Pennzoil 400

Denny Hamlin won for the 61st time in the NASCAR Cup Series in the Pennzoil 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. The victory made him the fifth driver in Cup history to win races over the span of twenty seasons. Chase Elliott finished second with his teammate William Byron behind him in third. Hamlin’s teammates, pole sitter Christopher Bell and Ty Gibbs, would finish fourth and fifth respectively. 

Joe Gibbs Racing locked up the first three starting positions with Christopher Bell on the pole and Denny Hamlin in second. Bell led the first three laps before Hamlin took over on lap four. There would be several lead changes during the green flag pit stops, but when they all cycled through, Hamlin was back up front. Bell moved back to the lead with nine laps to go in the stage and held on for the stage one win.

Stage two started with Bell in the lead and Kyle Larson in second place. Bell kept the lead until lap 94 when Larson took the lead as his teammate Wiliam Byron pushed him to the front. After the green flag stops, it was Larson back up front. Byron took the lead with six laps left in the stage and won stage two. 

The final stage started with Larson and Byron leading the pack to the green. Byron led the field until lap 186 when Hamlin went back out front. The first caution for cause came out on lap 211 when Connor Zilisch spun out as Byron was passing Hamlin for the lead. After the pit stops, Bell and Hamlin were back leading the pack and Hamlin jumped to the lead at the drop of the green flag. Hamlin would not relinquish the lead, cruising to his first win of the year. 

Ryan Blaney had to battle back from two pit road mistakes to take the win in the Straight Talk Wireless 500 at Pheonix Raceway. Blaney followed up the Team Penske win yesterday in the Indy Series with the first win of the year for Ford. Christopher Bell had a dominant race but, in the end, he had to settle for second place. Kyle Larson was the top finishing Chevrolet in third while Ty Gibbs and teammate Denny Hamlin finished fourth and fifth. 

Joey Logano started on the pole with Kyle Larson beside him. Logano would hold the lead for the first 48 laps until his teammate Ryan Blaney took the lead. Blaney would hold the lead until the end of stage one for the stage win. 

After the pit stops, Christopher Bell assumed the lead with a quick pit stop from his Joe Gibbs Racing team.  Stage two started with Bell taking the lead and was out front when the yellow flag came out for the Shane Van Gisbergen spin when his tire went down. After the yellow flag pit stops, Bell assumed the lead. The caution came back out on lap 103 when Daniel Suarez spun out when he contacted Chase Elliott. Josh Berry and Ryan Preece were also involved and sustained light damage. Logano was able to grab the lead from Bell and held the lead until lap 126 when Bell retook the lead. Chase Brisco blew a tire on lap 132 and hit the wall in turn four, bringing out the next caution. After the pit stops, Logano retook the lead for the restart. Bell jumped back in front of Logano for the lead and held it until the next caution flag flew when another tire blew, this time it was Noah Gragson. Gragson hit the wall, ending his day. Preece did not pit during the caution and assumed the lead for the restart. Denny Hamlin started third and went low to pass Preece at the green flag. Hamlin was able to stay there until Bell retook the lead with 12 laps to go in the stage. Bell would stretch his lead over Hamlin and won stage two by three seconds.

The final stage began with Bell taking over where he left off, leading the field. Preece brought out the next caution when Conner Zilisch hit him going into turn one on lap 210. On the restart, Logano hit Ross Chastain, sending him into Anthony Alfredo, who in turn hit Austin Cindric. Bell once again took the lead at the restart. After having to battle back from two miscues on pit stops, Blaney was pressing Bell when Van Gisbergen spun on lap 246. On the restart, Logano spun out in front of Josh Berry and Daniel Suarez. The next caution was due to Austin Dillon having tire issues on lap 288. During the pit stops, Bell took four tires, while Ty Gibbs and Blaney only put on two, putting Gibbs and Blaney on the front row for the restart. Before they could finish a lap, Zane Smith and John Hunter Nemechek collided, taking both of them out of contention. At the restart, Gibbs held the lead, but Blaney was able to pass him and take the lead with nine laps to go. 

Tyler Reddick did something no one else in the history of the NASCAR Cup Series has been able to do, win the first three races of the season. Reddick did so in dominating fashion as he led the most laps in the DuraMAX Texas Grand Prix Powered by RelaDyne at the Circuit of Americas course and held off a late charge by road course ace Shane Van Gisbergen, who finished second. Christopher Bell and teammate Ty Gibbs finished in third and fourth with Michael McDowell finishing fifth.

Tyler Reddick continued his red-hot start for the 2026 season by winning the pole and Ross Chastain put his Chevy beside him for the start of the race. Chase Briscoe jumped to the inside and passed both Reddick and Chastain to take the early lead. Ryan Blaney, who started in fourth place, took the lead on lap 9. Blaney pitted with three laps to go in the stage and Chastain took the lead and stayed there for the stage one win.

After Chastain and others made their pit stop, Blaney moved back to the lead to start stage two, but it was Reddick who took the lead when the green flag dropped. Reddick stayed out front until three laps to go in the stage when he made his green flag pit stop, handing the lead over to Blaney. Blaney would pit the next lap, putting Ty Gibbs out front and Gibbs stayed there to take the stage two win. 

The final stage started with Reddick leading the pack to the green flag. On lap 70, Reddick made a green flag pit stop and Shane Van Gisbergen took the lead. The next lap, Van Gisbergen pitted, handing the lead over to William Byron. Michael McDowell passed Byron for the lead on the next lap. On lap 75, Chastain spun out bringing out the caution flag. After the pit stops, Reddick moved back to the lead. On the restart, Reddick stayed out front and Van Gisbergen moved to second. Although Van Gisbergen pressed Reddick during the closing laps, Reddick would handle the pressure for his historic win. 

The Autotrader 400 at Echo Park Speedway was an exciting, action-packed event that ended with Tyler Reddick winning the first two races of the year in a heavily damaged car after losing his right front fender in an accident with fellow Toyota driver Denny Hamlin. Chase Briscoe finished second followed by three Chevrolets, Ross Chastian third, Carson Hocevar fourth and Daniel Suarez fifth.

Qualifying was rained out therefore last week’s winner Tyler Reddick started on the pole with Joey Logano beside him. Reddick and Logano swapped the lead back and forth for the first half of stage one before Chase Elliott and Brad Keselowski moved to the lead for a while. Reddick and Logano took the control back around lap 35 until Elliott took the lead on lap 46. Kyle Larson took his turn at the front of the pack with four laps to go in the stage, then Bubba Wallace moved to the lead, but it was Austin Cindric taking the stage one win as he passed Wallace on the last lap.

Stage two started with Larson pacing the field until Wallace passed him on lap 73. Larson went back to the lead on lap 81 and then on the next lap, the caution flag came out when Ty Gibbs contacted Josh Berry, ending the day for both of them. When the green flag flew, Larson stayed out front with his teammate William Byron in second place until Reddick moved to the lead. The next caution was on lap 103 when Riley Herbst lost control and spun Austin Dillon. They collected several other cars in the accident Ricky Srenhouse Jr, BJ Mcleod, Todd Gilliland, Cole Custer and Zane Smith all sustained damage. Kyle Busch hit the inside wall hard on the backstretch, bringing out the next caution and ending his day. Larson took the lead with 23 laps to go in the stage and Wallace switched the lead back and forth with Larson. Chase Briscoe moved around both of them with 10 laps to go in the stage. Larson went back to the point with 4 laps remaining in the stage and Byron made a pass on the last lap to win the stage. Coming to the stage finish, Larson moved down the track and hit Shane Van Gisbergen, putting Larson out of the race.

The last stage started with five Fords out front with Ryan Blaney leading the first green flag lap. Several cars swapped the lead for the next few laps with Denny Hamlin looking the strongest in the early part of the stage. Briscoe eventually moved around his teammate and paced the field for the middle part of the stage. Coming to lap 200, Shane Van Gisbergen spun out in turn four, bringing out the sixth caution of the day. Cindric made his way back to the front with 40 laps to go. A couple of laps later, Hamlin hit the back of Logano and spun out in front of Reddick and collected several drivers. Also caught up in the accident were AJ Allmendinger, Chris Buescher, Joey Logano, Alex Bowman, Michael McDowell and Connor Zilisch. Logano spun out after he contacted Carson Hocevar, causing another caution. The caution came out with four laps to go as Byron got loose and was working his way to the bottom of the track when Cindric clipped him, collecting several other cars, including Logano, Austin Dillon, John Hunter Nemechek, Noah Gragson, Hamlin, Gilliland, Custer, Erik Jones and Cody Ware. The race would finish in overtime as several drivers pitted for four new tires. When they dropped the green flag, Hocevar tried to move between Christopher Bell and Wallace, but Bell tried to close the hole and Hocevar hit Bell, sending him into the wall and bringing out the caution. On the second overtime start, Reddick was able to pass both Hocevar and Wallace to hold on for the win.

In a dramatic last lap battle, Tyler Reddick won his first Daytona 500 with Ricky Stenhouse Jr. second and Joey Logano third. Chase Elliott, who came out of turn four with the lead, had to settle for fourth when he was hit by Riley Herbst coming to the finish line and Brad Keselowski overcame his off-season injury to finish fifth. Carson Hocevar took the white flag in the lead but was hit by Erik Jones, taking them both out of contention. Reddick only led one lap in the race, but it was the most important one, to secure the biggest win of his career and the also for his 23XI team. 

The Great American Race started with two-time Cup champion Kyle Busch on the pole and Joe Gibbs Racing driver Chase Briscoe beside him. Busch was able to move out front and stayed there until lap four when John Hunter Nemechek brought the inside lane to the front of the field. The first caution flag came out when BJ McCloud spun on lap 5 and made contact with William Byron and Justin Allgaier. Also involved in the incident were Casey Mears, Noah Gragson and Tyler Reddick. The green flag came back out on lap 12 with Kyle Busch and Joey Logano going back and forth for the lead. Nemechek took the lead on lap 16 and swapped the lead with Logano until the third line developed with Brisco leading that lane to the front of the field, taking the lead on lap 36 for the first time. Briscoe pitted on lap 58, handing the lead to Chase Elliott for one lap before Elliott hit pit road. Zane Smith found himself in the lead and he stretched his gas milage looking to maximize the stage points. The strategy worked as Smith won his first career stage. 

Cindric started out front for stage two until the Toyotas hooked up and moved to the front as Denny Hamlin took the lead on lap 76. Fellow Toyota driver Bubba Wallace grabbed the lead on lap 78. Team Chevy drivers hooked up on the inside and came to the front with Cody Ware taking the lead on lap 81, Ross Chastain moved to the lead two laps later on lap 83. Allgaier took the lead on lap 85 and the caution flag came out coming to lap 86 as Chastain tapped Ware sending him into Ty Gibbs and Briscoe. Austin Dillon hit Briscoe, causing damage to Dillon’s front end. The restart had Chastain leading the field and Kyle Larson beside him. The outside lane prevailed and Chastain paced the field until lap 97 when Cindric moved back to the lead. Chastain would retake the lead the following lap until his teammate Shane Van Gisbergen led for the first time on lap 102. Kyle Larson would lead lap 105 and Kyle Busch 106. Hamlin moved back to the lead on lap 123 but he and Allgaier got together and took out several of the front runners, twenty cars in all. Wallace made it through to lead the field under caution to the stage two win.

The final stage began with the Toyotas of Wallace and Corey Heim up front and Wallace jumped back out into the lead. Three Toyota drivers lead each line as the race moved on with Heim on the bottom, Wallace in the middle and Christopher Bell in the outside lane. With twenty laps to go, Wallace and three other Toyotas made their gas-and-go pitstop, putting Chris Buescher in the lead. Five laps later, the group of Ford drivers pitted and that put Busch back in the lead. With thirteen laps remaining, Elliott lead as Busch made his stop for gas but he only went one lap before he pitted. Everyone had pitted except Michael McDowell, who was waiting for a caution and he got what he was waiting for when Heim tapped Hamlin, knocking him into Bell, bringing out a caution. With five laps remaining, the green flag fell with McDowell in first place after he was in 31st place before everyone started making their pit stops. McDowell had his teammate Hocevar and Hocevar pushed McDowell to the lead coming the white flag. In a chaotic final lap, Tyler Reddick came to the finish line first as cars wrecked all around him.