No Fender? No Problem As Tyler Reddick Takes Atlanta Win

While his 23XI Racing teammate Bubba Wallace found himself in the middle of a last-lap skirmish with Carson Hocevar, Tyler Reddick breezed clear into the front of the field on the final restart, which came on a second overtime attempt, in Sunday's NASCAR Cup Series Autotrader 400 at EchoPark Speedway.

Reddick, the driver of the No. 45 23XI Racing Toyota, was involved in the big crash on Lap 225 and lost his right front fender as a result. But he was still able to have enough speed, incredibly, to contend near the front of the field, and when others made mistakes, he was there to capitalize for his second consecutive win to kick off the 2026 NASCAR Cup Series season, following up his win in last weekend's Daytona 500.

"I mean, that's crazy. Ain't it? How about that? EchoPark Speedway," Reddick said after the win. "I mean, this place, over the years man, it just puts on some amazing racing. Handling matters here, but I don't know, I guess determination out-weighs handling."

Michael Jordan, the legendary NBA player and co-owner of the 23XI Racing team, was proud of both of his drivers that had a shot at the win on Sunday, but was incredibly proud of the effort shown by Reddick in the gutsy win.

"Tyler did an unbelievable job. Both teams did an unbelievable job. I wanted him to win," Jordan said. "I feel bad for Bubba, obviously, because he had an unbelievable day, but Tyler drove his ass off, and I'm very happy for Tyler. I'm very happy for 23XI."

Reddick, 30, now has victories in the Daytona 500 and the Autotrader 400 to start the year, and he will continue his grasp on the NASCAR Cup Series point lead. The win marks the 10th of Reddick's 220-race NASCAR Cup Series career, and incredibly, he has achieved all 10 wins on different racetracks.

As Wallace and Hocevar faded after making contact on the final lap, Chase Briscoe would stay glued to Reddick's rear bumper on his path to a runner-up finish.

Ross Chastain, the driver of the No. 1 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet, would collect a third-place result, ahead of Hocevar, who came home in fourth.

Hocevar, who is still seeking his first career NASCAR Cup Series win, saw another slip through his grasp on Sunday afternoon. But when he saw Briscoe lined up with Reddick, another Toyota, on the final restart, he knew he was going to have a hard time making anything happen. Still, he was proud of the effort, which saw him rally from two laps down after an early incident to score a top-five finish.

"Yeah, just happy with the Spectrum car. Our car is really fast to go from two laps down to get Stage Points and then finish fourth, that's good points for us," Hocevar said. "Yeah, I mean, I was taking every run. I don't know, I'm sure I owe people apologies."

Daniel Suarez, Hocevar's Spire Motorsports teammate, finished fifth, while Shane van Gisbergen, Zane Smith, Bubba Wallace, Ryan Preece, and Ryan Blaney rounded out the top-10 finishers in the race.

Wallace, who led 46 laps on the day, and looked poised to collect his first victory of the 2026 season, says he'll have to go back and look at the tape before he can weigh in on the finish.

"I need to go back and see. I didn't think I moved up that much to allow, you know, put myself up top on the top of [Turn] 3. So, unfortunate, but man, what a racecar we had today," Wallace said.

While it's disappointing to walk out of Hampton, GA without the win, Wallace was happy his teammate was able to get the job done, and at the end of the day, he is glad he didn't completely ruin a good day, points-wise.

Wallace added, "You know who I learned a lot from? Was Rajah, yesterday. He had a bad fast car, and he finished second in the first Stage, and won the second Stage, just like me. And I was like, 'This car is so fast, don't do anything to jeapordize a good finish.' I hate that we didn't get the win, but I appreciate Xfinity."

The good finish allowed Wallace to exit Sunday night's race with the runner-up slot in the NASCAR Cup Series championship standings, as he sits 40 points behind his teammate, Reddick.

Sunday's race at EchoPark Speedway featured a track record-breaking 57 lead changes, among 14 drivers, Reddick, who won the race from the pole position, led a race-high 53 laps. While the race saw plenty of thrilling action at the front of the pack, it also showcased quite a few hard hits.

The race was slowed by caution 10 times for a total of 67 laps, and 13 drivers fell out of the race due to damage sustained in a plethora of multi-car melees.

The first multi-car crash of the day occurred on Lap 82 and involved Josh Berry and Ty Gibbs, who each crashed heavily into the outside wall. Gibbs' car would come to a stop in the infield grass, where it would burst into flames, and the grass would actually ignite in the process.

Kyle Busch would exit his car under his own power on Lap 125 after a hard crash into the inside wall on the backstretch, and he would be fuming at Noah Gragson, who he felt could have given him time to correct his car before giving him the shove that ultimately ended his race.

Defending series champion Kyle Larson made a mental miscue on the final lap of Stage 2, which ended his day.

In the final Stage, things got really crazy, as with 38 laps to go, contact between Joey Logano and Denny Hamlin triggered a large crash, which knocked the right front fender off of Reddick's No. 45 Toyota, and involved Alex Bowman, William Byron, Chris Buescher, Michael McDowell, Connor Zilisch, and more.

Denny Hamlin goes around and triggers a pileup in Atlanta! pic.twitter.com/pEdKXFCsJT
— FOX: NASCAR (@NASCARONFOX) February 22, 2026

With four laps left in regulation, William Byron got into the outside wall, moved down the track, and collected several cars, including Joey Logano, Noah Gragson, Cody Ware, Cole Custer, Todd Gilliland and others. This crash sent the race into overtime.

Something went wrong for William Byron and it led to things going wrong for a bunch of teams. pic.twitter.com/qjr4sgOC4Y
— FOX: NASCAR (@NASCARONFOX) February 22, 2026

On the first overtime restart attempt, Hocevar shot the gap between Christopher Bell, the leader of the outside lane, and Bubba Wallace, leading the inside lane. There wasn't enough room, and he made contact with Bell, which sent the driver of the No. 20 Toyota crashing out of the event.

Carson Hocevar went for it ASAP. pic.twitter.com/z0ogFRFXXJ
— FOX: NASCAR (@NASCARONFOX) February 23, 2026

Next up for the NASCAR Cup Series is the DuraMax Grand Prix at Circuit of the Americas on Sunday, March 1. That race will be televised on FOX, and television coverage is set to begin at 3:30 PM ET. The Performance Racing Network (PRN), and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio will provide the radio broadcast of the race.