Two members of Trackhouse Racing’s pit crew for the No. 1 Chevrolet have been suspended through the next two NASCAR Cup Series races, NASCAR officials announced Tuesday.
Rear-tire changer Kenneth Pozega and jackman Josh Appleby will be sidelined after the No. 1 car, driven by Ross Chastain, had its right-rear tire detach from the vehicle on the race track on Lap 75 under green-flag conditions. The penalties come under Sections 8.8.10.4 A&D in the NASCAR Rule Book, which states in part that a “lost tire beyond pit road will result in [a] two race suspension for two pit crew members [and] a two-lap penalty.”
Chastain and his team were also issued a two-lap penalty during the event for the infraction. Chastain ultimately finished the event in 35th place, two laps down.
Pozega and Appleby will be sidelined for the races at Phoenix Raceway on Sunday (3:30 p.m. ET, FS1, HBO Max, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) as well as the March 15 event at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. The duo will be eligible to return on March 22 at Darlington Raceway.
SAN FRANCISCO — Today, Ubisoft and NASCAR released a major content update in The Crew Motorfest, highlighting a new officially licensed release. Starting tomorrow, this update will be available on Ubisoft+, PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, Amazon Luna, Steam Deck and PC through the Ubisoft Store, Epic Games Store and Steam. In Season 9, The Crew Motorfest offers players its most exciting lineup yet: a high-powered collaboration with NASCAR, the launch of its biggest UGC feature to date and the buzzing energy of RC cars later in May.
On March 4, experience the ultimate blend of speed and fun with the NASCAR Motorfest Tour Playlist. Players will compete for the title of NASCAR Motorfest Tour Champion through ten select events, from qualifications to finals, powered by special gameplay features to navigate the tracks and immerse themselves in the iconic NASCAR energy. Alongside this narrative arc, celebrate the arrival of 16 authentic NASCAR vehicles that can be driven anytime, anywhere across Motorfest.
“We’re excited to bring our iconic brand to life in The Crew Motorfest,” said Mitch Rasmussen, senior director, interactive at NASCAR. “This collaboration represents another important step in our strategy to bring NASCAR into the digital spaces and places where next-generation fans spend their time, giving players new ways to interact with the culture and communities they love.”
Year 3 Season 9 also brings the game’s most in-depth UGC track creator, Trackforge. With Trackforge, players can design their dream circuits using two distinct templates: Motorsports and Coaster. Whether it’s precision handling, gravity-defying loops, or pure speed, Trackforge empowers players to create tracks suited to their preferred racing styles. Once developed, tracks can be published and shared with others, allowing the Motorfest community to drive together on the islands of Moloka’i and Lanai in a new, dynamic way.
On May 6, get ready to break the rules and stretch open-world freedom to its limits with the RC Frenzy Playlist. A premium addition to Season 9, the playlist delivers pure, and sometimes, old-school fun during dedicated events as players traverse the Island on wild RC Cars. Slip throughimpossibly tight gaps, uncover hidden gems, and rediscover the Hawaiian archipelago from a new point of view via the playlist events, but also in the open world.
Season 9 also brings other major updates to the player experience, including a new Island Playground filled with tracks of all shapes and forms, Summit Contest events where skill and style can compete against one another, and new activities dropping in the Main Stage, where participants can engage in weekly themed activities.
A total of 31 new vehicles will roll out across Season 9, including:
March 4: NASCAR’s iconic Next Gen Ford Mustang Dark Horse Cup car (2024), Next Gen Chevrolet ZL1 Cup car (2025) (through the Year pass 3), and the Next Gen Toyota Camry XSE Cup car (2025) (as a shop addition).
April 1: Porsche 935 Racing car (2019) (Year Pass 3).
May 6: Two RC Cars, Phazr General Rally Raid (2026) and Phazr Trickshot Street Tier 1 (2026) (Year Pass 3).
NASCAR.com’s Pat DeCola ranks the top 20 Cup Series drivers competing for the 2026 championship after Tyler Reddick’s win at Circuit of The Americas — an unprecedented third straight victory to open the season — and before Sunday’s Straight Talk Wireless 500 at Phoenix Raceway (3:30 p.m. ET, FS1, HBO Max, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). Joe Gibbs Racing driver Christopher Bell enters as the defending winner.
Analysis: We’re witnessing history here, folks. Reddick has gotten off to as blazing a start as we’ve ever seen — while perhaps already building a potentially insurmountable and crucial regular-season points lead under this revamped Chase format. If that buffer, already at 70 points, continues to grow after Phoenix — where he has a 9.0 average finish in the last four spring races — and this team maintains any semblance of this pace, look out.
Analysis: A “thin” P7 for Elliott at COTA, with minimal stage points and no laps led, but it was enough to keep him afloat the “everyone-but-Tyler Reddick” tier atop the standings in a near tie with Bubba Wallace. His name doesn’t get brought up as often among the Phoenix standouts, but he’s certainly a sleeper to watch that could break through this weekend — seven of his last 11 starts there yielded a top 10, including a win.
Analysis: Blaney continued flexing his unsung road-course chops once again at COTA, leading 11 laps en route to a top 10, and he looks to be every bit the championship contender this year as we’ve come to expect from him annually. Phoenix is where it could all come together for his first win of 2026, as it’s been a lights-out Penske track this decade — and he happens to have won there just a few short months ago in the 2025 finale.
Analysis: How big are wins now? Larson finished just five spots short of race victor Reddick, yet scored 30 fewer points. Larson still had a solid day, but it’s clear that Victory Lane carries even more added weight each week now. Larson will likely take plenty of trips there himself this year, and it could come this weekend at Phoenix, where he’s been one of the best since taking the reins of the No. 5 Chevrolet.
Analysis: Hamlin has been on an unbelievable heater as a team owner, and things are starting to simmer for him as a driver, too, with his first top 10 of the year coming at COTA. The fact that he’s only won at Phoenix twice in his career comes as a surprise; he’s consistently in the mix there and owns a 10.5 average finish over an incredible 41 races. He may also be returning with a bit of extra motivation from how the last trip went, too.
Analysis: If not for the shadow cast by his teammate’s radiance to open 2026, Wallace’s sizzling start would be generating all the headlines, but it’s still worth acknowledging that before 2026, Wallace had never been as high as second in points — and he has now remained there for consecutive weeks. In other words … perfect time for a heat check! If the sun is going to keep shining on Wallace in the desert, it will massively buck his history there, with just three top 10s, a 20.7 average finish and four total laps led across 16 starts.
Analysis: Just a single lap led and no top 10s for the preseason champion pick of many, but no cause for concern just yet — Byron could be about to clean up over the coming weeks. A winner at each of the next four tracks, he’s been pouring on the laps led at Phoenix the past several years as well, and it’s only a matter of time before he adds a second win there.
Analysis: A mechanical mishap ended Briscoe’s day at COTA, an unfortunate end to a potentially competitive day (eight laps led) that resulted in a last-place finish. He’s becoming so well-rounded that a rebound is never too far away, however, and the one-time Phoenix winner would love to right the ship there after a few recent rough races in the desert.
Analysis: A decent start to the season with plenty of room for improvement for Logano, who is in the mix near the top of the standings but led no laps and scored no stage points at COTA. The three-time champ has, of course, been one of the best at Phoenix over the past decade, pouring on four wins there since 2016.
Analysis: It’s a slow climb back up the standings, but Bell’s 34 points at COTA nearly doubled his output from the first two races as we’re now about to get into the thick of it. He enters as the defending winner … again … and should once again be in the mix to defend his Phoenix win like he was this past weekend in Austin.
Analysis: Say what you want, but we’re a trio of races into the season, and SVG has led in all three of them, while we’re now in March and he’s fifth in points. He’s clearly going to be a factor this year, and he appeared to be significantly more comfortable at Phoenix last fall than Phoenix last spring, so look for more continued improvement this weekend.
Analysis: Walking away with a P35 at a track you’ve won at after out-qualifying your teammate SVG on a road course and picking up a Stage 1 win is … tough. Phoenix, where he had finishes of first, second and third from 2022-23, could in theory be a rebound spot for Chastain, but he’s finished outside the top 10 in three straight there.
Analysis: Buescher not walking away with a solid finish at a road course in the Next Gen era just seems weird, and it feels like he’s yet to really have a proper result that matched his in-race competitiveness. Phoenix was a tough track for him early in his career, but something has clicked for him over the past five or so races, and he should be able to squeeze at least a top 10 out of Sunday.
Analysis: Like his RFK teammate, Preece has felt like he’s put in better showings than the sum of his results so far, which will likely net out positively over the long haul of the season. Though he was P9 there in the fall and led 34 laps last spring, Phoenix will still be a bit of a test for him as those are his only such metrics there across 13 starts.
Analysis: We knew Allmendinger was good at road courses, but did you know he was jump-10-spots-in-the-standings-good at road courses? He did just that on Sunday with a lucrative, 43-point P9. Will he keep it going at Phoenix, inarguably his most consistent track? Perhaps, but it’s only his most consistent because he’s netted a middling 19.4 as both his average start and average finish.
Analysis: Three races with his new team, three races inside the top 10 in points for Suárez, who is off to a solid start at Spire Motorsports. Phoenix could be a challenge, though. While he’s had a couple of decent blips over 18 starts, he owns just four top 10s and has never led a lap.
Analysis: Three top-20 finishes, including a Daytona 500 top five and gutting out a full race in the brutal Austin, Texas, heat, have been remarkably impressive in the physical condition that the 42-year-old Keselowski is in, which makes one think he could actually be extremely competitive once he’s at full health. A first win at Phoenix this weekend could feel like a bit of a long shot, but after a runner-up there last fall — and the 2012 champ’s clear desire to compete — never say never.
Analysis: Hocevar spun out at the very end and missed out on a few extra points, but COTA overall wasn’t a banner weekend for the young No. 77 driver, compared to his otherwise roaring start to 2026. Phoenix hasn’t gone tremendously well for him thus far, either, with just one finish better than 19th and a 23.2 average result in five starts.
Analysis: McDowell remains one of the best at maximizing his spots, and he continues to round out his skills across the other tracks, as well as he really takes the reins on his leader-in-the-shop role at Spire. There’s perhaps no better example of that than his home track in Arizona, where he has three top 10s in 30 starts, and they’ve all come in the past five races.
Analysis: Gibbs more than tripled the amount of points he scored in the first two races with his COTA output, tossing in a Stage 2 win for good measure. He could keep it rolling, too — we’ve seen Gibbs look great in the spring race at Phoenix as recently as 2024, when he led 57 laps from the front row and finished third.
Momentum swings smiled on several drivers after the NASCAR Cup Series’ first road-course race of the year Sunday, but none more than Tyler Reddick, who is now 3-for-3 in Victory Lane trips in this young season. Circuit of The Americas became the latest stop on his triumph tour as he held off road-race ace Shane van Gisbergen, and he’ll have a chance to extend his record in Sunday’s Straight Talk Wireless 500 (3:30 p.m. ET, FS1, HBO Max, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) at Phoenix Raceway.
Other drivers had reason to savor satisfying results from the season’s first dose of road-course rambunctiousness. Here’s a glance at three drivers on the right side of momentum’s favor and three others seeking better days in the desert this weekend.
1. Michael McDowell, No. 71 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet
Started: 6th
Finished: 5th
What happened: McDowell marked his first top-five finish of the season, his first top five since the series’ most recent road-course run at the Charlotte Roval last season. The Spire veteran led five laps in the late going, and he was setting the pace when Reddick took command for the final time on the 76th of 95 laps.
What’s next: The result meant an 11-position leap up the order to ninth in the early Cup Series standings for McDowell, who heads to his hometown for this weekend’s race. He has three Phoenix top 10s in his last five Arizona outings.
Alejandro Alvarez | NASCAR Digital Media
2. Chase Elliott, No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet
Started: 5th
Finished: 7th
What happened: Elliott lamented an ill-handling No. 9 Chevrolet in Stage 1, telling crew chief Alan Gustafson, “we are in a lot of trouble” as he fought for grip. After an extended stop for adjustments, Elliott also found himself on pit road during the final caution period with 20 laps remaining after making his own call for a strategy opportunity. He posted his second top-10 finish in three races, slipping by old friend Ryan Blaney to take seventh place with a last-lap, last-turn pass.
What’s next: Elliott has finished 11th or better in all three events this year, a performance bar that puts him third in the standings behind 23XI Racing’s Reddick and Bubba Wallace. He’s heading to Phoenix, where he has a victory and a pole position at the site of his 2020 championship celebration.
Alejandro Alvarez | NASCAR Digital Media
3. Denny Hamlin, No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota
Started: 19th
Finished: 10th
What happened: It’s a slight righting of the ship for Hamlin, who grabbed his first top-10 finish of the season. The No. 11 team opted to stay out when others pitted during the final yellow flag, and Hamlin held on, battling through his lingering shoulder ailment at a road course with high demands on shifting and turning. “It’ll definitely be sore tomorrow,” Hamlin said post-race. “But first mistake-free road course for me in six years. It’s freaking amazing. It’s like a win. I’m telling you, this is a win.”
What’s next: Hamlin rose four spots to 23rd in the early Cup Series standings, and he’s heading to the site of his championship heartbreak from last season’s finale. But he’s also Phoenix-bound with plenty to be proud of on the team co-ownership side, with his 23XI team sweeping to three Reddick-led wins so far.
Alejandro Alvarez | NASCAR Digital Media
THREE DOWN ⬇️
1. Ross Chastain, No. 1 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet
Started: 2nd
Finished: 35th
What happened: A roller-coaster of a day hampered Chastain, a former COTA winner. The 33-year-old vet started from the outside of the front row and secured a Stage 1 victory, but calamity struck with 20 laps left when he veered off course and his No. 1 Chevy returned to the track without its right-rear wheel. Chastain was held in the pits for two laps as a penalty.
What’s next: Chastain fell nine positions in the Cup Series standings to 20th, but he did salvage one extra point for turning the race’s fastest lap. He turns his attention to Phoenix, where he’s a former race winner in the 2023 season finale.
Alejandro Alvarez | NASCAR Digital Media
2. Chase Briscoe, No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota
Started: 3rd
Finished: 37th
What happened: Briscoe started with promise as he bolted past the front-row starters with a three-wide move on the initial green flag, then held the lead for the first eight laps. The potential unraveled, however, when the No. 19 Toyota’s transaxle failed, ending Briscoe’s race 33 laps early in last place.
What’s next: It’s been a feast-or-famine type of season in the early going — 36th at Daytona, second at Atlanta, 37th at COTA — and the standings reflect that with double-digit swings each week. Next up is Phoenix, the site of his first Cup Series victory back in 2022.
Alejandro Alvarez | NASCAR Digital Media
3. Zane Smith, No. 38 Front Row Motorsports Ford
Started: 11th
Finished: 33rd
What happened: Like Briscoe, Smith was on the “up” side in this space a week ago, and even a week before that with a pair of top-10 outcomes to start the year. Sunday at COTA was an adventure, as Smith continued after contact with Erik Jones and Carson Hocevar exiting Turn 1 on Lap 52, then went spinning in the same corner 27 laps later with rookie Connor Zilisch.
What’s next: Smith tumbled nine spots to 14th in the Cup Series standings, but has some positives to lean on at Phoenix. The Front Row Motorsports driver was ninth at Phoenix last March, and he’s won at the 1-mile track in Craftsman Truck Series competition.
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.”
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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.
