Tyler Reddick made NASCAR Cup Series history on March 1 at COTA.
Reddick became the first driver in Cup history to win the first three races of the season when he defeated Sean van Gisbergen to win the DuraMax Grand Prix.
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The No. 45 driver led most of the day and did a good job of controlling the small gap in front of Ryan Blaney and van Gisbergen in the final 60 laps.
Reddick held the lead over van Gisbergen for lengths with 11 laps remaining, but the No. 45 driver took the checkered flag 3.9 seconds ahead.
Here are the winners and losers from the NASCAR COTA race:
Kota results: Who wins the NASCAR Cup COTA race? The winner is Tyler Reddick, plus full results
NASCAR COTA Winners and Losers, Tyler Reddick Wins Again
Winner: Tyler Reddick
Tyler Reddick took pole position, led the most laps and beat the best road racers in the sport for his third straight win.
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“Wow,” Redick said on the radio after taking the checkered flag. “What a start.”
I will say. Redick’s lead in the standings has been more than a full game ahead of second place and more than 100 points away from Chase’s cutoff.
Co-owner Michael Jordan was at the track again to celebrate with his 23XI Racing team. Jordan confirmed on the Fox broadcast that he will be back in the pits next week in Phoenix.
Redick didn’t have the best record in Phoenix, entering the 20s twice last year. But that’s not something a career-best run can’t fix.
Winner: Ty Gibbs
Few drivers have passed as many cars as Ty Gibbs on COTA.
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While others pitted before the end of the second stage to win the second stage, Gibbs stayed on the field and then drove back to the field after pitting during the stage break.
With less than 20 laps to go, Gibbs put on new tires before the restart and moved from 17th to 4th in the final race, earning a well-deserved top-5 finish.
The youngest Joe Gibbs Racing driver showed good speed all day and he needs to accumulate results like this. Easier said than done, but Gibbs has the equipment he had at COTA.
Loser: Alex Bowman
2026 is off to a bad start for the driver of the No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet.
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Bowman finished 40th at Daytona and 23rd at Atlanta, crashing in both draft races.
Coming to COTA, Bowman’s track history gave us some optimism. The No. 48 car has five top-10 finishes in COTA races, including three top-5 finishes.
The day definitely didn’t go as planned. Bowman was penalized for losing control of his tires on pit road, causing him to drop down the order.
Bowman struggled the rest of the race and when he made his final pit stop with 25 laps to go, he wasn’t feeling well. Bowman required medical assistance after exiting the car, and Myatt Snider finished 36th in the No. 48 car as a replacement driver.
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Bowman and No. 48 have always excelled in team execution rather than raw speed and ability. Execution hasn’t been good enough through three weeks, and Bowman already has a points deficit to make up.
Loser: Chase Briscoe
Briscoe earned last week’s runner-up finish after twice finishing outside the top 30 due to a transaxle issue with 33 laps remaining.
No. 19 spent most of the day inside the top five, taking the lead early on but was neck and neck with Redick, SVG and Ryan Blaney.
But Briscoe slowed down on lap 63, with smoke trailing the car. He took the car to the garage area and retired from the race in 37th place.
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Next week, the series heads to Phoenix, a track where Briscoe has won during his Cup Series career. He needs to have a nice, quiet race weekend out west.
This article originally appeared in Nashville, Tenn.: Tyler Reddick makes NASCAR history, winners and losers at NASCAR COTA