This Racing Lead Change (RLC) article is a doubleheader. We packed Atlanta and Circuit of the Americas (COTA) into a nice bundle to show the extremes in Racing Lead Changes the Series goes through throughout the season. Let’s start on the high end – Atlanta.
Like Daytona, Wallace’s Eight Racing Lead Changes Tops the Field Again
The second race of the season at the intermediate that races like a SuperSpeedway saw a total of 57 Lead Changes and like Daytona a new record. 35 of those were Racing Lead Changes and once again, 23XI’s Bubba Wallace made eight Racing Lead Change passes, taking the lead without benefit of Restarts or Leader Pitting and giving him the lead.
For the second week in a row his eight RLC’s topped the field that saw nine other drivers collect one or more RLCs. Wallace passed Kyle Larson for the lead on five occasions, teammate and battle-damaged Race Winner Tyler Reddick (again) and Chase Briscoe once. His final RLC was a pass of last year’s winner Christopher Bell on lap 247. He held the lead for 23 laps and through two cautions only to lose it on the final restart on a block gone bad, with Reddick taking the win.
Wallace Sets New Atlanta RLC Record
Wallace’s eight RLC’s set a new record for the first Atlanta race, topping Josh Berry’s previous record of five from the 2025 edition and Ryan Blaney’s five from 2024.
Tyler Reddick, who only had one RLC last week in his Daytona win followed with seven RLC’s in this week’s win, although his winning pass was a Restart pass. Kyle Larson was next with five RLC’s, followed by Chase Briscoe and Chase Elliott with three.
Below is a breakdown of Wallace and the other RLC drivers for Atlanta
RLCs Upward Trend in the Atlanta GEN7 Era Continues
The number of RLCs continues to climb from a low of 8 in 2023 to 30 last year to 35 for this year’s race.
Many attribute these trends to changes in the track configuration and the aging of the surface. Others attribute it to the pack racing, while others still attribute it to the tire compound Goodyear brought to the track. No matter the reason we will continue to monitor to see if the trend continues as Mother Nature does her thing to the Atlanta high banks.
And Then There is COTA
The fans at the 95 lapper at the Austin road course saw Ryan Blaney pass Chase Briscoe on Lap 9 for the only Racing Lead Change. Briscoe had taken the Lead on a Lap 1 pass of Pole Sitter (and eventual race winner) Tyler Reddick. From Blaney’s Lap 9 RLC till the end of the race 86 laps later, fans were treated to up front action of 6 Lead Changes under Caution and another 6 where the Leader pulled off the track to pit and relinquished the lead up,
1 RLC.
This was a race with record breaking possibilities. If Reddick could win, he would be the first driver in NASCAR Cup history to win the first three races of the season. Also at stake was a Shane van Gisbergen win would give him six straight road course wins, tying him with Jeff Gordon in that category.
As the race played out, SVG came up short, finishing second to Reddick in his record-breaking win. Another record went unnoticed as Blaney’s solo RLC tied the 2022 race for the fewest RLCs in the GEN7 era here. This was down from 4 RLC’s last year (with Shane van Gisbergen claiming 2) and another 4 RLCs in 2023 on the long course.
If more Racing Lead Changes, Green Flag Lead Changes resulting from the leader being passed without benefit of restart bunching or leader pitting, was the intended result it makes one wonder if the extra Horsepower the teams were given for this race truly delivered?
Since there is not much more to say about a race with 1 RLC, it’s time to move to the Racing Lead Change Standings.
Wallace Continues in the Top Spot in Season Standings
Below is the season RLC standings for the eighteen drivers who have registered at least one RLC for the season. The first are the standings after Atlanta and the second is after COTA. The drivers bolded denoted they registered one or more RLCs during the latest race.
It is interesting to note that Joey Logano won the 2025 RLC Championship with 27 RLC’s and three races into the season Wallace has amassed more than half that total.
Will his run continue?
So What’s Next?
The Western Swing pulls into Phoenix. Cup is back on an oval be it a 1.022 mile dogleg oval that includes a massive apron at the Start/Finish line with no track limits. Even with these unique characteristics it’s closer to what the series runs the bulk of the season, so maybe we’ll get a better representation of what racing up front will be like.
GEN7 at the Phoenix spring race began with Ryan Blaney getting the only RLC in that initial event and increasing by 1 each season with Austin Cindric, Christopher Bell, Joey Logano and Ryan Preece passing the leader under Green to collect RLCs.
Hopefully, we will see this positive trend continue with the additional horsepower they will have for the second week in a row. Tune in and find out.
The big story will be Tyler Reddick and his quest for four wins in a row. Reddick hasn’t visited Victory Lane here before and he faces a quite formidable lineup ahead of him for Sunday, he does have 2 RLCs in 2024, the most of any driver in the field, so he is no stranger to passing for the lead here
Will it be enough? Will the extra horsepower produce more RLCs? Tune in and find out!
Till then…
Thunder On… and Stay Safe!
David Nance
Photo Credit (cover): Sean Gardner/Getty Images