Tyler Reddick made history again after his win at Darlington on Sunday, becoming the third driver to win four out of the first six races to open a NASCAR season.
The previous two drivers to do such a feat are Dale Earnhardt Sr in 1987 and Bill Elliott in 1992.
Reddick, who went winless last season, dominated the opening six races with a lowest finish of No. 13 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
With Reddick’s dominance to start the season, he has skyrocketed up the betting odds charts, going from +1000 to start the season to +600, tied with William Byron and just below Denny Hamlin and Kyle Larson at +500.
Reddick and 23XI Racing as a whole have been in elite form since the lawsuit settlement in early December.
Reddick’s teammate, Bubba Wallace, currently sits third in the championship standings, 120 points behind Reddick. But Wallace leads NASCAR in stage points with 60.
Wallace secured another seven stage points in the first stage of the Darlington race but after an unavoidable crash in the middle of the race, Wallace dropped down in the order, finishing No. 34 in Darlington. Before Darlington, Wallace’s worst finish was No. 11 at the Circuit of the Americas.
The driver of the day was Brad Keselowski, though. Keselowski led 142 out of the 293 laps completed and won both stage one and stage two. It took a late charge from Reddick to regain the lead from Keselowski, who would finish second for his best finish since the fall Phoenix race at the end of last season.
Ryan Blaney looked fast as well, securing his place as second in the standings and 95 points behind Reddick.
Blaney won at Phoenix just three races ago and after finishing third at Darlington, secured his fourth top 10 finish this season.
Carson Hocevar and Ty Gibbs left a lot of questions on the table after the Darlington race. After starting No. 16 and No. 28, Hocevar would finish fourth and Gibbs would finish sixth. If they had done better in qualifying, we might have seen them competing for the race win alongside Reddick and Hocevar.
Both drivers led a lap with Hocevar leading two and Gibbs leading one.
Austin Cindric rounded out the top five after a solid performance from the veteran Penske Racing driver.
Martinsville and the Cook Out 400 are set to return this weekend. Byron won the fall Martinsville race, while Hamlin won the spring Martinsville race last season.
In the last six races at Martinsville, Larson has the best average finish in the Cup Series with 3.7, including a win in 2023. Both Byron and Blaney each have two wins apiece with Blaney having the better average finish with 4.5.
This year, look out for Connecticut-native Ryan Preece in the front of the pack. The RFK Racing cars have looked fast the past couple of races, and with Preece being especially good at short tracks, a win should be in the cards for him.
You can watch the Cook Out 400 at Martinsville on FS1 or HBOmax at 3:30 p.m. EST this Sunday, March 29.