23XI Racing's Tyler Reddick entered Sunday's DuraMAX Grand Prix at Circuit of the Americas aiming to become the first driver to win the first three races of a NASCAR Cup Series season in the 78-year history of the sport.
Trackhouse Racing's Shane van Gisbergen entered this 95-lap race around the 17-turn, 2.4-mile (3.862-kilometer) Austin, Texas road course aiming to become the first driver to win six consecutive non-oval races since Jeff Gordon pulled it off from 1997 to 2000. Van Gisbergen is the only other driver to have ever won five straight.
So of course those two drivers were the betting favorites heading into Sunday's race, after Reddick, who won at the longer 20-turn, 3.41-mile (5.488-kilometer) version of the course in 2023, took his second consecutive COTA pole.
And of course the battle came down to those two drivers on the race track.
Reddick was able to hold off SVG, whose lone non-win on a non-oval a year ago actually came in the race at COTA when he finished sixth, to extend his winning streak to three to start the season.
The driver of the No. 45 Toyota had just become only the sixth driver in Cup Series history, and the first since Matt Kenseth in 2009, to win back-to-back races to start a season one week prior. After winning the Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway, he backed it up with a victory at EchoPark Speedway (Atlanta Motor Speedway).
There are just three more non-oval races on this year's schedule, following an offseason that saw three tracks removed from the schedule. Those races are set to be contested at Watkins Glen International, Sonoma Raceway, and the new Coronado Street Course at Naval Base Coronado.
Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez, the Chicago Street Course, and the Charlotte Motor Speedway Roval are no longer on the schedule. Van Gisbergen won at all three a year ago.
As for this weekend's race at Phoenix Raceway, Reddick is set to attempt to become the first driver to win four races in a row since Jimmie Johnson pulled it off back in 2007.
The March 2025 Phoenix winner, Christopher Bell, won that race after having won at Atlanta and COTA during the previous two weekends.
Tune in to Fox Sports 1 at 3:30 p.m. ET on Sunday, March 8 for the live broadcast of the Straight Talk Wireless 500 from Phoenix Raceway. Start a free trial of FuboTV now and catch all of the action!