When the winds of change are already here, there’s no stopping them. Michael Jordan and 23XI Racing embarked on changing the history of NASCAR, and they did. Now, Tyler Reddick is merely continuing that legendary pursuit.
The stars did not align for Shane van Gisbergen this time. The Kiwi speedster was looking forward to the only missing road course on his wins list. But as it turned out, the traditional guard went back at the 6-time NASCAR Cup Series winner hard. Tyler Reddick, the driver of a team on the verge of being booted from the sport last year, was at the forefront of it.
Tyler Reddick just ‘changed’ NASCAR
“It means the world. Yeah, it’s so fitting,” Tyler Reddick said in response to making history – winning the first three races of a NASCAR season. The No. 45 23XI Racing Toyota driver bagged the DuraMAX Grand Prix trophy at the Circuit of the Americas, making it a three-peat glory after his Daytona and Atlanta spectacles.
Michael Jordan’s 23XI Racing did it – it succeeded in bringing historical ‘change’ to the sport. Tyler Reddick managed to do something no NASCAR driver, not even legend Richard Petty, has done since the sport’s inception in 1949 – log three consecutive wins in the season’s first races. And the way Reddick did it at the Circuit of the Americas was jaw-dropping, to say the least, beating the cream of road course racers.
A start for the ages!@TylerReddick becomes the first driver in history to win the first three races of a season with this @NASCARatCOTA triumph! pic.twitter.com/Q64fBAHGWs
— NASCAR (@NASCAR) March 1, 2026
After starting the race from the pole, Tyler Reddick drove with determination. He briefly lost the lead to drivers like Chase Elliott, Ryan Blaney, and Ross Chastain in the first two stages, but soon came out in front, winning Stage 2. In the latter half of the race, road course star Shane van Gisbergen, fresh off a victory in COTA’s NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts race, was hounding Reddick’s rear.
“I knew it was going to be important there at the end, just trying to minimize the mistakes,” Tyler Reddick continued. “I certainly made a couple, doing everything I could to manage the gap and stay away from him, if you know what I mean. Felt like if he got close enough, it was gonna be probably hard to hold him off.”
Following a caution flag due to Ross Chastain’s lost wheel, Tyler Reddick was actively being trailed by SVG. Yet even Shane van Gisbergen admitted to having ‘no grip’, and lost pace to Michael Jordan’s driver slowly. The gap made up for several car lengths, with Reddick being 1.5 seconds ahead with 5 to go. With 2 to go, he stretched that to over 3 seconds.
“You get going in the end there, I’m leading, and there’s SVG, the guy I’ve been trying to beat for a while now. Just to be able to outlast him there and hold on for the win, it’s just incredible. We’re just really proud of this Chumba Casino Toyota Camry for 23XI.”
Now, Michael Jordan and Co. are getting ready for the next big task. “It’s time for change,” the 6-time NBA champion and star-studded NASCAR team owner said. His aim is to topple the dominance of the big three – Rick Hendrick, Roger Penske, and Joe Gibbs – and Reddick is certainly doing a great job so far.
And Tyler Reddick’s victory today marked a milestone that his team owner had achieved many years ago.
Repeating a historical feat
Just as 23XI Racing entered Victory Lane at COTA, NASCAR fans recalled a historic moment in NBA history. After all, Michael Jordan is an NBA legend who led the Chicago Bulls to a three-peat championship streak in 1996, 1997, and 1998. Several notable feats stood out during that golden period, like a record 72 regular-season wins in the 1995–96 NBA season. The 103-93 road victory on April 21, 1996, was the 72nd victory for Michael Jordan, Scottie Pippen, Rodman, and company.
But just after that win, Michael Jordan won just like Tyler Reddick’s COTA feat. Journalist Steven Taranto wrote on X, “Tyler Reddick’s third-straight win to start the NASCAR season gives Michael Jordan three-straight wins as his car owner. The last time Jordan went 3-0 to start a year during his playing career? 1996-97, when the Chicago Bulls started 12-0 en route to the NBA title.”
The camaraderie between the team owner and the driver is clearly stronger than it seems. We can hardly wait to witness the wonders that Tyler Reddick and Co. will unleash this season.
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