NASCAR gets second new winner in a row at Talladega

Following a run of three straight races in which drivers who had already won earlier in the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series season won again, 23XI Racing's Tyler Reddick became the second new winner in a row in Sunday afternoon's GEICO 500 at Talladega Superspeedway.

The driver of the No. 45 Toyota delivered the Denny Hamlin and Michael Jordan-owned team their first win of the year after managing to avoid a last-lap wreck ahead of him, a wreck which was triggered by contact between Front Row Motorsports' Michael McDowell and RFK Racing's Brad Keselowski while they battled for the lead.

McDowell crashed, and Reddick was able to make his way around Keselowski, who remains in pursuit of his first Cup Series win since he was victorious at the four-turn, 2.66-mile (4.281-kilometer) high-banked Lincoln, Alabama oval three years ago. He finished in second place for the second consecutive week.

Reddick is the seventh different winner through 10 races on the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series schedule.

The season's first five races were won by five different drivers.

Hendrick Motorsports' William Byron opened up the year by winning the Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway. Trackhouse Racing Team's Daniel Suarez then won at Atlanta Motor Speedway, followed by Hendrick Motorsports' Kyle Larson winning at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Joe Gibbs Racing's Christopher Bell winning at Phoenix Raceway, and Joe Gibbs Racing's Denny Hamlin winning at Bristol Motor Speedway.

Two of those drivers combined to win the next three races, with Byron winning at Circuit of the Americas and Martinsville Speedway and Hamlin adding a victory at Richmond Raceway.

It took until the season's ninth race at Texas Motor Speedway for a sixth different winner to emerge, when Hendrick Motorsports' Chase Elliott snapped a 42-race win drought that had dated back to October 2022.

Because there are 16 regular season races remaining on the schedule and there can therefore still mathematically be more winners than playoff spots, Byron and Hamlin remain the only two drivers officially locked into the playoffs. All multi-race winners are locked in, as there can be no more than 13 of them during the regular season.

In the event that there are more winners than playoff spots, a points tiebreaker is used to determine which single-winners get in and which don't. Larson currently leads the single-race winners in first place in the point standings, followed by Elliott in third, Reddick in fifth, Bell in 13th, and Suarez in 18th. The regular season champion secures a playoff spot whether he wins a race or not.

Will the season's 11th race at Dover Motor Speedway produce an eighth different winner? The Wurth 400 is set to be broadcast live on Fox Sports 1 from the Monster Mile beginning at 2:00 p.m. ET this coming Sunday, April 28. Joe Gibbs Racing's Martin Truex Jr. is the reigning Dover winner. If you have yet to begin a free trial of FuboTV, do so now and don't miss it!