{"id":515714,"date":"2026-03-05T09:50:08","date_gmt":"2026-03-05T09:50:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/515714\/"},"modified":"2026-03-05T09:50:08","modified_gmt":"2026-03-05T09:50:08","slug":"dale-earnhardt-jr-reacts-to-insane-tyler-reddick-nascar-achievement-points-gap-after-cota","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/515714\/","title":{"rendered":"Dale Earnhardt Jr. reacts to ‘insane’ Tyler Reddick NASCAR achievement, points gap after COTA"},"content":{"rendered":"

Tyler Reddick\u2019s<\/a> historic start to the 2026 NASCAR<\/a> Cup Series season has captured the attention of the entire garage. Dale Earnhardt Jr.<\/a> believes it could shape the championship picture much earlier than usual.<\/p>\n

On the latest episode of The Dale Jr. Download, Earnhardt Jr. reacted to Reddick\u2019s third straight victory to open the year, calling the accomplishment remarkable while also highlighting the massive points cushion the 23XI Racing driver has already built.<\/p>\n

\u201cTyler Reddick has started the season, three wins in a row. No one\u2019s ever done that,\u201d Earnhardt Jr. said. \u201cHe was pretty good at COTA. He\u2019s ran really good there in the past, so it wasn\u2019t like a big shock, but he did beat the guy that\u2019s won all the road course races here lately.\u201d<\/p>\n

Reddick\u2019s win at Circuit of The Americas extended his streak after victories at Daytona and Atlanta, making him the first driver in NASCAR history to open a season with three consecutive wins. Beyond the wins, Earnhardt Jr. pointed out that the points gap might be just as impressive.<\/p>\n

\u201cBarring any kind of massive collapse, he\u2019s got like what, a 70-point lead?\u201d he said. \u201cI will say that my man Tyler Reddick has a lock on being in the top three.\u201d<\/p>\n

Under NASCAR\u2019s current format, finishing in the top three of the regular-season standings is critical because of the playoff bonus points awarded heading into the postseason. Right now, Reddick isn\u2019t just leading. He\u2019s separating himself from the field.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s 86 points above Ryan Blaney<\/a>, who\u2019s in fourth,\u201d Earnhardt Jr. explained. \u201cBarring a collapse, that should do it. Who\u2019s to say he won\u2019t win another race or two, right? To sort of help himself sustain that gap?\u201d<\/p>\n

Moreover, Earnhardt Jr. also noted that many of the drivers typically expected to challenge for the regular-season crown are already far behind: \u201cThe heavy hitters? They ain\u2019t there,\u201d he said. \u201cThe people that he\u2019s actually probably going to be competing with as we surge through the season and get on 20-some races in, he\u2019s way ahead of those guys.\u201d<\/p>\n

The numbers only reinforce that point. Reddick currently holds nearly a 100-point cushion over several contenders further down the standings, including road-course ace Shane van Gisbergen<\/a>: \u201cIt\u2019s not going the other way,\u201d Earnhardt Jr. added. \u201cHe\u2019s got almost 100 points on Shane van Gisbergen in fifth.\u201d<\/p>\n

While the NASCAR championship ultimately comes down to the playoff stretch, Earnhardt Jr. believes Reddick\u2019s early dominance is exactly why 23XI Racing co-owner Denny Hamlin<\/a> targeted him as the centerpiece of the organization.<\/p>\n

\u201cTyler Reddick has \u2014 I don\u2019t know that he\u2019s shocked the world,\u201d Earnhardt Jr. said. \u201cWe all knew that this is why Denny hired him. Denny thought, \u2018Hey man, I\u2019m bringing this guy in. This guy is going to turn my organization into a winning organization.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Three races in, it\u2019s hard to argue with that vision. The sky is the limit for Reddick in 2026, if that wasn\u2019t obvious already.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Tyler Reddick\u2019s historic start to the 2026 NASCAR Cup Series season has captured the attention of the entire…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":515715,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[446],"tags":[49,48,634,82],"class_list":["post-515714","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nascar","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-nascar","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/515714","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=515714"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/515714\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/515715"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=515714"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=515714"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=515714"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}