Phoenix Raceway turned out to be the great equalizer of the NASCAR Chase for the Championship with just three races remaining in the title hunt. At the sight of where his historic win streak to begin the 2026 season came to a close, Tyler Reddick hopes he began a new streak to end the season and claim the championship after a victory at Phoenix Raceway.

Driving for 23XI Racing, co-owned by Michael Jordan and Denny Hamlin, Reddick surged ahead in a late race restart to bring him within 56 points of the championship lead. The victory marked his first at Phoenix Raceway in any NASCAR series and the 14th of his Cup Series career.

The victory snapped a 23-race winless streak for Reddick dating back to April after winning five of the first nine races of the year which separated himself as the early championship favorite. After falling in the points over nearly six winless months, Reddick bolstered himself back into championship contention with his sixth win of the 2026 NASCAR Cup Series season.

Entering the race as the championship points leader, Kyle Larson watched points lead nearly disappear after a blown tire on Lap 283 sent him into the outside wall, forcing him behind the wall to finish in 34th place.

The ensuing pit stops mixed up the field as teams decided whether to take two tires, four tires, or stay out on the track. Reddick’s No. 45 Toyota battled to the front of the field after the Lap 294 restart, passing fellow championship competitor Chase Briscoe for the lead before pulling away to defeat Ryan Blaney by 0.801 seconds. Briscoe, struggling with older tires, ultimately finished eighth. Joey Logano looked to bring himself closer to the championship lead after sweeping both stages but had to settle for a sixth place finish.

Christopher Bell moved into second in the standings, just five points behind Larson, after a fourth-place finish. Briscoe sits third in the standings just 24 points back, while Denny Hamlin dropped to fourth, 31 points behind the leader, after a tire failure and pit-road speeding penalty mired him back to a 28th-place finish.

NASCAR visits the ultimate wild card race of Talladega Superspeedway in Alabama this weekend for the NASCAR Truck, O’Reilly, and Cup Series. Just two races remain in the championship after Talladega with the season concluding at Martinsville Speedway and Homestead-Miami Speedway.

Mark your calendars to make the trip back to Phoenix Raceway as NASCAR and INDYCAR collide for monumental doubleheader race weekend March 12-14, 2027. The Chase will once again take center stage at Phoenix Raceway, October 22-24.

The post Tyler Reddick Roars Back to Victory Lane in Phoenix Raceway Championship Shake-Up first appeared on Sports360AZ.



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