down. Because Bowman started the race, Bowman is the driver of record and is credited with the five points earned in Sunday’s race.
For many racers who aspire to reach the NASCAR Cup Series, the journey begins in the NASCAR Regional ranks. And fans can watch each step of that journey.
FloRacing is the streaming home of all NASCAR Regional properties. Fans can utilize that platform to access live broadcasts and replays of ARCA Menards Series and Whelen Modified Tour races, plus a healthy offering of live broadcasts from Local Racing Series tracks.
All of NASCAR’s biggest short-track events of the year, including all of the races that make up the prestigious Virginia Triple Crown culminating in the ValleyStar Credit Union 300 at Martinsville Speedway, can be viewed live on FloRacing.
Additionally, in 2026, an expanded slate of NASCAR Regional races will be shown live on the NASCAR Channel, further expanding the reach of short-track racing across North America.
The majority of the simulcasts — including the aforementioned ValleyStar Credit Union 300 — will be produced by FloRacing and feature its broadcast teams. It follows the launch of the FloRacing 24/7 FAST channel on Amazon Prime Video, Fubo and YouTube.
The NASCAR Channel provides 24/7 programming and content to fans for free, including classic races, delayed broadcasts of the current season, select live events, NASCAR Studios original content, and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio’s The Morning Drive. The NASCAR Channel is available on The Roku Channel, Xumo Play, Tubi, Samsung TV Plus and Prime Video. No subscription or registration is required.
As for the ARCA Menards Series schedule, each of the series’ 20 races broadcasts live on FOX, FS1 or FS2.
Just like the complete NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour schedule, every ARCA Menards Series East and ARCA Menards Series West race is shown live on FloRacing, with a handful simulcast on the NASCAR Channel.
Below are the complete 2026 broadcast schedules for the ARCA Menards Series, the ARCA Menards Series East, the ARCA Menards Series West and the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour.
