Reddick Caps Off Wild Weekend at EchoPark Speedway with Win!

Tyler Reddick at Darlington 2025 (Fisher Giannotti/ Motorsports Today)

HAMPTON, G.A. – The NASCAR Cup Series continued its early season campaign Sunday, February 22, as EchoPark Speedway hosted the Autotrader 400. The race served as the first of two races the NASCAR Cup Series will have at EchoPark for the 2026 season. After a race that saw a ton of unpredictability, 23XI Racing's Tyler Reddick went back-to-back earning his second cup victory of the season.

Reddicks win was unpredictable, as it did not come under usual circumstances. While Reddick ultimately took the lead from Spire Motorsports driver Carson Hocevar on the final lap, it wasn't the move that was unusual, but rather the circumstances of his car.

Earlier in the race, after a stack up after Penske Racing's Joey Logano got tight, 23XI co-owner Denny Hamlin was turned by Reddick triggering a big crash. For Reddick, he made significant contact on the right front of the car completely knocking the fender off of the car. Usually in a superspeedway race, that spells the end of the day for most cars hopes at a good finish, but not tonight for Reddick.

Instead of being out of the mix, Reddick ran the remainder of the race without the fender present. He did not get an opportunity to lead a line with the damage he sustained until the final restart. To Reddick's surprise on the last lap after he cleared Hocevar into turn one after pushing help from Toyota compadre Chase Briscoe of Joe Gibbs Racing, Briscoe never mounted a charge of momentum back to attempt to make a pass.

Usually when a car leads a line in this style of race and has no damage, it is incapable of achieving near top speed. For Reddick, it was simply a miracle, as both he and crew chief Billy Scott could not understand why his car was capable of achieving the speed it did with the damage.

Lastly for Reddick, he now boasts a 40-point lead over 23XI teammate Bubba Wallace who was leading the field to the green during the final overtime but got put three wide by Hocevar down the backstretch on the first lap of the restart shuffling him back to an 8th place finish. Wallace also won the second stage aiding to a significant points day.

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The other driver who won a stage was Penske Racing's Austin Cindric, who has considered EchoPark Speedway to be a playground. Despite rain cancelling qualifying and there being no practice, Cindric started 30th and found himself in first come the end of lap 60.

With Cindric's stage win, it marked his 5th career stage win at EchoPark Speedway. Unfortuantley for Cindric though, luck never played into his favor after that. Cindric did briefly hold the lead in the closing laps of the race, but was involved in the big crash that set up the first overtime, placing him with a 26th place finish.

Some drivers had highlight days that simply were filled with bad luck. Shane Van Gisbern of Trackhouse Racing went for two spins down the front stretch grass after contact, casuing him to lose significant track position. The most notable of the two incidents came on the final lap of stage two, where Hendrick Motorsports driver Kyle Larson seemingly cleared himself on Shane, causing Larson to crash into the outside wall ending his day. Larson finished 32nd, while Van Gisbergen was able to rebound to a 6th place finish.

Spire Motorsports driver Daniel Suarez came into the weekend with the most top fives of any driver since the reconfiguration at EchoPark speedway with four. Suarez had a day where he found himself mired in the mid pack, but put together a very strong run when it mattered most netting himself a 5th place finish. On top of another top five finish, Suarez finds himself 7th in the NASCAR Cup Series points, which is crucial with the new Chase format.

The last notable who had a huge day was Front Row Motorsports driver Zane Smith. Smith continued to prove that he is a solid superspeedway style racer, as he too spent most of the day on the fringe of the top ten. When the checkered flag flew, Smith scored 7th and also has placed himself solidly 5th in points

Smith finds himself right on the edge of rival Carson Hocevar who sits 4th in points. For Hocevar, while he led on the white flag, and is having the best start to his young career, another top five at a track he showed significant growth at the season prior, proves that if he puts consistent runs together, Hocevar can not just compete for wins, but also be a playoff contender.

Regardless though, the first goal every driver will have at Circuit of the Americas next weekend, is to make sure that Tyler Reddick does not make history of being the first cup series driver to win the first three races of the season. Reddick concluded the weekend being the first driver since Matt Kenseth in 2009 to win the first two races of the season.

FINAL RESULTS:

Image source via NASCAR Virtual Media Center

UP NEXT:

The NASCAR Cup Series heads to Circuit of the Americas in Texas as the series takes on its first road course race of the 2026 season. Last season, Christopher Bell pulled off an upset win late in the race, marking his second of what was a stretch of three consecutive wins. The race will be at 3:30 PM ET and can be found on Fox.