Tyler Reddick has a unique shot at NASCAR history at Circuit of the Americas

After a winless 2025 NASCAR Cup Series campaign that saw Tyler Reddick post his fewest top-10 finishes (14) in a season since his rookie year in 2020, he has started 2026 off in the best way possible. 

The seventh-year driver won Sunday's Autotrader 400 at EchoPark Speedway and became the first driver since Matt Kenseth in 2009 to start a season off with back to back wins. 

And if a win in the Daytona 500, NASCAR's most prestigious race, on Feb. 15 wasn't enough, he'll certainly take a second victory and the Cup Series points lead going into the third race of the season at Circuit of the Americas on March 1. 

"I think everyone is extremely hungry to just keep pressing onward, whether that’s winning races, winning stages or just scoring points," Reddick said Sunday evening. "We have a great opportunity in front of us to get off to a really good start."

"A really good start" is an underwhelming way to describe what Reddick has accomplished. Only five drivers before him won the opening two races of a Cup Series season. Reddick managed to do it at two drafting races and has an opportunity to become the first driver to ever open a Cup Series season with three consecutive victories.

Tyler Reddick can make history at COTA

That opportunity will come at COTA, a road course in Austin, Texas, where Reddick won in 2023 in what was his first win with 23XI.

"I mean, am I going to throw away a second place to do that? Probably not," Reddick said. "But certainly if at any point during this week I’m running out of reasons to be motivated to go win, I’ll keep that in my back pocket, for sure."

Reddick's crew chief, Billy Scott, echoed Reddick's cautious tone.

"One step at a time," Scott said when asked about Reddick potentially winning three in a row. "We’re going to enjoy this, but yeah, next week is a reset. It would be great if we could keep going on and on, but we’re going to enjoy this one, and we’ll certainly give it the same level of effort next week."

Quotes provided by NASCAR Media.