By Reid Spencer
NASCAR Wire Service

KANSAS CITY, KS (April 19, 2024) – Tyler Reddick scraped the outside wall in the closing laps. His fuel system stumbled at a critical moment. He collided with fellow Toyota driver Christopher Bell in overtime. He fell behind defending NASCAR Cup Series champion Kyle Larson on the final restart.

Yet, in a magical season for the driver of the No. 45 23XI Racing Toyota, Reddick won Sunday’s AdventHealth 400 at Kansas Speedway in spite of all the adversity.

The catalyst was Cody Ware’s spin on Lap 266, the penultimate circuit of the scheduled regulation distance. That incident caused the third caution of the race one lap after Denny Hamlin had retaken the lead from Reddick, who switched to pump 2 in his Camry after the car sputtered with two laps left.

Ware’s spin sent the race to overtime, and all 16 cars on the lead lap came to pit road for tires, with Hamlin, Reddick, Larson, Christopher Bell, Bubba Wallace and five cars behind them taking right-side tires only.

Moments after the overtime restart on Lap 273, Larson steered to the inside of Hamlin on the bottom row and charged into the lead. Reddick fell back after his contact with Bell’s Toyota forced Bell into the outside wall.

But the outside lane opened up for Reddick, whose handling was superior to Larson’s in the overtime. Reddick mustered a huge run in the top lane, then drove to the inside of Larson’s Chevrolet, which tightened up on corner entry.

Reddick cleared Larson through the final two corners and crossed the finish line 0.118 seconds ahead of the reigning champion.

“Just really blessed with the late caution,” said Reddick, who won for the fifth time this season, the second time at Kansas and the 13th time in his career. “Was that nuts or what? I couldn’t believe it.

“I mean, first off, I feel like I have to say obviously just for how I feel. I never like being on the inside of it—really hate that for Christopher Bell. Good, hard racing. The 11 (Hamlin) came up. I mean, I took off tight. Not thrilled I got Christopher there. I hate that for him because he was having a good, solid day.

“Man, these late race restarts get crazy. I obviously had a run on the 5 (Larson). I was shocked I was able to get to his inside there. An incredible SupplyHouse Toyota Camry all day long.”

Reddick is the first driver since Dale Earnhardt in 1987—and fourth all-time—to win five of the first nine races of a season in NASCAR’s top division. His series lead increased to 105 points over second-place Hamlin, who won the first stage.

NBA Hall of Famer Michael Jordan, who co-owns 23XI Racing with Hamlin, was elated with the victory.

“This kid is on fire,” said Jordan, who has witnessed all five of Reddick’s victories this season in person. “I don’t know how I can ever cool him down. He is unbelievable. Unbelievable last couple laps. I’m proud of the whole team.”

Larson, who led 78 laps and won the second stage, executed the overtime restart to perfection but couldn’t hold the lead.

“I got to the lead, and I thought I could cruise right there to the checkered flag, but my balance on two tires was just super, super tight,” said Larson, whose winless streak grew to 33 races. “I didn’t get through (Turns) 3 and 4 fast enough, and then the No. 45 (Reddick) had such a big run on me from behind.

“I thought I could go to the top to get some load into my front tires, but it still didn’t turn there. That was a bummer, but just overall happy with the day we had.”

Chase Briscoe finished third on four new tires, with Hamlin and Wallace running fourth and fifth, respectively. Brad Keselowski, William Byron, Chase Elliott, Ty Gibbs and Chris Buescher completed the top 10.

Bell, who led 47 laps, spun coming to the white flag in overtime and finished 20th.

Hamlin led a race-high 131 laps and was positioned for the victory until Ware’s spin.

“I mean, obviously it’s not winning,” Hamlin said of the way the race played out. “It’s Cody Ware, six laps down, wrecking. I don’t know. It just added up.

“I fell for the same move that the 5 (Larson) got me a couple years ago when I was on the inside. I got to learn from those mistakes that I make, not executing those last few laps.”

The NASCAR Cup Series races next in the Jack Link’s 500 next Sunday at Talladega Superspeedway (3 p.m. ET on FOX, MRN, HBO Max and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). Reddick won the spring race at Talladega in 2024.

By Reid Spencer
NASCAR Wire Service

KANSAS CITY, KS (April 18, 2026) —The early bird got the victory on Saturday night.

The first of the frontrunners to pit during the final 95-lap green-flag run in the Kansas Lottery 300, Taylor Gray grabbed the lead during the cycle and held off charging Sheldon Creed to score the second NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series victory of his career.

Crew chief Jason Ratcliff, who won at Kansas with driver David Green in 2003, called Gray into the pits on Lap 143 of 200. Creed and Brandon Jones, running first and second on Lap 146, emerged from pit road after stops on Lap 147 roughly three seconds behind Gray.

Jones, winner of the first two stages, had to serve a pass-through penalty for a tire violation during his stop and lost the chance to win. But Creed, with Justin Allgaier behind him in third, began a methodical pursuit of Gray that ultimately came up 0.718 seconds short.

“How about Jason Ratcliff?” Gray exclaimed after climbing from his No. 54 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota. “That pit call was awesome. We had a car capable of winning. I thought the 20 (Jones) was a little better than us before the green-flag cycle started, but we just had to stay locked in, and we had to be a little bit freer.

“Jason made a really good adjustment on the car and a really good pit call and got us in clean air. It’s been a long start to the year, man—not that we’re not bringing speed to the race track. It’s just that things haven’t really gone our way. So it’s nice to finally be able to close one out.”

Gray gained three positions to ninth in the series standings.

As it turned out, Creed also had plenty of reasons to celebrate. By finishing first among four eligible drivers, he earned a $100,000 Dash 4 Cash bonus for the first time in his career. It was Creed’s fifth attempt to win the Dash 4 Cash prize money.

“It was a great day for us after starting in the back,” said Creed who dropped to the rear of the field at the beginning of the race after his No. 00 Haas Factory Team Chevrolet failed pre-race inspection. “I kind of knew right away my car was really fast, and I was able to drive to the front, and I just had a lot of fun today…

“It’s just really cool to be able to bring a hundred grand back to the Haas Factory Team. I definitely wanted to win and add to it, but the 54 (Gray) did a really good job short-pitting us. He ran a really good last 40 laps there a got through traffic quick and made it where I never really got close enough.”

Allgaier came home third, followed by defending series champion Jesse Love and Brent Crews. William Byron, Cole Custer, Jones, Sam Mayer and Ryan Sieg completed the top 10 in a race that featured 11 lead changes among eight drivers.

Allgaier finished third in both stages and added one point to his series lead over second-place Creed. The margin is now 131 points.

Long before Gray took the checkered flag, there was plenty of action in the first stage.

The race wasn’t two laps old when an accident on the backstretch launched the No.1 JR Motorsports Chevrolet of Carson Kvapil into the air and sent it flipping down the backstretch.

Contact from Byron’s Chevy turned Kvapil’s car sideways near the front of the field. Parker Retzlaff’s piled into Kvapil’s car near the outside wall. The impact knocked the rear of Kvapil’s Camaro airborne, and the car proceeded to barrel-roll down the backstretch, coming to rest on its roof.

With the use of tethers and a tow truck, safety workers righted the car, and Kvapil climbed out before a mandatory trip to the infield care center.

“Maybe on dirt, I’ve flipped a few of them, but definitely never asphalt racing or a big stock car race,” Kvapil said after being evaluated and released from the care center. “It was actually not as bad as I thought it was going to be, once I realized I was going over, but it just sucks.”

On Lap 38, Jesse Love crowded Richard Childress Racing teammate Austin Hill down toward the apron as the two raced side-by-side in Turn 4. Hill spun sideways, and as he fought to control his No. 21 Chevrolet, the No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota of William Sawalich plowed into Hill’s car.

“I’ll remember this,” Hill promised on his radio, referring to racing from his teammate he thought was unnecessarily close.

Hill fell out of the race in 34th place. Corey Day saw his streak of eight straight top 10s end with a 12th-place finish after rallying from an accident on Lap 101 and subsequent flat tire.

Gray, Creed, Allgaier and Love qualified for the third Dash 4 Cash race of the season, Saturday’s Ag-Pro 300 at Talladega Superspeedway (4 p.m. ET on CW, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

By Reid Spencer
NASCAR Wire Service

(April 11, 2026) Ryan Blaney, seeking his first NASCAR Cup Series victory at Bristol Motor Speedway, got off to a flying start in Saturday’s time trials at the 0.533-mile high-banked concrete track.

Finding the speed he needed on the second of two qualifying laps, Blaney covered the distance in 15.101 seconds (127.064 mph) to edge Tyler Reddick for the top starting spot in Sunday’s Food City 500 (3 p.m. ET on FS1, PRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

Driving the No. 12 Team Penske Ford, Blaney was 0.023 seconds faster than Reddick (126.871 mph), who will try to win his fifth race of the season in the No.45 23XI Racing Toyota.

The Busch Light Pole Award was Blaney’s second at Bristol, his first of the season and the 13th of his career.

“I just kind of got free on Lap 1, landing into (Turn) 1,” said Blaney, who recovered through Turns 3 and 4 to set up his second lap. “Luckily, the rear tires came in better the second lap in (Turns) 1 and 2, and then 3 and 4 I thought was a really good corner…”

“Good start to the weekend. Now we’ve got to do 500 laps.”

Blaney has finished sixth or better in his last three starts at Bristol, but on Sunday, Cup Series drivers will be adjusting to both a new tire combination from Goodyear and a new short-track competition package featuring higher horsepower and lower downforce.

“I think just being ready for the track to change is the biggest thing for me,” Blaney said. “It’s going to run one way for a little bit, but it’s going to change eventually…”

“Tomorrow, we’re going to be everywhere, ‘cause the top (lane) is going to come in tomorrow, and that’s going to be completely different from what you need to run the bottom. It’s been a pretty decent place for us. Hopefully, tomorrow we can contend for the win.”

Chase Briscoe qualified third at 126.779 mph in his No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota. Riley Herbst (125.679 mph), the third driver to make a qualifying run, was fourth, giving 23XI two of the top four starting positions.

Ty Gibbs, who led 201 laps in his last Bristol start, was fifth, followed by Ross Chastain in the fastest Chevrolet. Chris Buescher, three-time Bristol winner Kyle Larson, Austin Cindric and Carson Hocevar filled out positions seven through 10 on the grid.

The cars of Larson and Chastain—along with those of Cole Custer and Chad Finchum—failed pre-race inspection twice, resulting in the ejection of their respective car chiefs and loss of pit selection for Sunday’s race.

The No. 71 Chevrolet of Michael McDowell also failed twice, resulting in the ejection of an engineer and loss of pit selection.

Bristol Cup Starting Lineup