Tyler Reddick won the Freeway Insurance 500 at Phoenix Raceway on Sunday, October 18, 2026, 0.801 seconds ahead of Ryan Blaney, with Chase Elliott third. The next NASCAR Cup Series races at Phoenix are the Straight Talk Wireless 500 on Sunday, March 14, 2027, and a second race on Sunday, October 24, 2027. No odds for the March race are quoted here yet.
How Reddick won at Phoenix in October
Reddick ran the full 312 laps for his 14th Cup Series win. The race had 21 lead changes and six cautions, and Christopher Bell and Corey Heim filled out the top five.
Kyle Larson and Denny Hamlin, first and second in the standings now, were far back. Larson finished 34th and Hamlin 28th.
| Finish | Driver |
|---|---|
| 1 | Tyler Reddick |
| 2 | Ryan Blaney |
| 3 | Chase Elliott |
| 4 | Christopher Bell |
| 5 | Corey Heim |
| 6 | Joey Logano |
| 7 | Daniel Suarez |
| 8 | Chase Briscoe |
| 9 | Ross Chastain |
| 10 | Ty Gibbs |
How Blaney won at Phoenix in March 2026
Blaney won the Straight Talk Wireless 500 on March 8 by 0.399 seconds over Christopher Bell, after a pit-road penalty and a second pit problem sent him to the back of the field twice early on. His crew took two tires on the last stop, under a caution with 12 laps left, and he passed leader Ty Gibbs with 10 to go.
Bell led 176 of the 312 laps and was the fastest car, but he restarted eighth after taking four tires and ran out of laps to catch Blaney. It was Blaney’s 18th Cup win and his second at Phoenix, and it came a day after Josef Newgarden won the IndyCar race at the same track for Team Penske.
Recent Phoenix winners
| Race | Winner | Second | Third |
|---|---|---|---|
| October 2026 | Tyler Reddick | Ryan Blaney | Chase Elliott |
| March 2026 | Ryan Blaney | Christopher Bell | Kyle Larson |
| November 2025 | Ryan Blaney | Brad Keselowski | Kyle Larson |
| March 2025 | Christopher Bell | Denny Hamlin | Kyle Larson |
| November 2024 | Joey Logano | Ryan Blaney | William Byron |
Blaney has been first or second in four of the last five Phoenix races: second in November 2024, winner in November 2025 and March 2026, and second again in October. Larson was third three times in a row before his 34th place in the fall.
Where the Chase stands now
| Rank | Driver | Points |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kyle Larson | 2,441 |
| 2 | Denny Hamlin | 2,368 |
| 3 | Christopher Bell | 2,367 |
| 4 | Chase Briscoe | 2,362 |
| 5 | Joey Logano | 2,341 |
| 6 | Ryan Blaney | 2,334 |
| 7 | Tyler Reddick | 2,315 |
| 8 | Ty Gibbs | 2,258 |
Those are ESPN’s standings read on November 1, after Talladega. Larson leads Hamlin by 73 points, and Reddick, the Phoenix winner, is seventh, 126 back. Two races are left in the 2026 season: Martinsville on November 1 and the championship race at Homestead-Miami on November 8.
Betting the next Phoenix race
Phoenix is a 1-mile track, and both 2026 races there ran 312 laps. In March, late pit calls decided it: Blaney won on two tires, Bell lost on four. In October, Reddick held off Blaney by less than a second.
For the March 2027 race, the record to weigh is short. Blaney has four top-two finishes in the last five Phoenix races, and Bell won in March 2025, was second in March 2026 and fourth in October. Weigh them against the price on each when a board goes up.
A price is a chance written as a payout: +400 implies 20.0%, +800 implies 11.1% and +2500 implies 3.8%. A futures bet is worth making only when you rate a driver’s chance higher than the price does.
Our NASCAR picks this week page has the current race, NASCAR race results has this season’s results, and the Cup Series championship odds follow the Chase. More race pages are in our NASCAR section. Compare books in our sportsbook reviews, check the best handicappers before you pay for picks, or start a free trial of the membership.
Results and standings: ESPN’s NASCAR Cup Series scoreboard for October 18, 2026 and its standings, read November 1, 2026; race details and the 2027 dates from NASCAR’s race lists, read November 1, 2026.