4 Takeaways From Tyler Reddick’s Second Straight Win to Open 2026

EchoPark Speedway (Hampton, Ga.) — Tyler Reddick spent the entire 2025 season wondering when he would win. He spent the offseason wondering why he didn’t win. Now some might wonder: When will he lose? OK, that’s probably going a little bit too far in a sport where there is one winner and 35 or more losers every week. But Reddick followed his 2025 winless season with back-to-back victories, capturing the Daytona 500 last week and the Cup race Sunday at Atlanta to open 2026. He won Sunday with a car without a fender that came off during an accident that appeared would end his chance to win. “That’s crazy, ain’t it?” Reddick said in his television interview after the race. Here are my takeaways: 1. Michael Jordan, Reddick Now 2-for-2 Team owner Michael Jordan obviously loves to win. So no doubt to see the excitement from him in Victory Lane to celebrate with Reddick, who became the first driver since 2009 to open the season with back-to-back wins. It appeared that the 23XI Racing driver who would win at Atlanta was Bubba Wallace, who was leading going into overtime with the damaged Reddick behind him. But Wallace moved to block Carson Hocevar on the outside and Hocevar ducked to the inside, leaving Wallace with no help. “I feel bad for Bubba, obviously, because he had an unbelievable day, but Tyler drove his ass off, and I’m very happy for Tyler,” Jordan said in his television interview. “I’m very happy for 23XI.” Reddick’s view? “Sometimes things are just meant to be,” Reddick said in his postrace news conference. “For some reason there … no one was able to ever get back to us. I don’t know how, but I’ll take it.” 2. Bubba Disappointed Bubba Wallace was left wondering what he did wrong to finish eighth. “Unfortunate, but man, what a race car we had today,” he said in his television interview. But sometimes a driver doesn’t make the wrong move at the superspeedway, just an unfortunate one as the runs come so fast and drivers make wild blocks. “Superspeedway racing is the king of hindsight is 20/20,” team co-owner Denny Hamlin said in his postrace news conference. “If you knew where every car was going to go, then you would always make the right move, but you just don’t know when you pull up in front of a line what that line — how that line is going to react, are they going to push, are they going to shoot middle or going to go high? You just don’t know.” 3. Hocevar Aggresive Hocevar apologized for contact with Ryan Blaney and Joey Logano during the race. But contact with Christopher Bell in the first overtime restart? He felt that he was going for the win. He saw a hole, went for it and it closed. Criticized at times for his aggressiveness but even more for his timing, at least this last instance came with the race on the line. “I felt like if [the Toyotas] got lazy and left the middle open, I was going to be really aggressive to try to fill it,” Hocevar said. “And I saw it for a split-second right when I had a huge run, and there was probably just enough right when I was coming. “I just went for it. … I don’t even need to see the replay. I’m sure it was closed up. I don’t mean to destroy their car.” Bell tried to bite his tongue without seeing a replay when he talked to me and another reporter afterward: “You never expect anything [in these races], especially from him. I haven’t seen the replay. Maybe there was a hole there, and that’s what he thought he was going to try and fill.” 4. Larson Embarrassed Kyle Larson didn’t mince words about himself after his wreck when he didn’t realize he was three-wide and ended up wrecked. “Typically I get caught up in others’ mistakes on these tracks,” Larson told me and other reporters after his crash. “That was completely my fault. So that’s what’s embarrassing and frustrating.” Larson is among drivers who are in a little bit of a points hole after just two races outside the top 16 in the standings. But he shouldn’t sweat it too much being just three points out. Several drivers are 20-30 points out, but with a victory earning 20 more points than second, a win or two can allow a driver to jump several spots. 4 ½. What’s Next The Cup Series heads to Circuit of the Americas for its first road course of the season. It’s a place where Tyler Reddick has won in 2023, and he’ll now go for three consecutive wins to open the season — a feat no Cup driver has accomplished. “For me, with where this season started and what I need to do as a driver, it’s all about just doing everything I can and showing up every week being as prepared as I can,” he said. Bob Pockrass covers NASCAR and INDYCAR for FOX Sports. He has spent decades covering motorsports, including over 30 Daytona 500s, with stints at ESPN, Sporting News, NASCAR Scene magazine and The (Daytona Beach) News-Journal. Follow him on Twitter @bobpockrass.