Saved by a Late Race Caution, Reddick Goes Five For Nine on the Season with Kansas Speedway Win
· Yahoo Sports
Tyler Reddick wins again in 2026 with his overtime victory over Kyle Larson and his 23XI Racing boss Denny Hamlin on Sunday afternoon. After starting on the pole, Reddick faded in the opening stage, giving the lead to Hamlin, who would go on to win stage one and run up front and lead the most laps, 131 of the 274-lap race.
In the closing laps of the final stage, Hamlin was still leading, but his tire wear was evident as Reddick shortened the gap.
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With 15 laps remaining, Reddick was within a second of the lead. With 11 to go, Reddick was at the back panel of Hamlin’s No. 11. After two laps of battling, Reddick took the lead from his boss to weave through traffic. With seven laps remaining, Austin Dillon in the No. 3 held up Tyler Reddick, giving Hamlin another shot at the win. Hamlin grew frustrated with Dillon racing them both so hard and not getting out of the way of the leaders.
With three laps to go, Reddick wiggles as he runs out of fuel in the main cell and hits the wall in turn three. Reddick loses the lead to Hamlin, but before more damage could be done, the No. 51 of Cody Ware goes around at the pack of the field, saving Reddick’s chance of a fifth win.
This was the first ’natural caution’ of the race, with only yellow flags being thrown for the two stage breaks.
The No. 45 team radioed to ask Reddick what was happening, and he explained that he ran out of fuel and had to flip the switch to pump two.
The team assured Reddick that there was enough fuel, and without the caution immediately following, there was still a chance for Reddick to battle back from the wall hit and loss of speed to race against his boss once again.
With the caution, leaders came to pit, and Hamlin and Reddick were separated from third place by lapped cars. Both took fuel only, with Hamlin making it out ahead of Reddick for the Overtime finish.
Last fall, tensions at 23XI Racing ran high following a last-lap battle between one of Hamlin’s other drivers and him. As Bubba Wallace had the lead on the final lap, Hamlin desperately went for his 60th career win. Instead, he wrecked himself and his driver.
On the restart, Kyle Larson, who won the second stage, inserted himself into the narrative, shooting by the two Toyota drivers, looking for his first win of the season and only the third win for a non-Toyota driver.
Larson got by the leaders on the start and leads on the white flag, Tyler Reddick and Larson battle through the final lap and Reddick takes the win from Larson on the backstretch.
Chase Briscoe, who restarted the two-lap shootout on the inside of row five, made it up to third, being the first driver in line on fresh tires. Hamlin faded to fourth, and Reddick's longest-running teammate, Wallace, completed the top five.
Following the race, Fox Sports' Jaime Little asked 23XI Racing Co-Owner Michael Jordan, who stressed it was a good race for all four 23XI drivers racing on Sunday, with Wallace, Reddick, and Riley Herbst being joined by 2025 Truck Series Champion Corey Heim. Herbst finished 14th and Heim 15th, marking the first time all four 23XI cars have finished in the top-10.
"It was a good race," Jordan said. "When we started running out of fuel, I didn't know what was happening, but 2311, all the guys drove well today. I mean, we finished, I think all four cars in the top 15. So I mean, that says a lot about the program, and this kid is on fire. I don't even know what to say. I don't know if I can cool him down. He's unbelievable. That was unbelievable. Last couple laps and I'm proud of him. I'm proud of the whole team."
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