By Holly Cain
NASCAR Wire Service

PHOENIX, AZ – Ryan Blaney completed a hard-earned Team Penske sweep at the famed Phoenix Raceway in Sunday’s Straight Talk Wireless 500 – recovering from multiple early race setbacks to claim his first NASAR Cup Series trophy of the 2026 season and answer his Penske team’s Saturday IndyCar win at the track with a spectacular and popular stock car victory a day later.

A pair of pit stop issues – including a penalty for pitting outside his box – put Blaney at the rear of the field twice early in the race but the 2023 series champion was not to be denied – rallying back in his No. 12 Team Penske Ford and taking the lead for good with 10 laps remaining.

Blaney’s team took tire tires on a final stop on a caution with 12 laps remaining and made his way forward after restarting on the second row.

He got around then race leader Ty Gibbs with 10 to go and then held off Gibbs’ Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Christopher Bell who led the most laps – 176 of 312 – but faced a huge task moving up from an eighth-place position on the final restart as the first car to take four tires. With the fresh Goodyear rubber, Bell at least kept Blaney honest, cutting into the lead with each lap, but ultimately coming .399-second short.

“Just perseverance,” Blaney conceded of his afternoon. “I mean, everybody on the 12-group persevered all day. We had a couple mistakes that we learned from, got better, had to come from the back a couple times.

“Obviously the 20 [Bell] was the best car. But [Blaney’s crew chief] Jonathan [Hassler] made a great call to take two [on last stop]. We were able to get the lead. Hold them off. I don’t know how many more laps I could have held them off.

“Really proud of everybody at Team Penske. We swept the weekend with [Josef] Newgarden winning yesterday, us winning today. Can’t wait to see [team owner] Roger [Penske]. … Can’t say enough about the 12 guys for keeping their head down and doing what they do and Jonathan again for making a good call at the end.”

Bright sun and temperatures near 90-degrees welcomed a huge crowd for the Sunday’s second half of the well-received racing doubleheader weekend with both IndyCar and NASCAR marquee events. Many of the open-wheel racers stayed at track and found spots atop team pit stands to watch the stock cars compete.

And the Penske team certainly made the most of the unique doubleheader opportunity.

It marks the 32-year-old Blaney’s 18th career victory and second at Phoenix and vaults him to second place in the championship standings – now 60 points behind 23XI Racing’s Tyler Reddick, who saw his historic three-race winning streak to start the season end with an eighth-place showing Sunday.

Reddick ran among the top-10 throughout the race but never truly challenged for the victory.

“We kind of just hovered around fifth all day,” conceded Reddick, whose 23XI Racing team co-owner Michael Jordan was again trackside in support of the organization’s record-setting 2026 season start.

“Looking at the board over here, scored the fourth most amount of points on the day,” he added. “That’s kind of what we need to keep doing all year to keep the lead that we have and try and hang on to it. Solid day. If we’re not going to win, these are the kind of days we need to have. Glad to get out of here with some points.”

Bell, the defending race winner, whose own three-race winning streak last season included this Phoenix race, was understandably disappointed to finish runner-up after leading the most laps. The upside, however, is that his No. 20 JGR team dramatically moved up from 18th in the championship standings before the race to now sixth place heading to Las Vegas next week. He and Blaney each won a stage Sunday.

“Ultimately, if we had more green flag laps, I think we could have made a run at him,” Bell said. “I don’t know. You win some, you lose some. This one stings, but on the positive side I’m really proud of our entire team. It’s something to build on. It was a day that we needed. We got a lot of stage points, finished second – just bummed whenever they get away like that.”

Beyond Blaney and Bell, reigning series champion, Hendrick Motorsports’ Kyle Larson finished third followed by Bell’s JGR teammates Gibbs – who now has back-to-back fourth-place finishes on the season – and Denny Hamlin.

Reddick’s teammate Bubba Wallace was sixth, followed by Hendrick’s William Byron, Reddick, Spire Motorsports Michael McDowell and Legacy Motor Club’s Erik Jones. Popular driver Shane Van Gisbergen – the series road racing ace – rallied to an 11th-place showing even after being involved in multiple incidents on the day.

The race’s 12 cautions tied the track record for yellow flags. There were eight leaders and 23 lead changes.

Anthony Alfredo, who was subbing for Hendrick Motorsports driver Alex Bowman, finished 33rd in the No. 48 Chevrolet, collected in a multi-car crash with just less than 100 laps remaining.

The NASCAR Cup Series heads to the Las Vegas Motor Speedway for next Sunday’s Pennzoil 400 presented by Jiffy Lube (4 p.m. ET on FS1, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). Wood Brothers Racing’s Josh Berry is the defending race winner.

By Holly Cain
NASCAR Wire Service

PHOENIX, AZ (March 7, 2026) – JR Motorsports’ driver Justin Allgaier pushed forward when it mattered most, his No. 7 Chevrolet leading only the last 11 laps of Saturday night’s GOVX 200 at Phoenix Raceway to claim his third win at the one-mile oval and take over the championship lead in NASCAR’s O’Reilly Auto Parts Series.

Allgaier had to pass the night’s most dominant driver, Richard Childress Racing’s Jesse Love to earn the trophy. Love came into the race with the best average finish in the last four Phoenix races and again proved how good he is in the desert, leading a race best 114 of the 200 laps.

There were no caution periods in the opening two stages of the race – the first stage won by Allgaier’s teammate Sammy Smith and the second stage won by Love.

Two late race yellow flags however, bunched the field on restarts and allowed Allgaier’s team to rally from a slow pit stop earlier in the night. The two former champions went door-to-door following the final restart with 15 laps to go, the 2024 series champ Allgaier ultimately besting the 2025 champ Love with a daring move on the outside and then holding him off by .449-seconds at the finish line to earn JR Motorsports’ 107th victory.

“So proud of this team,” said Allgaier, praising the team for overcoming a poor stop early. “It wasn’t for lack of adversity and it seems like those are the ones that are big for us. I cannot say enough about this team.

“It never gets old winning,” added Allgaier, who has now won at least one race for a record 10 consecutive seasons. “This team rallied and never gave up.”

As encouraging as the night was – a stage win and fourth consecutive top-10 finish on the season for Love, the 21-year-old was understandably frustrated to finish runner-up after such a dominant showing.

“The car tightening up there at the beginning of stage three put us behind, so just frustrated,” said Love, noting that he refused to just walk away happy with a runner-up showing after such a strong effort.

“Obviously not why I’m here [to finish second]. Just beyond frustrated with myself. I don’t know what else to say, just upset, upset with myself.”

The top finishing 14 cars were Chevrolets. Allgaier’s JR Motorsports teammate Carson Kvapil, who looked strong midrace and led 22 laps, finished third, followed by Haas Factory Team co-drivers Sheldon Creed and Sam Mayer.

Sammy Smith, Jeb Burton, Rajah Caruth, Corey Day and Anthony Alfredo rounded out the top-10. It’s the third top-10 of the season for both Smith and Day.

The championship standings now mirror Saturday’s outcome with Allgaier holding a three-point advantage over Love as the series heads to the 1.5-mile Las Vegas Motor Speedway for next week’s The LiUNA (5:30 p.m. ET on CW, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). Allgaier is the defending winner of that race.

By Reid Spencer
NASCAR Wire Service

AUSTIN, TX (March 1, 2026) —Ever since the Chicago Bulls reign of the 1990s, the “three-peat” has been the sole province of NBA superstar Michael Jordan.

Now “His Airness” has to share the distinction with one of his drivers.

Tyler Reddick made history on Sunday at Circuit of the Americas, powering the No. 45 Toyota co-owned by Jordan and Denny Hamlin to victory in the DuraMAX Texas Grand Prix Powered by Reladyne.

A week earlier at EchoPark Speedway near Atlanta, Reddick became the sixth driver to win the first two races of a NASCAR Cup Series season. At COTA on Sunay, he became the only driver in NASCAR history to win the first three.

There was nothing easy about Reddick’s 11th career victory and his second at the 2.4-mile road course. In order to claim the trophy, he had to hold off New Zealander Shane van Gisbergen, who was seeking his sixth straight road course victory.

“It means the world,” said Reddick, who led a race-high 58 of 95 laps. “Yeah, it’s so fitting. We get going at the end there, and I’m leading and there’s SVG, the guy I’ve been trying to beat for a while now. Just to be able to outlast him there and hold on for the win is just incredible.

“Just really proud of this Chumba Casino Toyota Camry, everyone at 23XI. We worked really hard. We did not like getting beat like that at road courses. It’s one race, but it was so important, so fitting that we were able to get three in a row and make history.”

After the three victories, Reddick holds a commanding 70-point lead over 23XI teammate Bubba Wallace, who finished 11th on Sunday. Chase Elliott is third in the standings, 72 points back.
Jordan was elated with the NASCAR “three-peat.”

“He had a chance to win three in a row, and that’s the hardest one to win,” said Jordan, who led the Bulls to three straight NBA titles on two separate occasions. “He kept to his strategy, and, man, the guys put together a great car.

“I think (crew chief) Billy (Scott) did an unbelievable job in calling the game, calling the race, and Tyler did a good job. He beat some good competition. You see SVG coming back there, you get a little nervous, but I think he had him covered pretty much the whole day.”

Reddick maintained the lead after a restart on Lap 79, after the Chevrolet of Stage 1 winner Ross Chastain jettisoned a wheel to cause the third caution of the afternoon and the only one for an on-track incident.

Restarting third, Van Gisbergen charged past Ryan Blaney and secured the second position downhill through the esses. For the first eight laps of the final 18-lap green-flag run, SVG harried the race winner, but Reddick gradually pulled away, using his Camry’s horsepower and forward drive to gap Van Gisbergen’s No. 97 Chevrolet up the hill toward Turn 1.

Reddick’s winning margin over the Trackhouse Racing driver was a deceptively large 3.944 seconds.

“We lacked a little bit of turn and a little bit of drive,” Van Gisbergen said. “Tyler was just amazing. The way he was driving was really good, and his car was good. We just didn’t quite have enough, but it was a great points day for this No. 97 Safety Culture Chevrolet team, which is what we need for getting into the Chase.

“It was still an amazing result, but you’re always disappointed with second when the expectations are so high. But overall, it was a really good day.”

Defending race winner Christopher Bell finished third, followed by Stage 2 winner Ty Gibbs and Michael McDowell. Hendrick Motorsports teammates Kyle Larson and Elliott ran sixth and seventh, respectively.

Eighth was Blaney, who pressured Reddick early in the final stage, pulling beside the 23XI Camry in Turn 6A. Just as he did later with Van Gisbergen, however, Reddick fended off the attack and pulled away before he and Blaney came to pit road for fuel and tires on Lap 69.

AJ Allmendinger and Denny Hamlin completed the top10, though Allmendinger needed medical attention after the race, thanks to a failure of his cool shirt in the Texas heat, with track temperatures measured at 109 degrees at the start of the race.