Tyler Reddick, Michael Jordan win again, more NASCAR Atlanta winners and losers

Tyler Reddick is 2-for-2 in the 2026 NASCAR Cup Series season.

Reddick passed Carson Hocevar and Bubba Wallace coming to the white flag on the second overtime attempt, then held off the pack to win the Autotrader 400 on Feb. 22 at EchoPark Speedway.

Advertisement

Reddick is a back-to-back winner after claiming the Daytona 500 last week. He did so despite suffering damage in a crash with less than 40 laps to go. He is the first driver to open the NASCAR season with two straight wins since Matt Kenseth in 2009.

Michael Jordan was in attendance again, embracing Reddick at the finish line in celebration.

Here are the winners and losers from the NASCAR Atlanta spring race:

ATLANTA RESULTS: Who won NASCAR Cup Series Atlanta race? Winner is Tyler Reddick, plus full results

NASCAR Atlanta winners and losers as Tyler Reddick goes back-to-back

Winner: Tyler Reddick

In terms of winners, Reddick is the only one to do so through two weeks. He’s 2-for-2 after winning at Atlanta despite an eventful final 100 miles.

Advertisement

Reddick was involved in a Lap 224 crash with Denny Hamlin and others across the frontstretch.

If you watch the replay, there’s a blue piece that flies up in the air at the top of the screen. That was Reddick’s right-front fender around the tire. The 2026 Daytona 500 champion ran the final 40 or so laps without that fender, and still drove to the lead.

After celebrating with 23XI Racing co-owner Michael Jordan at the finish line after the race, Reddick grabbed the checkered flag and then pointed at his right-front fender — or rather the absence of a right-front fender post-crash.

Reddick has started well in 2026, as has 23XI Racing as a whole. Bubba Wallace led 46 laps and was in control up front before the final couple restarts.

Advertisement

But Reddick earned the win — again.

Winner: Trackhouse Racing

Ross Chastain wasn’t always up front in the No. 1 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet. And Shane van Gisbergen spun across the frontstretch grass twice throughout the day.

But the two Trackhouse drivers were up front when it counted. Chastain surged to third in the overtime finish, while SVG moved up to sixth.

While Chastain had the better finish, SVG had the better story. He spun across the frontstretch grass at the end of Stage 2 after Kyle Larson threw a bad block, then spun again off the fourth turn later in the race. SVG’s sixth-place finish is a career-best on a non-road course track in the NASCAR Cup Series with COTA up next.

Advertisement

It wasn’t all perfect for Trackhouse, as Connor Zilisch finished 30th after being knocked out of the race in the Lap 224 crash mentioned earlier.

But two in the top six? Owner Justin Marks and company will take that.

Loser: Kyle Busch

To make the Chase, Kyle Busch will have to maximize opportunities at pack-racing tracks until RCR can run better more consistently at non-drafting ovals.

Last year, Busch had five top-10 finishes on non-drafting ovals.

Fast forward to Atlanta, where Busch’s Lap 125 crash resigned him to a 34th-place finish. Busch tried to slide up into a tight space in front of Noah Gragson on the backstretch but misjudged the line’s momentum.

Advertisement

Busch did maximize his stage points at Daytona despite finishing 15th, and he did pick up four stage points in Stage 1 at Atlanta.

But crashing out of the race via an unforced error can’t happen often for a driver and team likely to hang around the Chase bubble throughout the year.

Loser: Ty Gibbs

Gibbs is in the midst of another bad start to a Cup Series season.

Gibbs, coming off of a 23rd-place finish at Daytona, crashed in Lap 82 after making contact with Josh Berry as the two tried to take the same space in the middle of the pack.

Both drivers’ days ended there.

The driver of the No. 54 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota finished in 37th. Gibbs has not shown the consistency to run well often enough in the Cup Series to overcome a string of bad finishes and/or DNFs.

Advertisement

That consistency, or lack of, will be important in the Chase era, and it’s not a good start to 2026 for the 23-year-old.

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Tyler Reddick, Michael Jordan win again, more NASCAR Atlanta winners and losers