NASCAR Weekend Preview: Phoenix Raceway

Tyler Reddick carries momentum to Phoenix looking for fourth straight win

With three dramatic wins in as many races this season, 23XI Racing’s Tyler Reddick arrives at Phoenix Raceway for Sunday’s Straight Talk Wireless 500 (3:30 p.m. ET on FS1, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) feeling confident and hopeful he can extend a historic streak of season-opening excellence to four consecutive NASCAR Cup Series victories to open the year.

After winning the season-opening DAYTONA 500 on Daytona’s 2.5-mile speedway, Reddick answered with a win on Atlanta’s 1.5-mile EchoPark Speedway and then last weekend re-wrote history by claiming victory at Austin’s Circuit of The Americas road course – three different tracks; one very happy victor, team and organization.

No driver has won the first four races of the season and statistically-speaking, at least, the Phoenix one-miler has loomed as a challenge for the driver of the No. 45 23XI Racing Toyota. Reddick has only a pair of top-five finishes in 12 series starts – two third-place showings, the last coming in this spring race in 2023.

The 30-year-old Californian finished 20th (spring) and 26th (fall season finale) in the two 2025 races. He’s only led laps in two of his 12 starts, but in spring of 2024, his 68 laps out front tied his team co-owner Joe Gibbs Racing driver Denny Hamlin for a race best total.

“When we go to the spring Phoenix race, we’re typically right there,” Reddick said, “I’m really excited to see what we have for speed and pace over the next two weekends because we’ve worked really hard to improve things here.

“We’ve worked hard to kind of re-think how we get around Phoenix and we’ve just kind of doubled down on the things that we’ve been improving at Vegas so honestly, I’ve very excited to see what kind of pace we have at Phoenix and Vegas as it comes up.”

The work is paying off big picture so far. For the first time in its six-year history, the 23XI Racing team boasts the top two drivers in the NASCAR Cup Series championship standings – with Reddick leading teammate Bubba Wallace by 70 points.

The team – also including driver Riley Herbst – has led 206 laps this season – more than double that of any other team. The four-car JGR organization is next closest with a combined 94 total laps out front. And 23XI Racing’s combined six top-10 efforts between the three drivers is also most for any team.

So, who historically-speaking may give Reddick a run for his record-setting dominance? At Phoenix, Hendrick Motorsports’ William Byron is in the midst of his own record run – 21 consecutive top-10 stage finishes at the desert one-miler and he leads all drivers in laps run in the top-five and top-10 in the Next Gen car era. He won the 2023 spring race here.

Five drivers finished top-10 in both of the 2025 Phoenix races – Hendrick teammates Chase Elliott, Kyle Larson, Hamlin, Wood Brothers Racing’s Josh Berry and Richard Childress Racing’s Kyle Busch. Larson, who was crowned the NASCAR Cup Series champion for the second time in his career last November at Phoenix, is the only driver to score top-five finishes in both races last season.

And of course, for Hamlin, there is plenty of heartbreak to race through. He led an absolutely dominating 208 of 319 laps in the November Championship Finale, only to lose the race to Team Penske’s Ryan Blaney and the title to Larson in an overtime finish.

The series’ new points system – changed in the offseason – now rewards winning a race more but has eliminated the win-and-you’re-in Playoff system of recent years. The current result is Reddick’s huge lead – and the 70-point differential between he and Wallace – is the same differential between Wallace and 27th place in the standings.

The NASCAR Cup Series Final Practice Saturday will be followed by Busch Light Pole Qualifying (Prime, MRN, SiriusXM at 12 p.m. ET). Byron won the pole position for last year’s race.

Jesse Love loves the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series Phoenix stop

Certainly, Richard Childress Racing’s Jesse Love is among the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series competitors most looking forward to a return to Phoenix Raceway for Saturday evening’s GOVX 200 (7:30 p.m. ET on CW, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

The 21-year-old reigning series champion earned his first major NASCAR title at the track last November and has turned in an impressive start in 2026 to back up that work.

Not only is Love the only driver to earn top-10 finishes in all three races this season, the driver of the No. 2 RCR Chevrolet boasts the longest top-10 streak (four) at the Phoenix one-miler among this week’s starting lineup. His average finish in four starts is 4.5 – including that career-changing victory in the 2025 championship finale.

Love’s RCR teammate Austin Hill, who won the Daytona season-opener, boasts the top average finish on the year (5.0) and leads his teammate Love by 28 points atop the championship standings.

JR Motorsports Justin Allgaier, the 2024 series champion, is third in points, 39 off Hill’s pace and brings his own impressive resume to the track, where he is the only multiple time winner (two) on Saturday’s grid. His 13 career top-five and 21 top-10 finishes are most in those categories. He comes into the race having earned the most stage points (47) on the year.

Joe Gibbs Racing, however, has won at least one of the two Phoenix races for the past eight years and its 18 wins total here is more than double that of any other organization.

A remarkable, nine drivers have already earned career best finishes in the opening three races. Hendrick Motorsports rookie Corey Day has a pair of top-five finishes in the opening three races.

Ten different drivers have won the last 10 Phoenix races, an indication of how competitive this track has proven to be.

Of note, former Phoenix winner (2017) Hendrick Motorsports’ Byron will drive the JR Motorsports No. 88 Chevrolet Saturday while NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series regular Chandler Smith will drive the No. 5 Ford. …Ryan Sieg will be making his 400th consecutive series start joining Jeremy Clements as the only two series drivers to reach that impressive milestone.

Practice followed by Kennametal Pole Qualifying is Friday at 7 p.m. ET (CW App). NASCAR Cup Series regular, and Arizona-native Alex Bowman claimed pole position for this race last year while Aric Almirola, drove the No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota to the win.

NASCAR Cup Series
Next Race: Straight Talk Wireless 500
The Place: Phoenix Raceway
Track Length: 1 Mile Asphalt Oval
The Date: Sunday, March 8
The Time: 3:30 p.m. ET
The Purse: $11,233,037
TV: FS1, 3 p.m. ET
Radio: MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR (Channel 90)
Distance: 312 miles (312 Laps); Stage 1 (Ends on Lap 60),
Stage 2 (Ends on Lap 185), Final Stage (Ends on Lap 312)

NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series
Next Race: GOVX 200
The Place: Phoenix Raceway
Track Length: 1 Mile Asphalt Oval
The Date: Saturday, March 7
The Time: 7:30 p.m. ET
The Purse: $1,653,590
TV: CW, 6:30 p.m. ET
Radio: MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR (Channel 90)
Distance: 200 miles (200 Laps); Stage 1 (Ends on Lap 45),
Stage 2 (Ends on Lap 90), Final Stage (Ends on Lap 200)