After 23XI Racing's Tyler Reddick opened up the 2026 NASCAR Cup Series season with three consecutive victories at Daytona International Speedway, EchoPark Speedway (Atlanta Motor Speedway), and Circuit of the Americas (COTA), something no driver had ever done, he was only able to finish Sunday afternoon's Straight Talk Wireless 500 at Phoenix Raceway in eighth place.
It was Team Penske's Ryan Blaney, who got his first victory at Phoenix in the 2025 season finale back in November, who became the first driver not named Reddick to win a points-paying Cup Series race in 2026.
Blaney had to drive from the back twice after starting the 312-lap race around the four-turn, 1.022-mile (1.645-kilometer) Avondale, Arizona oval in fifth place. The driver of the No. 12 Ford made a total of 49 passes for position throughout the afternoon.
Ryan Blaney, six others beat Tyler Reddick
In addition to denying Reddick a four-peat, Blaney denied Joe Gibbs Racing's Christopher Bell a three-peat in the March race at Phoenix. Bell won the race in both 2024 and 2025, and he won both races after winning stage two both times. He also won stage two today.
Bell placed second, ahead of Hendrick Motorsports' Kyle Larson in third, Joe Gibbs Racing teammates Ty Gibbs and Denny Hamlin in fourth and fifth, 23XI Racing's Bubba Wallace in sixth, and Hendrick Motorsports' William Byron in seventh.
The win moves Blaney up into second place in the point standings, 60 points behind Reddick.
Full race results can be found here, and full point standings can be found here.
The fifth race on the 2026 NASCAR Cup Series schedule is the Pennzoil 400, which is set to be shown live on Fox Sports 1 from Las Vegas Motor Speedway starting at 4:00 p.m. ET. Begin a free trial of FuboTV today and don't miss any of the action!