Reddick's Historic Season Continues with Kansas Win!

Tyler Reddick celebrates with his his 23XI Team in victory lane at Kansas! (Riley Ogle | Motorsports Today)

KANSAS CITY, K.S. - Tyler Reddick did the unthinkable at Kansas Speedway, Sunday, April 19, as he became the fourth driver in NASCAR Cup Series history to win in five of the first nine races. With Reddick's win, he joined the likes of NASCAR legends Dale Earnhardt, Richard Petty, and Cale Yarborough. Earnhardt set the feat most recently back in 1987. The win for Reddick was meaningful, but it did not come easy.

Reddick did not have a strong start to the day as he tallied third in the first two stages. It was rather his owner Denny Hamlin of Joe Gibbs Racing and Kyle Larson of Hendrick Motorsports who were the class of the field throughout the day.

Hamlin took the first stage with practical ease after taking the lead off of the drop of the green. Larson then took firm control in stage two earning his third stage win of the season.

For Larson his day too had some history, as on lap 113 he led his 950th career lap at Kansas Speedway. This lap led pushed him past Kevin Harvick for the most in series history.

Similar to the O'Reilly Auto Parts Series race, stage three for the most part went caution free until the closing yards.

Coming out of the fourth turn Denny Hamlin led the race looking as if he was going to be in route to winning his second race of 2026 after passing Reddick back for the lead with three laps to go after he hit the wall. Instead of being greeted to a white flag, Hamlin was instead greeted with a yellow flag as just behind him, Rick Ware Racing's Cody Ware went for a spin setting up overtime.

In pit road, positions didn't change at all in the front as majority of the field on the lead lap took two tires.

On the restart, Hamlin led the field to green on the bottom with Reddick to his outside. Behind Kyle Larson opted to force his car below the apron on Hamlin making things three wide going into turn one. Reddick took the lead briefly but found himself three wide in a Toyota Sandwich out of turn two, as he was contacted by Hamlin, clipping the left rear of JGR's Christopher Bell.

Entering turn three Reddick was in fourth with Chase Elliott of Hendrick Motorsports to his inside, but he powered the car around both Elliott and Hamlin out of turn four placing him in second.

Then, Reddick was able to go deeper than Larson getting to his inside out of turn two. Both drivers ran each other tight down the backstretch, but Reddick simply has more tire than Larson as he powered clear of him in the middle of the third turn. Tyler Reddick drove to the checkered without a contest, winning in improbable fashion.

OTHER NOTES:

Reddick's teammate Bubba Wallace was not in the mix to win late, but he too had a solid day. Wallace crossed the checkered with a 5th place finish, earning him his first top five of the season. Wallace leaves Kansas 8th in the NASCAR Cup Series points standings.

Roush Fenway Keselowski had average days yet again seeing all three of its cars finish in the top eleven. Brad Keselowski was the highest of the bunch as he finished in 6th , while Chris Buescher earned his fourth top ten of 2026 with a 10th place effort, and Ryan Preece finished 11th. Exiting Kansas Keselowski is 9th, Buescher 11th, and Preece 13th in the standings.

Lastly, there was a big mix of good luck and bad luck for Joe Gibbs Racing on the final restart. The biggest bad luck happened for Christopher Bell as coming to the white flag he went for a spin after the contact with Reddick resulting him with a 20th place result. Bell has heavy aspirations of making up ground in the points this weekend, but exits Kansas 10th in the standings instead.

Ty Gibbs continued his consistency as his 9th place finish earned him his 7th top 10, while the biggest benifactor of it all was Chase Briscoe, as his 3rd place finish netted him a day to send towards Talladega. Briscoe leaves Kansas 15th in the Standings..

Denny Hamlin crossed the checkered flag in 4th, not getting the win he desired. He however moved to 2nd in the standings after Penske Racing's Ryan Blaney had a tough afternoon dealing with issues from damage sustain in an incident on pit road with Kaulig Racing's A.J. Allmendinger earlier in the race. Blaney finished the race in 24th.

Hamlin leaves Kansas 105 points behind Reddick, while Blaney trails by 120 points.

KANSAS RESULTS:

Results Provided via NASCAR Timing and Scoring

UP NEXT:

The NASCAR Cup Series heads to Talladega Superspeedway for one of the most impactful races of the season. Talladega known for its unpredictability could have a massive impact on the final result of the regular season standings, making many drivers seasons either better or worse. Last season it was Penske Racing's Austin Cindric who earned the win. It is anticipated that he will be a favorite yet again at the 2.5 mile behemoth.

Coverage of the race can be found on Fox at 3:00 PM ET and can also be listened to on MRN.