A damaged race car was not going to stop Tyler Reddick as the California native claimed his second straight victory to start 2026.
NASCAR
Reddick proved to have the car to beat, making the right moves in the final overtime restart to win his second consecutive race, this time at EchoPark Speedway just outside of Atlanta. Toyota teammate Chase Briscoe pushed Reddick to the win to finish a season-best second, while Bubba Wallace had another impressive run as he won the second stage and led 46 laps. Reddick and Wallace are two of three drivers to score top-10 finishes in the first two races to start the year and currently sit 1-2 in the overall point standings.
“We were back there in 30th when we got collected with the No. 11 (Denny Hamlin). The Pinnacle Camry was definitely really loose,” said Reddick. “We were able to make an adjustment on it with air, and I don’t know. They just kept stacking up in the middle and top lanes, and I just found a way to get into the top-five. I tried to stay committed to somebody, and I didn’t have a choice. I had to find out if it would go in the front like that.”
- Tyler Reddick
For the second consecutive superspeedway race, Toyota drivers led over half of the race. In Atlanta, Camrys paced the field for 145 of 271 laps.
Saturday saw an O’Reilly Auto Parts Series and Truck Series doubleheader. In Truck Series action, Gio Ruggiero continued his strong start to the season with a third-place finish – his second consecutive top-three. His teammate, Corey Heim, finished fifth in his first Truck start of the season. Kyle Busch was the winner.
“I didn’t really set myself up to have a good run off of (turn) two,” said Ruggiero. “I tried to, but it just really didn’t happen down the back straightaway. I knew if I stayed third in line on the top, I would definitely be able to bring it home third in our First Auto Group Tundra, which is good for points, but yeah, I wasn’t sure if I would have the help out back to make a move to the bottom.”
- Gio Ruggiero
Saturday evening, three Toyota GR Supra teams – Taylor Gray, Brandon Jones and Dean Thompson bounced back with solid finishes – all in the top-11. Sheldon Creed picked up the win.
“Honestly, just happy to get out of here with it being a superspeedway style track,” said Gray. “Looking forward to getting to our race tracks as a group – kind of our style of race tracks that we are really good at. I can’t thank everybody at Joe Gibbs Racing and TOYOTA RACING, and obviously Jason Ratcliff (crew chief) for bringing me a really fast Supra. We just will keep plugging away.”
- Taylor Gray
WHAT’S NEXT
NASCAR heads to road course racing at two different tracks. On Saturday, February 28, the NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series competes on the Streets of St. Peterburg for the first time, with coverage on FOX at noon ET. The NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts follows from Texas’ Circuit of the Americas (COTA) at 3:00 p.m. ET on CW. The NASCAR Cup Series closes the weekend from Texas with their race on Sunday, March 1, at 3:30 p.m. ET on FOX.
The ARCA Menards Series West also opens its season from Kevin Harvick’s Kern Raceway on Saturday, February 28. FloRacing will have the coverage starting at 8:00 p.m. ET.