February 23, 2026

Tyler Reddick won Sunday's Autotrader 400 at EchoPark Speedway in dramatic fashion. The No. 45 23XI Racing driver began the race from first after qualifying was cancelled due to the weather on Saturday. Throughout the first stage, Reddick traded the lead with several drivers, but ultimately fell out of the lead by the end of the stage. He finished stage one in sixth place and earned five stage points. In the second stage, Reddick made use of pit strategy to maintain a top-10 running position and soon returned to the front of the pack to fight for the lead. Late in the second stage, he fell behind, but thanks to a stage-ending caution between Kyle Larson and Shane Van Gisbergen, he caught back up to fourth at the end of the stage, nabbing seven more stage points. In the final stage, Reddick kept his car clean until he was involved in a late multi-car accident on lap 224. The No. 45 team repaired the damage, put on new tires, and Reddick was able to continue. Reddick worked back to the front by the end of the stage and lined up behind his teammate Bubba Wallace for the last two restarts. Although Reddick pushed Wallace to the lead on the final two restarts, Wallace got shuffled back, and Reddick continued onto the lead with a push from Chase Briscoe. Reddick then held off the field to earn his second win of the season, his first at EchoPark Speedway, and became the first driver since Matt Kenseth in 2009 to open the season by winning back-to-back races in the Cup Series.--Sean Engel - RotoBaller
Source: NASCAR.com