By leading only the final lap of the 2026 NASCAR Cup Series season-opening Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway and by rallying at EchoPark Speedway (Atlanta Motor Speedway) without a front right fender, 23XI Racing's Tyler Reddick became the first driver since Matt Kenseth in 2009 to win the first two races of a Cup Series season.
Kenseth pulled it off in 2009, Jeff Gordon pulled it off in 1997, David Pearson pulled it off in 1976, Bob Welborn pulled it off in 1959, and Marvin Panch pulled it off in 1957.
But in all five of those other instances, somebody else won the season's third race. In the first 77 years of the Cup Series, the first three races of each season had produced at least two different winners.
That is no longer the case.
Three races into the series' 78th season, Reddick remains the only winner, having held off Trackhouse Racing's Shane van Gisbergen to win Sunday's DuraMAX Grand Prix at Circuit of the Americas (COTA).
COTA was the one non-oval where SVG did not win a year ago, so he entered this 95-lap race around the 17-turn, 2.4-mile (3.862-kilometer) Austin, Texas road course riding a five-race road and street course winning streak, second all-time behind Gordon's six-race road and street course winning streak that spanned from 1997 to 2000.
At Phoenix Raceway this coming weekend, Reddick is set to try to become the first driver to win four races in a row at any point since Jimmie Johnson pulled it off in 2007. Christopher Bell won the March 2025 Phoenix Raceway after having won back-to-back races at Atlanta and COTA.
The Straight Talk Wireless 500 is set to be shown live on Fox Sports 1 from Phoenix Raceway beginning at 3:30 p.m. ET on Sunday, March 8. Start a free trial of FuboTV today and don't miss any of the action from the Avondale, Arizona venue!