AUSTIN, Texas — Tyler Reddick scored his first victory with his new team by holding on over multiple late restarts to win in triple overtime Sunday at Circuit of the Americas, the first road course race on this year’s NASCAR Cup Series schedule.
Reddick’s victory was the first of the year for Toyota and his first since joining 23XI Racing, the team co-owned by Joe Gibbs Racing driver Denny Hamlin and basketball legend Michael Jordan. It was the fourth win of Reddick’s Cup Series career, with all but one of those on a road course. Last year, Reddick won three times in his final season with Richard Childress Racing — twice in July (at Road America in Wisconsin and on the road course at Indianapolis Motor Speedway) and again in September on the oval at Texas Motor Speedway
This might have been the most nerve-wracking win of all for Reddick.
He had to hold the front position through the elevated, switchback, left-hand turn where the field bunched up and smashed into each other time after time on the restarts. The race had eight cautions for 17 laps and went to three overtimes, winding up seven laps past the scheduled distance.
“This whole 23XI team has been working so hard all winter long to make the road course program better,” Reddick said. “Was extremely motivated to come in here and prove that performance, too.”