Five wins in nine races. Tyler Reddick is writing history every single Sunday.
Hey race fans, welcome back to Driving on Marbles! What a Sunday afternoon at Kansas Speedway.
If you were watching this one I genuinely don’t know how you kept your heart rate under control in the final ten laps because that race delivered about five different finishes in the space of twenty minutes and somehow Tyler Reddick came out on top through all of it.
Five wins in nine races. Let’s just sit with that for a second. Reddick is the first driver since Dale Earnhardt in 1987 to win five of the first nine races of a season, and only the fourth driver to accomplish that feat at all, joining Richard Petty, Cale Yarborough, and Earnhardt.
The man is on a different planet right now and honestly it’s one of the most remarkable things I’ve watched in years of following this sport.
Let’s get into how it all went down.
The Race
Tyler Reddick took the pole position in Saturday qualifying followed by Denny Hamlin on the front row, with Ty Gibbs, Kyle Larson, and Chase Briscoe rounding out the top five starters.
From the very start it was a Hamlin and Reddick show up front. Hamlin and Reddick made contact on just Lap 2 before the No. 11 cleared into the lead at Lap 4.
Hamlin then took control of the race in a big way. He led an impressive 131 laps in total across the afternoon, winning Stage 1 and looking every bit like the most dominant car on the track.
Larson swept to the front for Stage 2 and won it, adding more stage points to a genuinely strong day for the No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet.
Meanwhile Bell had quietly climbed through the field and led 47 laps during the final stage, looking for all the world like he was building toward the big Kansas result we’d been predicting all week.
Then Things Got Wild.
With just two laps left in regulation, Reddick’s car sputtered after switching to pump 2 in his Toyota and Hamlin retook the lead. Then on the very next lap, Cody Ware spun to bring out the third caution of the race, sending the whole thing to overtime.
All 16 lead-lap cars pitted for tires with Hamlin, Reddick, Larson and Bell among those taking right-side tires only.
On the overtime restart, Larson drove to the inside of Hamlin and charged into the lead. Reddick made contact with Bell’s Toyota and forced Bell into the outside wall.
Bell spun and was done, finishing 20th after leading nearly 50 laps. Really tough break for the No. 20.
With Larson seemingly clear and heading to his first 2026 win, Reddick chased him down and passed the defending series champion on the final lap to steal the victory by just 0.118 seconds.
How. Does. He. Keep. Doing. This.
Hamlin was philosophical but clearly frustrated after leading 131 laps and coming home fourth. He was absolutely the better car all afternoon and he knows it. Kansas keeps slipping away from him this year but his day will come.
The Storylines Worth Talking About
Reddick joins absolute NASCAR royalty
Toyota has now won seven of the first nine races of the 2026 season, the first manufacturer to do so since Chevrolet back in 2007. Reddick is the engine of that run and the championship picture looks completely lopsided right now. He now leads the standings by over 100 points and it’s genuinely hard to see who stops him before the playoffs.
Larson so close again
The defending champion led 78 laps, looked like he had the win locked up coming to the white flag, and got run down on the final lap. That’s the second week in a row Larson has been in position to win and had it slip away. The speed is absolutely there. The results are coming, probably soon.
Hocevar leading laps at Kansas
This one deserves a mention just because of how remarkable his 2026 season has been. Carson Hocevar led 6 laps at Kansas Speedway in a Spire Motorsports car. A year ago that would have seemed completely impossible and in 2026 it’s just a normal Sunday for the kid. He’s been one of the stories of the season.
Updated Points Standings
Tyler Reddick leads the championship with 457 points. Denny Hamlin moves up to second with 352. Ryan Blaney drops to third with 337. Ty Gibbs is fourth with 319 and Kyle Larson fifth with 314.
Christopher Bell sits tenth with 261, still firmly in the playoff picture…Not worried yet.
How My Picks Did
What a week. This is honestly one of my best pool card performances of the entire season so let’s go through it pick by pick.
Christopher Bell (Main Driver) — Painful Miss
I really don’t know what to say about this one because Bell was genuinely excellent for most of the race. He led 47 laps in the final stage and was running right at the front where I needed him.
Then the overtime restart happened, he got collected in the Reddick-Hamlin contact, was forced into the wall, and spun to finish 20th.
That’s just racing sometimes. The speed was completely there, the process was right, and a racing incident in the final two laps cost us a massive result.
Frustrating doesn’t even cover it but we move on knowing the car was exactly where we expected it to be.
Denny Hamlin (Inside Top 12) — Hit
Hamlin led 131 laps, won Stage 1, and finished fourth. The pick was completely right and he delivered stage points across both of the first two stages on top of a top-five result.
Exactly the kind of performance we build the inside top 12 around. Really happy with this one.
Kyle Larson (Inside Top 12) — Hit
Second place after leading 78 laps and winning Stage 2. He led the most laps of the overtime restart and only got passed on the absolute final lap by the hottest driver in NASCAR history right now.
That’s not a bad result for my card at all. Larson was outstanding and collecting stage points plus a runner-up finish is a brilliant pool week from an inside pick.
Chase Briscoe (Outside Top 12) — Massive Hit
Third place! I said all week that Briscoe finishing fourth in both Kansas races last year was a completely overlooked piece of data and he went out and delivered a podium finish on Sunday.
Third place from the outside tier of our pool card is a pool-winning result in any format. This is the pick of the week by a mile and honestly one of the best outside picks we’ve had all season. Really, really pleased with this one.
Carson Hocevar (Outside Top 12) — Partial
Hocevar had a pit road issue with a broken pit gun during his stop that cost him significant track position. He still came home 13th and led 6 laps at Kansas Speedway which is genuinely impressive for a Spire Motorsports car.
Not the top-ten result we were hoping for but he contributed stage points and 13th is a solid outside pick result in the context of a pool week where three of our other picks absolutely delivered.
Ross Chastain (Outside Top 12) — Miss
Chastain finished 28th and wasn’t a factor at any point during the afternoon. That’s three weeks now where the longshot dart hasn’t come in for us and we need to seriously reconsider whether we keep going back to that well heading into Talladega.
We’ll talk about it in the picks post.
The big picture this week
Hamlin fourth, Larson second, Briscoe third, and Hocevar 13th with stage points. Even with Bell’s heartbreaking overtime spin and Chastain’s quiet afternoon, this is genuinely one of our best pool weeks of the season.
The card was built well, the research paid off, and Briscoe delivering a podium from the outside tier is exactly the kind of result that wins pool weeks.
I’ll absolutely take it.
Next Up: Talladega Superspeedway
The NASCAR Cup Series heads to Talladega Superspeedway next Sunday April 26 for the Jack Link’s 500 with coverage beginning at 3:00 PM ET.
Talladega is the ultimate wild card on the entire schedule and the superspeedway strategy changes completely from everything we do at intermediate ovals and short tracks.
I’ll be back mid-week with the full Top 20 rundown and the picks post before qualifying on Saturday.
One thing I’ll say right now: Ross Chastain is very much back on the radar for Talladega. The man who drove along the wall at Martinsville in 2022 and won at Daytona is exactly the kind of driver who thrives when the racing gets chaotic and unpredictable.
More on that mid-week.
Until then race fans, have an awesome week!
Bryan
Author Profile
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Hey there race fans, welcome to Driving on Marbles, where I break down NASCAR with real insight, smart strategy, and race by race analysis. This isn’t just race recaps and highlight talk, it’s trends, track history, driver momentum, and the little details that actually make a difference on race day.
Whether you’re setting your fantasy lineup, looking for betting angles, or just want to understand why things happen on the track, I’ve got you covered. My goal is simple: help fans see the race the way teams and strategists do, one decision, one adjustment, one edge at a time.
If you love NASCAR and want more than surface level coverage, you’re in the right place.
Let’s get you closer to the action.
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