Reddick wins at Atlanta to give Jordan second straight NASCAR Cup victory

HAMPTON, Ga. (AP) — Tyler Reddick rebounded from a crash to become the first driver in 17 years to sweep the first two races of a NASCAR Cup Series season, winning in double overtime Sunday at Echo Park Speedway. A week after winning the Daytona 500 in a wild final lap, Reddick gave 23XI Racing and co-owner Michael Jordan another victory by outdueling Chase Briscoe, Ross Chastain and Carson Hocevar on the 1.54-mile oval. Bubba Wallace, who also drives for 23XI, led entering the final restart but was shuffled to eighth place in the race had a record 57 lead changes. "Tyler did an unbelievable job," said Jordan, the former NBA superstar. "I feel bad for Bubba because he had an unbelievable day. But Tyler drone his ass off. I'm very happy for Tyler, very happy for 23XI." Reddick raced to his 10th victory in NASCAR's premier series despite front-end damage to his No. 45 Toyota sustained in a nine-car crash on the 224th lap of a scheduled 260. He became the sixth driver to open a Cup season with consecutive victories and the first since Matt Kenseth in 2009. Chase Elliott, who was trying to rebound from briefly leading on the last lap of the Daytona 500 and getting crashed, finished 11th after contending for a top five until a late bobble in traffic. The Hendrick Motorsports star had rallied from 32nd after overshooting his pit stall under caution on the 64th lap. Green turns to yellow Austin Cindric took advantage of a stretch of 61 green-flag laps to open the race, winning the first stage after starting 30th. It was the second consecutive year that the first stage in the February race was completed without a yellow flag – an oddity for a track known for chaos since its 2022 reconfiguration into a high-banked drafting oval. The cautions quickly picked up pace in the second stage with three yellow flags in 40 laps that collected 16 cars and eliminated notable drivers Ty Gibbs, Josh Berry, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Kyle Busch. The 160-lap middle segment ended under another yellow when defending Cup Series champion Kyle Larson slammed the outside wall after a collision with Shane van Gisbergen. No Las Vegas love lost Busch was perturbed after his No. 8 Chevrolet "got rammed" exiting Turn 2 by the No. 4 Ford of Noah Gragson on the 125th lap. Though both drivers hail from Las Vegas, Nevada, the 40-year-old Busch felt little kinship in taking issue with the aggressive style of Gragson, who is 13 years younger. "He didn't give me an opportunity to make sure I was straight before hitting me or get into me gently to try and get the momentum back," said Busch, who finished 33rd. "He just drove right through me." Up next The NASCAR Cup Series will race at the Circuit of the Americas, the first road course of the 2026 season, on Sunday, March 1. Christopher Bell outdueled Kyle Busch and William Byron to win at the Austin, Texas, track last year. ___ AP auto racing: https://apnews.com/hub/auto-racing