Tyler Reddick has etched his name in the NASCAR Cup Series history books.
With a victory in Sunday’s DuraMAX Grand Prix of Texas at Circuit of The Americas (COTA), Reddick, a native of Corning, California, has become the first driver in the history of the NASCAR Cup Series to win the opening three events of the season.
The potential for a rewriting of the record book was, no doubt, on the mind of the 23XI Racing driver on Sunday, but with that, also came the knowledge that he’d have to defeat Shane Van Gisbergen — the winner of the last five NASCAR Cup Series road course events — to make it happen.
Reddick did not, in any way, shape, or form, succumb to that pressure.
After putting his No. 45 Chumba Casino Toyota Camry XSE on the pole for Sunday’s 95-lap contest with a stellar run in qualifying, Reddick paced the field for a race-high 58 laps, and while the 30-year-old driver had a challenger throughout most of the day, in some form, the one constant seemed to be that he was fast.
In the end, it was a restart inside the final 20 laps of the event that saw Reddick face the biggest challenge he’d had throughout Sunday’s event: having to put up a defense against one of the best road course racers in the series, Shane Van Gisbergen.
While the No. 97 SafetyCulture Chevrolet Camaro managed to stay close to the rear-bumper of Reddick in the short run, the Chumba Casino-sponsored machine eventually slowly and methodically drove away to a gap that, at the checkered flag, exceeded four seconds.
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“Just trying to remember everything. I knew it was going to be important there at the end, and just tried to minimize the mistakes,” said Reddick post-race. “Shane is just, that’s what he’s so good at, man. He does not make mistakes. I certainly made a couple, and just doing everything I could to just manage the gap and stay away from him, if you know what I mean. If I let him get close to enough, it was probably going to be hard to hold him off.”
Shane Van Gisbergen finished in the runner-up position at Circuit of The Americas (COTA), his best finish in the NASCAR Cup Series at the Austin, Texas, road course. Despite winning yesterday, it just didn’t seem like the No. 97 had what it took to compete with Reddick on Sunday.
“Yeah, it’s weird to be disappointed with second, but this series is just at a high level,” said Shane Van Gisbergen. “I felt, okay, we got our SafetyCulture Chevy at lot better than yesterday, but just following Tyler, his driving was immaculate, and his car was very good, too.”
Christopher Bell had a solid showing throughout the afternoon in his No. 20 DEWALT Toyota Camry XSE, but chose to come down pit road on the final caution of the afternoon to take fresh tires. That strategy call by crew chief Adam Stevens, allowed the Joe Gibbs Racing driver to score a top-five result.
Ty Gibbs and crew chief Tyler Allen played a similar strategy to his teammate Bell, and after winning Stage 2 and losing all of his track position to start the final stage of Sunday’s event, the No. 54 Saia LTL Freight Toyota Camry XSE finished fourth.
Michael McDowell rounded out the top-five at COTA, just one week removed from a double top-five finish for Spire Motorsports, courtesy of Daniel Suarez and Carson Hocevar.
Kyle Larson was sixth, with Chase Elliott, Ryan Blaney, AJ Allmendinger, and Denny Hamlin rounding out the top-10. Blaney had one of the fastest race cars all afternoon and hounded eventual race-winner Reddick for the lead throughout much of the race, but faded on the final run with old tires.
AJ Allmendinger recorded another top-10 result at Circuit of The Americas (COTA), but had to be stretchered to the infield care center after the event. Throughout the race, Allmendinger reported that his cooling suit and helmet hose were not working, and in fact, were blowing hot air into the cockpit of the No. 16.
Alex Bowman had a similar issue, and at Lap 70, had to step out of his No. 48 Ally Financial Chevrolet. Myatt Snider, a pit spotter for FOX and a part-time driver in the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series, jumped in the Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet in an attempt to gain any points. Bowman and Snider teamed to finish 36th.
Leaving Circuit of The Americas (COTA), Tyler Reddick has a 70-point advantage in the NASCAR Cup Series point standings over teammate Bubba Wallace, who is in second-place. Chase Elliott, Ryan Blaney, and Shane Van Gisbergen round out the top-five.
Next for the NASCAR Cup Series is a trip to Phoenix Raceway for the Straight Talk Wireless 500. Coverage of the event will take place on Sunday, March 8 at 3:30 PM ET on FOX Sports 1, Motor Racing Network, and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Channel 90.
