The alternator on the Toyota No. 45 stopped charging the battery on the first lap of the Goodyear 400 at Darlington Raceway. With no fans, no cool suit, and an extra pit stop to change the battery that sent him to the back of the field, Tyler Reddick still won the race, his fourth in six races of the 2026 NASCAR Cup Series season. Only Dale Earnhardt in 1987 and Bill Elliott in 1992 had won four of the first six races of a season in the category's history.

293 laps without an alternator

The electrical issue on the 23XI Racing Toyota No. 45 appeared on the first lap, and Billy Scott, Reddick's crew chief, believes the alternator stopped charging due to a hit on the suspension. From there, the team focused on monitoring the remaining battery voltage and calculating how many amps each active system consumed to estimate how many laps they could complete before the charge ran out. Scott said the crew on pit road worked alongside engineers in the shop and people at other pit walls to make these calculations in real time while still managing the rest of the race.

Reddick ran the first two stages with the cool suit active but without fans, and when the third stage began, Scott presented him with two options. They could change the battery again to regain cooling but start from 25th place, or shut down all electrical systems and fight for the win from fifth with the remaining charge. Reddick chose to stay up front and endure the heat. "I sweated like never before inside the car," he admitted. "But I guess I don't need that as much as I thought."

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The team also had to drain the water from the cool suit because, as Scott explained, when the pump stops circulating liquid inside the suit, the stagnant water generates more heat than it dissipates. For that, they used a mechanism they had available but had never needed in competition. It connects to the same pump port and, instead of recirculating the water, opens a pressurized valve that lets it drain by gravity. Scott admitted he didn't know about the device himself until it was shown to him before handing it to Reddick.

The comeback against Keselowski in the final run

The pit stop also complicated their race because the team had an issue with the right-front tire that extended the first green-flag stop to 16.3 seconds, and on lap 242 Reddick lost more time when he encountered Chris Buescher just as he was moving onto pit road. Scott explained that the pit sequence in that part of the race was particularly tense because all teams were trying to predict how the final 50- or 60-lap run would play out, and when Buescher decided to pit, his car crossed paths with the No. 45 at the worst moment.

When Reddick made his final stop on lap 246, Brad Keselowski had led 142 laps of the race and held a seven-second advantage. Scott said the stop on that lap was planned because they knew from previous runs that the No. 45 was faster on long runs, and if enough laps remained to catch Keselowski, they would be able to pass him. Reddick needed 20 laps to reach the Ford No. 6, passed him on lap 266, and drove away with authority to cross the finish line with a 5.847-second margin after completing 293 laps. It is his 12th Cup Series victory and his first at Darlington, where he had finished second three times.

"I know you never give up," Reddick said. "It's only fitting that when we finally won our first race here at Darlington, the Lady in Black put us to the test this way. We've been so close so many times."

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Keselowski raced in honor of Greg Biffle

Brad Keselowski carried a paint scheme dedicated to Greg Biffle, a former RFK Racing driver who lost his life in an airplane accident last December. Keselowski added a stripe on the right side of the car as a personal nod to Biffle ("If you know Greg, you understand that," he said) and acknowledged he could never match the pace of the No. 45. "Tyler drove an incredible race. He's driving a rocket and he's taking advantage of it." Though he couldn't fight for the win in the final run, Keselowski scored 55 points between the two stages and the second-place finish, moving him up to ninth in the championship.

Ryan Blaney recovered from a penalty for entering the wrong pit box to finish third, and Carson Hocevar, who started last due to a NASCAR penalty related to repairing a suspension arm, capitalized on the pace he found in the final run to take fourth. Fifth through tenth place went to Cindric, Gibbs, Suarez, Byron, Buescher, and Jones, all on the lead lap.

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Chevrolet has gone six races without a win

Reddick now has 325 points and maintains a 95-point lead over Blaney, who moved up to second in the championship with 230 units, and a 120-point lead over Bubba Wallace, who dropped to third with 205 after finishing 34th at Darlington. Denny Hamlin is just two points behind Wallace with 203.

Toyota has accumulated five wins in the first six races of the season with Reddick's four and Hamlin's victory at Las Vegas, Ford has Blaney's win at Phoenix, and Chevrolet has yet to win. The best Chevrolet result at Darlington was Hocevar's fourth place, and Kyle Larson, who led 20 laps, finished 32nd, two laps down.

At Las Vegas, Reddick had finished 13th, far from the leaders throughout the race, but at Darlington he started from pole and led 77 laps. Hamlin, who as co-owner of 23XI also raced and finished 11th, spoke about the team's weekend in the press conference. "Everyone came in with a lot of unknowns and solved the Rubik's Cube before anyone else. We don't have weaknesses right now. On the No. 45, there are none when you look at the schedule."

The NASCAR Cup Series races next on Sunday, March 29th at Martinsville Speedway for the Cook Out 400.