Tyler Reddick has dominated the start of the 2026 NASCAR Cup Series season, winning the Daytona 500 before capturing the checkered flag at the Autotrader 400 in Atlanta on Sunday.
So, Reddick should easily be the driver of the week, right? Well, not quite.
In the debut episode of FOX Sports’ “SPEED With Harvick and Buxton,” former NASCAR Cup Series and Daytona 500 champion (and NASCAR on FOX analyst) Kevin Harvick and FOX INDYCAR broadcaster Will Buxton gave differing opinions on which racers should win driver of the week following the second race of the NASCAR season.
Let’s take a deeper look at whom each host named as their top driver for this week.
[MOTORSPORTS: ‘SPEED With Harvick And Buxton’ Debuts February 23]
Kevin Harvick: Tyler Reddick
Harvick said that Reddick should be an easy pick to be named driver of the week following his strong start to the season.
“I don’t know how you go against the guy who just won the Daytona 500, won the next week to back that up and just has a ton of momentum right now,” Harvick said. “Can he keep it? We’ll find out. But right now, he’s got the momentum that he needs to be a championship contender and the points leader in NASCAR.”
Reddick is the sixth driver to win the first two races of the Cup season and the first to do it in more than 15 years.
The strong start by Reddick might be a surprise considering how 2025 went for him. He didn’t win a race and finished ninth in the Cup standings, which marked his worst finish in a season in a few years.
Prior to the Daytona 500, Harvick had Reddick and 23XI Racing as the driver and team he felt were most under pressure entering the 2026 season. Now, Harvick believes the two sides are in a strong spot.
Will Buxton: Shane van Gisbergen
Shane van Gisbergen, driver of the No. 97 Chevrolet, walks onstage during driver intros for the NASCAR Cup Series Autotrader 400 at Echo Park Speedway on February 22, 2026 in Hampton, Georgia. (Photo by Jonathan Bachman/Getty Images)
While Shane van Gisbergen finished sixth in Sunday’s Autotrader 400, Buxton was impressed by the No. 97 car’s bounce-back ability. Van Gisbergen wound up on the grass on a pair of occasions, but found his way back into the top 10 and even led for a lap after he started Sunday’s race in the 28th spot.
“You know I’m a massive SVG fan. We were talking over the winter about it, but the second this guy figures out ovals to add to his street racing prowess, he’s going to be the real deal,” Buxton said. “He’s going to be a real danger. What we saw at Daytona, until he got involved in the wreck, and what we saw at Atlanta was a guy who has got tracks of that nature figured out.
“For me, that’s an unbelievable drive for a driver who, last year that people were saying, ‘He’s good, but he doesn’t really get ovals.'”
Van Gisbergen won five races last year en route to taking home the Rookie of the Year award. However, he finished outside the top 20 most weeks, causing him to place 12th in the final standings for the season.
So, races like the one van Gisbergen had on Sunday are certainly a positive development, and Harvick believes he has potential moving forward.
“Extremely high racing IQ and very good at analyzing himself and the car,” Harvick said. “The maturity to go with it, I think that’s the difference that a lot of people don’t understand, is the fact that he’s mature, very willing to critique himself and learn.”
Fan vote: Tyler Reddick
Reddick won 70 percent of the fan vote for this week’s driver of the week, with Carson Hocevar taking home the most write-in votes. Hocevar was in a position to win Sunday’s race, leading at the start of overtime before Reddick passed him at the end.
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