Tyler Reddick‘s hot start to the 2026 NASCAR Cup Series season has led to a couple of insiders issuing a warning to the rest of the field. On The Teardown podcast, Jeff Gluck and Jordan Bianchi of The Athletic discussed how some of the top drivers will have problems catching Reddick, who has won the first three races of the year.
“Tyler Reddick is completely blowing them out,” Gluck said. “Triple-digit leads over a ton of the contenders, and that’s concerning for them.”
Bianchi agrees with Gluck, adding that the fast start gives Reddick a chance to have a bad race or two and still have a commanding lead. “What Tyler Reddick and the 45 team are doing is they’re basically stashing away their mulligans for different times down the road,” Bianchi said. “They survived two super speedways, and they got through COTA, which can be challenging. So now they’re in a spot where they can still have a bad race or two, and they’re going to be in a great spot.
“Everyone else is effectively almost used up their mulligans, where for the next 23 races they’re going to really have to be on their game. If they stub their toe along the way, they’re really in trouble.”
Tyler Reddick has recorded 186 Cup points to start the season
Reddick has collected 186 Cup points in three races. His 23XI Racing teammate, Bubba Wallace, is second in points with 116. There are only four drivers who have over 100 Cup points, with the other two being Chase Elliott (114) and Ryan Blaney (100).
The interesting thing about the standings right now is that some of the top drivers will have to put in extra work to even reach the Chase. At the end of the 2025 season, Kyle Larson, Denny Hamlin, Chase Briscoe, and William Byron reached the Championship Four. If the Chase began today, only Byron and Larson would be in, and both drivers would be placed in the bottom half of the field due to their Cup points.
Reddick is enjoying this run after not winning a race last year. He still reached the playoffs and finished ninth in the final standings, but it was much different from the 2024 season, when he won the Regular Season championship and advanced to the Championship Four.