It had been 17 years since a NASCAR Cup Series driver started out a season by winning back-to-back races, when Matt Kenseth did so in 2009. And with the current schedule beginning with two drafting tracks at Daytona International Speedway and EchoPark Raceway in Atlanta, it didn't seem like that was going to change anytime soon.
Enter Tyler Reddick. After a miserably unlucky 2025 season in which he went winless and his 23XI Racing team was embroiled in off-track controversy, he suddenly cannot be stopped.
It's never easy to make sweeping proclamations about how a season will play out based on only two races, let alone two superspeedway races. But let's at least start the conversation: this will be the year that Reddick and 23XI Racing both solidify their place among the Cup Series' true superpowers.
With court case in the rearview mirror, 23XI Racing has become an awakening giant
The only thing that bodes better for 23XI Racing than Reddick's back-to-back wins is the fact that both races also easily could have been won by his teammate Bubba Wallace. The driver of the No. 23 Toyota led the most laps in the Daytona 500, and he brought the field to the green on the final overtime restart in Atlanta before a bad block dropped him to eighth.
Currently, the two teammates sit 1-2 in the Cup Series points standings (23XI Racing also fields a car for Riley Herbst, but we won't talk about him). They rank first and third in laps led, and neither has finished outside the top 10 yet this year.
Again, it's two races, and it's two drafting races at that. Speed from Daytona and Atlanta won't necessarily translate to the rest of the schedule. But there is more than enough reason to believe 23XI Racing is going to have a monster year.
In 2025, the team was distracted by its antitrust lawsuit against NASCAR, even losing its charters for a large chunk of the campaign. This undoubtedly impacted their on-track performance, as the team only won once with Wallace at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
It's easy to forget, but the year before that, Reddick won the regular season championship, won three races, and qualified for the Championship 4. Expecting him to pick up where he left off that season, and Wallace to take another step forward in his second year with crew chief Charles Denike, seems reasonable.
Both Reddick and Wallace should comfortably make the Chase for the Cup, with multiple wins apiece (the former is already there). And by the end of 2026, don't be surprised if the "Big 3" of race teams – Hendrick Motorsports, Joe Gibbs Racing, and Team Penske – has a fourth member.
Michael Jordan doesn't like to lose. Not on the basketball court, not in the courtroom, and not on the race track. When he and Denny Hamlin linked up to start their Cup Series operation, it was only a matter of time before it became established as one of the leading organizations in the sport. There were some hiccups, but in its sixth season, that day has now arrived.