Tyler Reddick continued his remarkable start to 2026 as he overcame adversity to win his fourth race in the first six races this season – and fifth for Toyota – at Darlington Raceway on Sunday. Corey Heim made it two wins for Toyota in three races over the weekend.
NASCAR
Reddick, who won the pole and finished second in the first stage, was forced to have an extended pit stop at the end of Stage 1 to change a battery. In the final stage, after battling back through the field, Reddick was able to pass race leader Brad Keselowski with 30 laps to go in the race and set sail, winning by more than five seconds. Reddick now leads the Cup Series point standings by 95 points.
“It means everything,” said Reddick. “Some of the guys and I were talking about – we have it pretty good as Cup drivers, but it seemed like today, it was going to be a blue-collar type of day – we were going to have to really work for it. From lap 1, to have the alternator problems we were having, and just be cutting fans and not to be able to run things that I was counting on to keep me cool all day was tough. Just an incredible Xfinity Camry. So proud of this team, and everyone that is a part of it.”
- Tyler Reddick
Reddick’s fourth victory, along with Denny Hamlin’s triumph in Las Vegas, has helped Toyota reach victory lane in five of the first six races to start the season – the first time any OEM has done that since 2007.
On Saturday, Brandon Jones (second) and Christopher Bell (third) delivered strong top-five finishes in the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series race at Darlington. For Jones, it was a season-best result. Justin Allgaier was the race winner.
“We watched the Truck race, and even this race, we felt like the bottom lane all day was kind of the dominate place to be on restarts,” said Jones. “Both lanes, you really couldn’t get much help, we were all wheel spinning I think and just trying to make as much grip as we could. The No. 7 (Justin Allgaier) just kept getting just barely better launches than I could on that second lane, and he had just a little more juice in the tank on the short run today. We were matching, if not slightly better on the long run, but just ran out of laps there at the end, but this is what we needed with the No. 20 group. That’s the 20 team’s mentality – getting better in the races, and staying in contention to have a shot. That is all I can ask for. I think this is how you are going to see our season change, and this is how you begin to start winning races again – is running up front like we did. To beat two of the very best here, Justin (Allgaier) is one of the best here – we are going against some really heavy hitters. I’m proud of that effort. Really big points day as well to tack on it. Pelonis, Barracuda Pumps, Menards, Toyota – we always thank them for their support. I look forward to the next couple of weeks.”
- Brandon Jones
Corey Heim had an incredible final overtime restart as he drove his Tundra from ninth to first in the final two laps to win the NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series race at Darlington on Friday. The reigning Truck Series champion won his second consecutive race at Darlington, and earned his 24th victory in the series, which ties him for fifth all-time.
“I’m out of breath,” said Heim. “We had that set of scuffs laying – they were five laps fresher than everyone else, and I was like it is worth a shot. I don’t think we can win from where we are at, and sure enough, I just felt like I made all of the right moves. I made it three wide coming to the white and bombed it in there on Ross (Chastain). I was shocked he gave me the bottom with fresher tires like that. So thankful for TRICON Garage. So happy to be able to get this No. 5 Frontline Enterprises Tundra in victory lane. I didn’t even know I was racing this race until three weeks ago. Frontline came on board and helped me out with this deal. I love racing. I love winning, and I just drove the crap out of it, and it worked out. That was awesome. I love racing. I love Darlington, and just want to do it more often.”
- Corey Heim
His teammate, Kaden Honeycutt, had his best race in a Tundra, as the Toyota Development Driver won his first pole and led 59 laps – a career best - before finishing fourth. With the finish, Honeycutt moved up to second in the points standings. Toyota had half of the top-10 overall with Heim, Honeycutt, Christopher Bell (sixth), Gio Ruggiero (eighth) and William Sawalich (10th).
SPRINT CAR
In the doubleheader over the weekend, Buddy Kofoid delivered two strong runs. On Friday at Lawton Speedway, he overcame adversity in his heat, won the last chance qualifier and drove through the field to finish 11th. Saturday saw the Toyota Development Driver nearly score his second win of the season at Creek County Speedway as he battled for the lead late before settling for second. David Gravel swept the race weekend.
POWRi
Toyota driver Jacob Denney led 59 of 60 laps in sweeping a pair of POWRi National Midget League races at the Lil Texas Motor Speedway, extending his series winning streak to four.
In Friday night’s opener, Denney quickly moved up from third to take the lead heading on to the back straight on the opening lap. He would go on to lead all 30 laps followed by Keith Kunz Motorsports teammate Colton Robinson and Karter Sarff to give Toyota-powered drivers a sweep of the podium.
On Saturday, Denney took the lead at the green flag, but he would have to hold off a hard-charging Mack Leopard, who took over the top spot for one lap late in the race, only to see Denney power right back past him for the lead. Leopard would finish second and Gavin Miller placed third giving Toyota drivers a podium sweep for the second straight night. Overall, five different Toyota drivers finished on the podium during the weekend.
WHAT’S NEXT
NASCAR and ARCA head to two historic racetracks next weekend.
The NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series kicks off the weekend at Martinsville Speedway with their race on Saturday, March 28, at 3:30 p.m. ET on the CW, while the NASCAR Cup Series runs on Sunday, March 29, at 3:30 p.m. ET on FS1.
The ARCA Menards Series East kicks off their season at Hickory Motor Speedway on Saturday, March 28. FloRacing has the coverage starting at 7:30 p.m. ET.