Tyler Reddick, driver of the #45 Toyota for 23XI Racing in the NASCAR Cup Series, cemented himself into the record books following his win in the DuraMAX Grand Prix Presented by RelaDyne at the Circuit of the Americas in Austin, TX, over the weekend. Starting from the pole position, Reddick defeated Shane van Gisbergen by nearly four seconds and led 58 of the 95 laps. In the process, he became the first driver to ever win the first three races of a season in series history. This also marks the first time Reddick has won on a track more than once; his first win with 23XI came at COTA in 2023.
On February 15, Reddick blasted his way through the last-lap carnage, holding off the field to win his first Daytona 500 over former race winners Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Joey Logano. This was Toyota’s first win in the Great American Race since Denny Hamlin in 2020.
Seven days later, he snatched the lead away from Carson Hocevar on an overtime restart to win the Autotrader 400 at Atlanta Motor Speedway. He became the first driver to sweep the opening two races of the season since Matt Kenseth in 2009, and only the sixth in series history to accomplish this feat. The others are Marvin Panch (1957), Bob Welborn (1959), David Pearson (1976), and Jeff Gordon (1997).
Reddick quoted in an interview, “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.”
Team co-owner Michael Jordan, who is no stranger to three-peats in sports, was also elated to see the #45 in victory lane thrice. “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.”
Tyler Reddick now has 11 career victories in the NASCAR Cup Series.
The Straight Talk Wireless 500 at Phoenix Raceway in Avondale, Arizona (Sunday, March 8, 3:30 PM EST) sees Reddick leading the points standings by 70 points over teammate Bubba Wallace.
