Tyler Reddick owns historic third straight NASCAR Cup Series win at COTA/Circuit of the Americas on Sunday in the DuraMAX Texas Grand Prix.
AUSTIN, Texas—Ever since the Chicago Bulls’ reign of the 1990s, the “three-peat” has been the sole province of NBA superstar Michael Jordan.
Tyler Reddick’s Historic Win
Now “His Airness” has to share the distinction with one of his drivers.
Tyler Reddick made history on Sunday at Circuit of the Americas, powering the No. 45 Toyota co-owned by Jordan and Denny Hamlin to victory in the DuraMAX Texas Grand Prix Powered by Reladyne.
A week earlier at EchoPark Speedway near Atlanta, Reddick became the sixth driver to win the first two races of a NASCAR Cup Series season. At COTA on Sunday, he became the only driver in NASCAR history to win the first three.
There was nothing easy about Reddick’s 11th career victory and his second at the 2.4-mile road course. To claim the trophy, he had to hold off New Zealander Shane van Gisbergen, who was seeking his sixth straight road course victory.
“It means the world,” said Reddick, who led a race-high 58 of 95 laps. “Yeah, it’s so fitting. We get going at the end there, and I’m leading, and there’s SVG, the guy I’ve been trying to beat for a while now. Just to be able to outlast him there and hold on for the win is just incredible.
“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.”
The NASCAR Cup Series Point Standings
After the three victories, Reddick holds a commanding 70-point lead over 23XI teammate Bubba Wallace, who finished 11th on Sunday. Chase Elliott is third in the standings, 72 points back.
Jordan was elated with the NASCAR “three-peat.”
“He had a chance to win three in a row, and that’s the hardest one to win,” said Jordan, who led the Bulls to three straight NBA titles on two separate occasions. “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 game, 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.”
The DuraMAX Texas Grand Prix Results
Reddick maintained the lead after a restart on lap 79, after the Chevrolet of Stage 1 winner Ross Chastain jettisoned a wheel to cause the third caution of the afternoon and the only one for an on-track incident.
Restarting third, Van Gisbergen charged past Ryan Blaney and secured the second position downhill through the esses. For the first eight laps of the final 18-lap green-flag run, SVG harried the race winner, but Reddick gradually pulled away, using his Camry’s horsepower and forward drive to gap Van Gisbergen’s No. 97 Chevrolet up the hill toward the first turn.
Reddick’s winning margin over the Trackhouse Racing driver was a deceptively large 3.944 seconds.
“We lacked a little bit of turn and a little bit of drive,” Van Gisbergen said. “Tyler was just amazing. The way he was driving was really good, and his car was good. We just didn’t quite have enough, but it was a great points day for this No. 97 Safety Culture Chevrolet team, which is what we need for getting into the Chase.
“It was still an amazing result, but you’re always disappointed with second when the expectations are so high. But overall, it was a really good day.”
Defending race winner Christopher Bell finished third, followed by Stage 2 winner Ty Gibbs and Michael McDowell. Hendrick Motorsports teammates Kyle Larson and Elliott ran sixth and seventh, respectively.
Eighth was Blaney, who pressured Reddick early in the final stage, pulling beside the 23XI Camry in the 6A turn. Just as he did later with Van Gisbergen, however, Reddick fended off the attack and pulled away before he and Blaney came to pit road for fuel and tires on lap 69.
AJ Allmendinger and Denny Hamlin completed the top ten though Allmendinger needed medical attention after the race, thanks to a failure of his cool shirt in the Texas heat, with track temperatures measured at 109 degrees at the start of the race.
Next Up
The series is now heading to Phoenix Raceway for its next race on Sunday, March 8th. The Straight Talk Wireless 500 starts at 3:30 pm ET on FS1, MRN, and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio. HBO Max is offering multiple in-car driver views. Christopher Bell, driver of the No. 20 for Joe Gibbs Racing, is the defending winner.