Live updates: Tyler Reddick wins NASCAR Cup Series at Circuit of the Americas

LIVE UPDATES FOR THIS RACE HAVE ENDED. FOR A RECAP AND ANALYSIS, CLICK HERE.

Charlotte Observer NASCAR reporter Alex Zietlow will be passing along live updates throughout Sunday’s Cup race at Circuit of the Americas in the section below. Refresh for the latest news. Full results will be posted at the end of the race.

All times below are Eastern.

Unofficial results from NASCAR race at COTA

NASCAR Cup Series at COTA live updates

Stage 3

Lap 75: At long last, Tyler Reddick has won! He won 41 of the 75 laps today, and despite all the cautions and late-race restarts, Reddick was the consistent bastion. A deserved win. More to come soon.

Lap 71: Another caution. Debris. Daniel Suarez’s tire. Man, Tyler Reddick has been holding people off restart after restart and extending leads, only for those leads to evaporate thanks to caution after caution. Will this race ever end?

Lap 67: Ryan Blaney gets spun around on the restart and leaves a lot of debris on the racetrack ... and we have another caution. Who would’ve thought? Ryan Preece also has sustained a bunch of damage. We’ll have another restart incoming. Tyler Reddick still in the lead, and it still looks like his race to lose.

Lap 64: Caution! Debris! Looks like it’s coming from the left-rear tire of Austin Dillon. Another unpredictable restart begins. But everything else being equal: This race will still ultimately come down to an epic battle between Tyler Reddick and William Byron.

Lap 62: William Byron and Tyler Reddick have separated from the rest of the pack. Looks like we’re coming a great battle between the 24 Hendrick car and the 45 23XI Racing car. Wow. Let’s go!

Lap 59: The restart commences, and another caution immediately comes out. Ross Chastain stalls on that brutal Turn 1. We’ll have another restart soon. Here’s how that restart looked.

Lap 56: Oh no. But could this not have happened? Brad Keselowski is stopped on the track, prompting a caution with about 11 laps to go. Now the battle for fuel that was developing among the Top 5 drivers — Tyler Reddick, William Byron, Ross Chastain, Alex Bowman and Daniel Suarez — has been shoved all out of whack once more. The Top 10 haven’t pit in 16 laps, which means they’ll all be about a lap short on fuel, and they all eventually choose to head down pit road. Some decide to stay out because they are good on fuel to the end of the race, including Christopher Bell and Kyle Busch and Denny Hamlin. The Top 10 heading into the race’s final run: Bell, Busch, Hamlin, Kimi Räikkönen, Tyler Reddick, William Byron, Ryan Preece, Daniel Suarez, Alex Bowman, Austin Dillon.

Lap 47: William Byron vs. Tyler Reddick vs. Ross Chastain vs. Alex Bowman. Sign me up! These four have been racing each other hard with 20 laps to go here, leading the rest of the field by around four seconds. Look at the great racing from Byron and Reddick.

Lap 43: Now that’s a busy pit road! Practically every car heads down pit road, which means pretty much all cars are on the same pit strategy (with the exception of Joey Logano). Now that the restart has shaken out a bit, the Top 10: William Byron, Tyler Reddick, Ross Chastain, Alex Bowman, Daniel Suarez, Austin Dillon, Christopher Bell, Logano, Kevin Harvick, Chris Buescher.

A look at the pretty wild restart:

Lap 42: Caution comes out for debris on Turn 9. Dirt on the track. Christopher Bell, Denny Hamlin and Harrison Burton have all gotten loose on that turn. Thus presents a fascinating strategy question: Do you pit now? There are 26 laps to go — and the fuel window is 23-24 laps. Can a four-tire, full-fuel stop get you to the end of the race (assuming that there will be at least one more caution)?

Lap 38: William Byron led for most of Stage 3, but Tyler Reddick took it from him on Lap 38. That 45 car is simply so fast. Reddick is on a three-pit-stop strategy, which isn’t ideal, but Reddick’s speed is keeping him in contention. Also of note: Christopher Bell spun out on a turn, but the 20 car was able to get back on track before a caution was thrown. The Top 10 running now: Reddick, Byron, AJ Allmendinger, Daniel Suarez, Ross Chastain, Alex Bowman, Kyle Busch, Austin Dillon, Michael McDowell, Austin Cindric.

Lap 32: Tyler Reddick hits pit road — and will likely need to pit again before the race is over. Another note: Kyle Larson is called for speeding on pit road and will need to serve a pass-through penalty.

Stage 2

Lap 30: Tyler Reddick takes a Stage 2 win with a nine-second lead over the rest of the field. But not so fast! One reason why Reddick is ahead by so much is because he hasn’t headed down pit road since Lap 12. With a 23-lap fuel window, that means the 45 car will likely need to pit twice more to finish the race on fuel alone. Strategy is thus already coming into play. The rest of the Stage 2 point-getters (in order): Reddick, Austin Dillon, Michael McDowell, Kevin Harvick, Chris Buescher, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Kyle Larson, Erik Jones, Chase Briscoe, Noah Gragson.

Lap 17: It’s been an eventful first phase of Sunday’s Cup race! William Byron has led nine of the 17 laps. There have also been two cautions for six laps. Bubba Wallace emerged from the infield care center after his car suffered a broken toe link and a few other mechanical issues, and he granted a brief interview with the Fox broadcast. What he said, in part: “Trying my hardest not to go down this slippery slope of self-doubt right here. Two weeks in a row of making rookie mistakes six years into Cup? Need to be replaced.”

Here’s another angle of what went wrong.

Stage 1

Lap 15: This stage will end under yellow as NASCAR cleans up fluid on the track. There will be no stage break — remember the new road-course rule? — but stage points will still be awarded. William Byron takes the Stage 1 win. The Top 10 (in order) after first stage: Byron, Austin Cindric, AJ Allmendinger, Alex Bowman, Ross Chastain, Daniel Suarez, Kyle Busch, Jordan Taylor, Christopher Bell, Ryan Preece.

Lap 11: We’ve got our second caution of the day! It’s been an eventful lap: Around Turn 12, Bubba Wallace gets into the rear of Kyle Larson to prompt the No. 5 car to spin. Later, Larson and Denny Hamlin collide as they enter pit road. Larson told over his radio that his car sustained damage, but that it’s not too bad. Wallace, however, will see his day done after the collision.

Lap 11: The Top 10 running right now: Tyler Reddick, William Byron, Austin Cindric, AJ Allmendinger, Alex Bowman, Daniel Suarez, Kyle Busch, Erik Jones, Kyle Larson, Ross Chastain.

Lap 1: The caution comes out early! Brad Keselowski, Chris Buescher, Ty Dillon and Jimmie Johnson get into an incident on Turns 19 and 20 on Lap 1. The caution eventually comes out. Dillon and Johnson done for the day as a result. Johnson later tells the Fox broadcast of his early end: “It’s really disappointing. But it comes with racing, it’s part of it. Unfortunately we didn’t have a day yesterday in qualifying. We’re back there around the wreck, and we know those things can happen.”

Green flag, 3:39 p.m.: Green green green!

3:18 p.m.: Here’s what you need to know about the COTA racetrack: 3.426 miles, 20 turns, 68 laps, 40 mph at pit road speed, 50 mph caution car speed, 23 laps fuel window.

3:09 p.m.: The Fox broadcast will be full at COTA. Retired driver Kurt Busch will join the crew, and so will driver/NASCAR superstar Chase Elliott as he continues his recovery from injury. Guenther Steiner, the current team principal of the Haas Formula One Team, will also have plenty of camera time today.

3:02 p.m.: Zane Smith won Saturday’s Truck Series race, and AJ Allmendinger won Saturday’s Xfinity Series race. Allmendinger is one of the best road course drivers in NASCAR, and almost won it at COTA last year. Can he finish the job this year? The odds for today’s race: Kyle Larson at 13-2; Ross Chastain and Kyle Busch at 8-1; Tyler Reddick at 10-1; and AJ Allmendinger at 12-1.

2:47 p.m.: Some minute-by-minute pre-race scheduling: Driver introductions: 3:05 p.m.; Invocation: 3:30:20 p.m.; National anthem: 3:31:00 p.m.; Command: 3:38:00 p.m.; Green flag: 3:49:00 p.m.

2:39 p.m.: Good afternoon! The NASCAR Cup Series race on FOX and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio is set to begin in about an hour. William Byron will be on the pole with Tyler Reddick right beside him. Austin Cindric and Jordan Taylor (subbing in for Chase Elliott in the No. 9 Hendrick car) will begin right behind them. Some pre-race reading: This race will mark the dawn of a new road-course rule in the 2023 season. Also of note: COTA will see a stacked field with former Formula One champs — with Jenson Button and Kimi Räikkönen — and it’ll also mark the first time the series has returned to COTA since Ross Chastain’s life changed forever.

How to watch COTA Cup Series race

• Race: EchoPark Automotive Grand Prix
• Place: Circuit of The Americas
• Date: Sunday, March 26
• Time: 3:30 p.m. ET
• Purse: $9,294,829
• TV: FOX, 3 p.m. ET
• Radio: PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio
• Distance: 231.88 miles (68 laps)
• Stages: Stage 1 (Ends on Lap 15), Stage 2 (Ends on Lap 30), Stage 3 (Ends on Lap 68)

Starting lineup at COTA

This story was originally published March 26, 2023 at 2:51 PM.

Alex Zietlow

The Charlotte Observer

Alex Zietlow writes about the Carolina Panthers and the ways in which sports intersect with life for The Charlotte Observer, where he has been a reporter since August 2022. Zietlow’s work has been honored by the Pro Football Writers Association, the N.C. and S.C. Press Associations, as well as the Associated Press Sports Editors (APSE) group. He’s earned six APSE Top 10 distinctions for his coverage on a variety of topics, from billion-dollar stadium renovations to the small moments of triumph that helped a Panthers kicker defy the steepest odds in sports. Zietlow previously wrote for The Herald in Rock Hill (S.C.) from 2019-22. Support my work with a digital subscription