By Reid Spencer
NASCAR Wire Service

AVONDALE, AZ — After a phenomenal start to the 2026 season, followed by an agonizing dry spell, Tyler Reddick returned to Victory Lane on Sunday—and simultaneously did NASCAR Cup Series leader Kyle Larson a significant favor.

Snookering the top contenders in the Chase presented by Mobil 1 after a restart on Lap 294, Reddick surged past Chase Briscoe into the lead a lap later and pulled away to beat runner-up Ryan Blaney by 0.801 seconds in the Freeway Insurance 500, as Briscoe faded to eighth on older tires.

Reddick’s sixth win of the season and first at Phoenix Raceway, combined with Larson’s catastrophic 34th-place result, brought seven drivers into the mix for the series championship with three races left.

The driver of the No. 45 23XI Racing Toyota won five of the first nine races this season, including the first three, but since then had endured a winless streak of 23 races.

“That’s way too long,” a relieved Reddick said after performing a massive celebratory burnout in front of the main grandstand. “Man, the way we worked there, I mean, thinking of Phoenix, we wanted to be a lot better when we came back here (after the March race). I think we checked that box.

“For us, this group never lost motivation, never lost the drive to keep searching and keep trying to find ways to make ourselves better, just be an all-around better team… Just something about today, I had a really good feeling. Practice was amazing. Yeah, we’re back to Victory Lane.”

Before Sunday’s race at the one-mile speedway, Larson led second-place Denny Hamlin by 49 points with four races left in the postseason. After Reddick won for the 14th time in his career, there are now six drivers within 56 points of the Chase leader.

Fourth-place finisher Christopher Bell climbed one spot in the standings and trails Larson by five points, having trimmed 46 points from his previous deficit to the driver of the No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet.

“We’re right there in it,” said Bell, who led a race-high 85 laps and finished third in each of the first two stages. “Really proud of our team. They’ve been doing a really good job of bringing fast race cars, executing races. We’ve been able to qualify well and run up front in stages.

“I felt like our performance probably tapered off a little bit as the day went on. We had the strategy to put tires there at the end, had good restarts to get some track position. We’re in the hunt.”

Briscoe is 24 points back in third place, followed by Hamlin, who fell from second to fourth but gained 18 points to 31 back, despite a blown tire that relegated him to 28th at the finish.

“The beginning was not great, and once we got back in traffic, I thought the second half of the race we were really strong,” said Hamlin, who was trapped a lap down after pitting with a shredded tire on Lap 221 and incurring a speeding penalty.

“Could contend for the win. Just right there with the 19 (Briscoe) when the tire blew (while battling) for third.”

Blaney, the pole winner, is 40 points in arrears, followed by Team Penske teammate Joey Logano, who swept the first two stages of Sunday’s race and is 44 points behind Larson after a sixth-place run.

“It was good and bad, I guess,” said Logano, who led 84 laps but lost track position on pit road. “The good part is that we were fast and led a bunch of laps and won two stages.

“The bad part is we gave away a win. That part hurts a little bit, but I guess we made up close to 50 points to the leader, so you can’t be too mad about it. I wish we had it back.”

After qualifying 22nd Larson struggled from the outset in a car that lacked speed. Despite a two-tire call that vaulted him temporarily to fifth, Larson remained 22nd at the end of Stage 1. From that point, his race went from bad to worse.

On Lap 283 Larson blew a tire in Turn 1, slammed the outside wall and retired from the event, scoring just three points for his efforts, compared with Reddick, who notched 61.

“We never found the improvements we needed, so that was a bummer,” Larson said. “I didn’t expect to be good, but I didn’t expect to be that bad either. It wasn’t a lot of fun today, but we were just trying to salvage what we could of the day.

“We’ll go to Talladega and try to forget about today and get back after it. We’ve done well at the superspeedways, so hopefully we can execute, get some points and keep ourselves in the hunt.”

The only saving grace for Larson was that Reddick’s win kept him in the series lead. Either Bell, Briscoe or Hamlin could have taken the top spot in the Chase with a victory.

Larson’s teammate, Chase Elliott finished third but remains 149 points out of the Chase lead. Reddick’s teammate, Bubba Wallace, led 52 laps and had control of the race in the final stage before a pit road speeding penalty under caution for Larson’s accident knocked him back to 17th at the finish.

Corey Heim came home fifth, followed by Logano, Daniel Suarez, Briscoe, Ross Chastain and Ty Gibbs.

All told, there were six cautions for 43 laps and 21 lead changes among 10 drivers. Reddick led the only the final 18 laps after a lane opened up for him soon after the final restart.

“Yeah, just got really fortunate,” Reddick said. “I didn’t have a good launch. There was a hole. I was able to get through it. I thought the 19 (Briscoe) was going to be able to cover the move into (Turn) 3.

“I got him loose. We checked out.”

The NASCAR Cup Chase continues next Sunday with the YellaWood 500 at Talladega Superspeedway (2 p.m. ET on NBC, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

By Reid Spencer
NASCAR Wire Service

AVONDALE, AZ (October 18, 2026) — Last November at Phoenix Raceway, Jesse Love won the NASCAR O’Reilly Series championship.

On Saturday at the same one-mile track, he may have done it again with a victory in the Timberland PRO 200.

Unlike last year, however, there are three races left in the O’Reilly Series Chase, run under a new nine-race format this season. But with his second win at Phoenix, his second this season and the fifth of his career, Love established himself as the convincing frontrunner for the series title.

In a race that spelled disaster for former Chase leader Sheldon Creed, Love opened a 36-point lead over second-place Justin Allgaier, who finished third. Fourth-place finisher Corey Day is 39 points behind in third, with Creed falling to fourth in the standings, 59 points back, after finishing 32nd, two laps down.

“I would say it’s a day we prepared for, not just dreamed of,” Love said after climbing from his car. “I’ve got a great group around me, just preparing me to be in these situations, to be calm, cool and collected.

“I’ve learned from a lot of mistakes that allow me to execute at a high-level at a track like this. I’ve been here, it feels like, a million times… Grateful to the fans for coming out. It’s my favorite race track. I love coming to Arizona—I’m a West Coast kid.”

The 21-year-old from Clovis, California, swept the first and second stages and led 156 of 200 laps, scoring 75 points for his efforts—one short of the maximum. The statistics, however, don’t tell the story. Over the final 35-lap green-flag run, race runner-up Sam Mayer hounded the No. 2 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet all the way to the finish line.

Gaining ground over the final two laps, Mayer got to Love’s bumper off the final corner but finished 0.128 seconds behind the race winner. Mayer’s effort was all the more spectacular, given that his No. 41 Haas Factory Team Chevrolet started the race from the rear of the field after an engine change.

“Hats off to them, man,” Love said. “The 41 team did a great job coming from the back and making their car better. Honestly, it felt like they were a little better than we were at the end. I was having to just drive a lot over the tire to make any sort of lap time.

“I’m just grateful to be in a situation to win races. I’ve got a great pit crew who just maul everybody on pit road every week. It makes my job a lot easier. I’m really proud of the whole group.”

Mayer, who remained sixth in the Chase standings, 86 points behind Love, knew he had narrowly missed an important opportunity.

“Good job to him (Love)—he drove a great race,” Mayer said. “We definitely pressured him the whole time. It came down to making a mistake or not, and he executed really well. Really close…

“The Hendrick Engine shop brought a really good engine for us—two of them, technically I guess, ‘cause we blew one up. I haven’t had fun this year like that. That was just a lot of fun. It was just great racing, and hopefully we put on a show for everyone at home.

“That’s some pretty big championship implications if we could have won that one. I’m looking at the numbers right here, and they look pretty ugly for the old 41 and, honestly, the 00 (Creed), too.”

Creed, who entered the race with a two-point Chase lead, finished second to Love in the first stage with no idea what was about to happen to his car. During the caution for the stage break, a “kill switch” malfunction shut off the engine of his Chevrolet, and Creed lost three laps on pit road as his crew tried to get the car to refire.

It was only through attrition that Creed climbed from 37th to 32nd at the finish.

Sammy Smith finished fifth, followed by Brandon Jones, who lost a lap early after a move to wet tires during a brief shower in the first stage. Dean Thompson, William Sawalich, Rajah Caruth and Carson Kvapil finished seventh through 10th, respectively.

Next up for the O’Reilly Series drivers is The Progress Group 250 on Oct. 24 at Talladega Superspeedway (3:30 p.m. ET on CW, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

By Reid Spencer
NASCAR Wire Service

AVONDALE, AZ (October 16, 2026) — At the track where Corey Heim secured the NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series title in the No. 11 TRICON Garage Toyota last year, Kaden Honeycutt took a giant step toward this season’s championship in the same ride.

Taking control of the race in the third stage at Phoenix Raceway, thanks in no small part to a flawless effort from his pit crew, Honeycutt cruised to victory in Friday’s Zero Carbon Bioethanol 150 Powered by POET and expanded his Chase lead to 39 points over second-place Layne Riggs, who finished third.

Honeycutt led a race-high 53 laps—all during the final green-flag run—and beat a frustrated Christian Eckes to the finish line by 1.556 seconds to record his first win at Phoenix and the fourth of his career, all accomplished this season.

Second out of the pits on the final stop at the second stage break—and first among the Chase contenders—Honeycutt quickly dispatched Stewart Friesen, who had taken two tires on the stop and jumped 12 positions into a short-lived lead.

After seizing the top spot on the Lap 99 restart, the 23-year-old from Willow Park, Texas, remained out front the rest of the way. His victory also was the 39th in the series for crew chief Scott Zipadelli, who is now five wins shy of Eric Phillips’ all-time lead.

“My pit crew—they did a great job,” Honeycutt asserted. “I give them so much credit because they’re so damn good. I’m so fortunate to be able to drive these things. They spend all their hours in the day just for me to drive ‘em, and I can’t be more grateful for them.

“In Stage 1, I just struggled. I just didn’t have good rear grip at the start of that first stage. Scott went to work for me. He was never concerned. He kept me locked in the whole time.”

Riggs led the first 43 laps from the pole before Ty Majeski passed him with two circuits left in the first stage. Majeski scored his second stage win of the season and went on to sweep the stages at Phoenix and lead 49 laps before finishing fourth.

Riggs passed Majeski for the third position on Lap 104 of 150 but that was as far as he could advance.

“I’ve got to congratulate the 11 guys—they had a really good truck tonight,” Riggs said. “Obviously, they won the championship here with Corey last year, and they’ve got a really good package for Phoenix.

“It just wasn’t our night… We’ve got Talladega next week. You don’t know what’s going to happen there. Obviously, we’re running up front every single race, kind of a back-and-forth battle right now. Tonight, just wasn’t our night. I’m not going to hang my head on it, and I’m really proud of the effort by the team.”

Seeking his first victory of the season, Eckes couldn’t get close enough to Honeycutt to make a move during the final run.

“It still feels great to contend, but, man, it sucks, for sure,” said Eckes, who has finished second in the No. 91 McAnally-Hilgemann Racing Chevrolet for three straight races. “I came back here (to the Truck Series) to win, and we haven’t done that yet.

“We’re bringing race trucks that are just close enough to contend, but just kind of missing one or two things (compared with) the 11 (Honeycutt) and 34 (Riggs) right now.”

Eckes climbed to third in the standings with the runner-up finish, but he’s 112 points behind Honeycutt with three races left.

Jake Garcia finished fifth, followed by William Sawalich, Daniel Hemric, Gio Ruggiero, Grant Enfinger and Brent Crews.

Chandler Smith, Riggs’ Front Row Motorsports teammate, drew a pit road penalty for too many men over the wall and finished 15th. He fell one spot to fourth in the Chase standings, 117 points out of the lead.

The race featured two cautions for 16 laps, with the second yellow for debris in Turn 1 coinciding with the Stage 2 break. There were six lead changes among five drivers.

The NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series Chase continues next Friday with the Love’s RV Stop 225 at Talladega Superspeedway (4 p.m. ET on FS1, NRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).