23XI Racing's Tyler Reddick led only the final lap to win the 2026 NASCAR Cup Series season-opening Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway, and he worked his way back to the front at EchoPark Speedway (formerly Atlanta Motor Speedway) without a right front fender to win Sunday's Autotrader 400.
It marked just the sixth time in Cup Series history that a driver has won the first two races of a season, and it hadn't happened since 2009, when Matt Kenseth won the Daytona 500 and then backed it up by winning at Auto Club Speedway.
The only other four drivers who have ever pulled it off are Marvin Panch, Bob Welborn, David Pearson, and Jeff Gordon, and of those four, only Pearson and Gordon did it with a Daytona 500 victory.
Tyler Reddick 2-for-2 to start 2026
Panch won at Willow Springs International Motorsports Park and Concord Speedway to start the 1957 season, and Welborn won at Champion Speedway before winning a Daytona 500 qualifying race to start the 1959 season, back when Daytona 500 qualifying races were officially classified as part of the Cup Series schedule.
Pearson opened up the 1976 season with a victory at Riverside International Raceway and backed it up with a Daytona 500 win, and then Gordon opened up with the 1997 season by winning the Daytona 500 and adding another victory at Rockingham Speedway.
What's even more impressive about Reddick's streak is that he did it in back-to-back superspeedway races, races that are largely considered "wild card" races – and quite frankly, the fact that Reddick won the first of those two races by leading only one lap and the second without a right front fender proves it.
All things considered, Reddick might well be the Cup Series' new top superspeedway driver following his Atlanta win. Prior to his Atlanta win, the 10 most recent drafting races had been won by 10 different drivers, a streak that started with Harrison Burton's victory at Daytona in August 2024.
Prior to Burton's victory, Reddick was the most recent superspeedway winner at Talladega from April 2024. So there have now been 10 different winners in the 12 most recent drafting races, and Reddick is the only driver with multiple victories during that stretch with not two, but three.
Can Reddick make it three-for-three to start the 2026 NASCAR Cup Series season, something no driver has ever done, at Circuit of the Americas, where he won in 2023? The DuraMAX Grand Prix is set to be shown live on Fox from COTA beginning at 3:30 p.m. ET on Sunday, March 1. Start a free trial of FuboTV and catch all of the action!