Marvin Panch, Bob Welborn, David Pearson, Jeff Gordon, and Matt Kenseth.
Those are the only five drivers in the history of the NASCAR Cup Series who can perfectly understand the exact feelings and emotions of Corning, California-native Tyler Reddick.
After kicking off his seventh season of competition in the NASCAR Cup Series with a victory in the prestigious DAYTONA 500, Reddick returned to competition with the series even days later, and put his No. 45 Pinnacle Toyota Camry XSE in Victory Lane again, winning the AutoTrader 400 at EchoPark Speedway.
The victory marks the 10th for Reddick at NASCAR’s top-level — all of which have come at different racetracks.
To win this particular race, though, Reddick had to persevere in a major way. Despite having control of the race early in the going, the 23XI Racing pilot found himself involved in a wreck at Lap 225 that started with Joey Logano and Denny Hamlin.
That wreck, which for Reddick was completely unavoidable, being tucked up directly behind the No. 11 of Hamlin, tore the right-front fender off the blue-and-white machine, and left him with an aerodynamic nightmare. That, in theory, should have ended his chance at the victory.
Spoiler alert: it didn’t.
It didn’t take long for Reddick to get himself back in contention for the victory, and as the laps wound down, the 30-year-old driver ended up dueling it out with teammate Bubba Wallace, Carson Hocevar, Christopher Bell, and Ross Chastain.
In NASCAR Overtime, Reddick pushed the No. 23 like his life depended on it, and when Wallace moved to the outside to make a block on the quickly approaching outside lane, the No. 45 slotted into the race-lead and held off the hungry back behind to win the race.
TWO WEEKENDS IN A ROW FOR TYLER REDDICK, MICHAEL JORDAN AND 23XI RACING! pic.twitter.com/873TX7LKfQ
— FOX: NASCAR (@NASCARONFOX) February 23, 2026
“Man, I really don’t know,” Reddick said. “We were back there in 30th after we got collected with [Denny Hamlin]. It was definitely really loose, and we were able to make a bit of an adjustment on it with the air and whatnot. I don’t know, they just kept stacking up in the middle and top lanes, and I just found a way to get back in the top-five.”
RELATED: AutoTrader 400 at EchoPark Speedway Race Results
Chase Briscoe, after a rough showing during Speedweeks and inclement weather on Saturday, forced him to start outside the top-30 for Sunday’s 400-miler, finished in the runner-up spot, and did some amazing blocking on behalf of his Toyota Racing USA teammate.
Ross Chastain and Carson Hocevar found themselves very much in the fight during the final 10 laps of regulation, and into overtime, but faded to third and fourth when the checkered flag dropped.
Daniel Suarez rounded out the top five, putting two entries from Spire Motorsports in the top five at the end of the race. Shane Van Gisbergen earned his best oval finish with a sixth-place run.
Zane Smith finished seventh, with Bubba Wallace eighth, Ryan Preece ninth, and Ryan Blaney rounding out the top-10.
Hendrick Motorsports teammates William Byron and Kyle Larson were strong throughout the afternoon at EchoPark Speedway, but both found themselves being the catalysts of multi-car wrecks in the final stage of the event.
Larson had problems at the end of Stage 2, while in line to get excellent stage points, when he cut down the racetrack and hit the right front of Shane Van Gisbergen. The No. 97 spun through the grass at a high rate of speed and was alright, while Larson overcorrected and slammed the outside SAFER Barrier.
Byron’s incident later in the event, at Lap 258, came as a result of wall contact breaking the right-rear toe-link on the No. 24 Raptor Chevrolet. While trying to get to pit road, the Hendrick Motorsports driver lost steering, clipping Austin Cindric and causing a massive wreck.
Leaving EchoPark Speedway, Tyler Reddick (obviously) has a 40-point advantage in the NASCAR Cup Series point standings over 23XI Racing teammate Bubba Wallace, as the series finally leaves the superspeedways.
Next for the NASCAR Cup Series is Circuit of The Americas in Austin, Texas, the first of four road courses on the schedule for the series. Coverage of the event will be on Sunday, March 1, at 3:30 PM ET on FOX, PRN, and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Channel 90.
