NASCAR’s top level has had several drivers win three consecutive — and even four consecutive races during the year. But no driver has managed to go back-to-back-to-back at the very start of a new season.
Tyler Reddick avoided the last-lap chaos of the Daytona 500, winning the sport’s biggest race by leading just one lap. Seven days later, he came back from a late-race spin, and won in double overtime while missing the entire right-front fender at Atlanta.
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And now, the championship leader eyes another checkered flag at Circuit of the Americas — a victory that would put him in a category all his own.
Reddick is now one of just six drivers in NASCAR Cup history to win back-to-back races at the start of the season, and the first to do it since 2009. However, none of the five who came before him managed to pull off the three-peat.
Tyler Reddick, 23XI Racing
Tyler Reddick, 23XI Racing
And while NASCAR today is more competitive than ever, Reddick has a very real shot at it. Shane van Gisbergen is the favorite as he seeks a sixth straight street/road course win, but Reddick has the best average finish of all drivers at COTA, as well as the most top fives and top tens.
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But what happened to stop the other five drivers from pulling off this impressive feat already? Let’s take a look:
Matt Kenseth — 2009
Kenseth won the rain-shortened Daytona 500, and then won again at Fontana one week later. But he never really got a proper shot at the three-peat as he completed just a handful of laps in the third race of the year at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Kenseth finished 43rd as the engine expired on his #17 Roush Ford.
Jeff Gordon — 1997
After winning the Daytona 500 and Rockingham, Gordon was a real contender at Richmond Raceway for the third race of the year. After starting second, Gordon led the first 65 laps of the race. However, he never led another lap. He was running inside the top five in the closing laps, but Gordon was actually a lap down. He made contact with the race leader as he tried to get back on the lead lap, but just as the caution he needed flew, the #24 Hendrick Chevy was beaten back to the line by the leaders. In the end, Gordon finished fourth, one lap down. However, he does hold the distinction of being the only driver to open the year with back-to-back wins and then go on to win the championship as well.
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David Pearson — 1976
Pearson won the season-opener at Riverside before taking a dramatic win at the Daytona 500, crawling across the line with a destroyed frontend after a last-lap clash with Richard Petty. The third race of the year was Rockingham, and the Wood Brothers driver started fourth on the grid. He led a few laps early, but never reached the checkered flag as an oil pump failure ended the #21’s day, leaving Pearson with a 29th-place finish.
Bob Welborn — 1959
Welborn won the season-opener at the Champion Speedway short track, and then won his Duel qualifying race at Daytona back when those were counted as official race wins. And while he started from pole position for the Daytona 500, which served as the third race of the ’59 season, Welborn’s engine expired 75 laps into the race. He placed 41st with a DNF.
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Marvin Panch — 1957
Panch won at the Willow Springs road course to open the ’57 season (which actually began in December, 1956), and then won the next event at the Concord Speedway dirt track. The third race of the year took place at Titusville-Cocoa Speedway, another road course. Panch started sixth and went on to finish third, making him the closest of any driver on this list in his mission to open a new season with three consecutive wins.
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