On Sunday, April 19, 2026, Tyler Reddick won the AdventHealth 400 at Kansas Speedway, his fifth win of the NASCAR Cup Series season. Reddick, who drives the number 45 car for Michael Jordan’s 23XI racing, has broken multiple records by winning five of the first nine races of the 2026 season, including winning the first three races.
Reddick kicked off the season by winning the first three races, starting with the prestigious Daytona 500. According to ESPN, Reddick’s three-peat was the first time in NASCAR history that a driver had won the opening three races of a season. Only one other driver, Christopher Bell, has been able to win three races in a row in the current next-gen car era. Three weeks later, Reddick won his fourth race of the season at Darlington Raceway, overcoming a persistent battery issue that caused him to have no driver cooling equipment throughout the 400 mile race. Finally, Reddick netted his fifth of the season in Kansas after an overtime restart following a battle with his car owner and fellow driver Denny Hamlin.
NASCAR explains how Reddick’s victory in five of the first nine races was only the second occurrence in history. Dale Earnhardt was the first driver to go five in the first nine in 1987, en route to his third championship. Earnhardt would go on to win 7 championships throughout his career, tied for most of all time. While Reddick has not won a cup series championship, he is a two-time NASCAR O’Riley Auto Parts Series champion, and has a best cup series points finish of fourth in 2024. After Kansas, Reddick leads the NASCAR Cup Series standings with a 105 point lead.
For 23XI racing, Reddick’s success has already led the team to their best season on record. After being founded in 2021, they achieved their best result in 2024, winning three races and the regular season championship with Reddick. Jordan was quoted by NASCAR saying “He is on a heater, for sure, and all you can do is just let him go. Get out of his way.” following Reddick’s Kansas win. Jordan has been in attendance for every race this season, voicing his praise for Reddick after each win.
23XI’s rapid pace to start the season has raised concern among many spectacle fans. This skepticism stems from an antitrust lawsuit filed against NASCAR by 23XI and fellow team Front Row Motorsports on Oct. 2, 2024. Sports Illustrated explains how in December of 2025, all three parties went to court for an eight day trial, spanning from Dec. 3 to Dec. 11, 2025. Team owners, including Jordan and Hamlin, along with NASCAR executives testified during the suit, with the teams fighting for a new charter agreement, which included a higher percentage of the media rights profit going to teams. On Dec. 11, NASCAR and the two teams reached a settlement. Many fans have brought up the lawsuit, claiming that 23XI only has more speed because they “won” the lawsuit. These claims lack any solid evidence, as the other involved in the lawsuit, Frond Row Motorsports, has yet to win a race since the start of the 2026 season. Furthermore, one of 23XI’s other cars, the 35 of Riley Herbst, currently sits 28th in points, hundreds of points off of Reddick, proving the team has no significant advantage over the competition.
Reddick’s fifth win further builds his championship favorability. Having completed nine of the 36 races of the year, Reddick’s current points gap has him in a comfortable position to make the postseason chase for the championship.
