HAMPTON, Ga. (AP) — Whether on or off the racetrack, all Michael Jordan does is win in NASCAR.
For the second consecutive Sunday to open the season, the basketball great and co-owner of 23XI Racing celebrated in victory lane with driver Tyler Reddick. This time, after a thriller at Echo Park Speedway.
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Tyler Reddick (45) reacts after winning a NASCAR Cup Series auto race, Sunday, Feb. 22, 2026, in Hampton, Ga. (AP Photo/Colin Hubbard)
Tyler Reddick wins a NASCAR Cup Series auto race, Sunday, Feb. 22, 2026, in Hampton, Ga. (AP Photo/Colin Hubbard)
Tyler Reddick reacts after winning a NASCAR Cup Series auto race, Sunday, Feb. 22, 2026, in Hampton, Ga. (AP Photo/Colin Hubbard)
23XI Racing co-owner Michael Jordan, left, reacts with Bubba Wallace, right, after a NASCAR Cup Series auto race, Sunday, Feb. 22, 2026, in Hampton, Ga. (AP Photo/Colin Hubbard)
Brad Keselowski (6) and Chase Elliott (9) drive on the track during a NASCAR Cup Series auto race, Sunday, Feb. 22, 2026, in Hampton, Ga. (AP Photo/Colin Hubbard)
Austin Cindric drives on the track before winning the first stage during a NASCAR Cup Series auto race, Sunday, Feb. 22, 2026, in Hampton, Ga. (AP Photo/Colin Hubbard)
Tyler Reddick drives on the track during a NASCAR Cup Series auto race, Sunday, Feb. 22, 2026, in Hampton, Ga. (AP Photo/Colin Hubbard)
Jordan’s team now has the top two drivers in the Cup Series points standings with Reddick and Bubba Wallace. The six-time NBA champion already added a ring last week with Reddick in the Daytona 500, the crown jewel of stock-car racing.
Oh, and Jordan also settled a federal antitrust lawsuit with NASCAR in December, a major legal victory that secured a permanent franchise-style model and ensured his team would remain in business for the long-term.
“The guys worked hard all summer, and I know we had our little ordeal,” Jordan said after Reddick’s victory Sunday, referring to the bruising court battle that ended with him making peace with NASCAR CEO and chairman Jim France. “They kept working hard and this is the fruit of their labor. They put forth the effort, and for us to come out and win the first two races says a lot about our whole team.”
It especially says a lot about Reddick, who put on another dazzling performance the week after he became the fourth driver in history to win the Daytona 500 by leading only the final lap.
This time, he led a race-high 53 laps on the 1.54-mile oval south of Atlanta – including the final two in a double-overtime restart. He snatched the lead from Wallace despite the right-front fender of his No. 45 Toyota being damaged in a nine-car crash on the 224th of a scheduled 260 laps. Reddick fell two laps down for repairs but came roaring back from 27th for his 10th career victory.
“I mean, that’s crazy, ain’t it?” said Reddick, who became the first driver since Matt Kenseth in 2009 to win the first two NASCAR Cup Series races of the season. “I just found a way to get back in the top five, and I tried to stay committed to somebody.”
He got a helpful push from runner-up Chase Briscoe. Ross Chastain finished third, followed by the Spire Motorsports tandem of Carson Hocevar (who triggered a large crash in the first overtime) and Daniel Suarez.
“Tyler had like another gear,” Chastain said. “(He had) no fender, and he pulled us so fast.”
In a race that featured a track-record 57 lead changes, Wallace was first entering the final restart but shuffled to eighth. He still gained the second-most points (48) by winning the second stage and leading 46 laps.
“Tyler did an unbelievable job,” Jordan said. “I feel bad for Bubba because he had an unbelievable day. But Tyler drove his ass off. I’m very happy for Tyler. I’m very happy for 23XI.”
Austin Cindric took advantage of a stretch of 61 green-flag laps to open the race, winning the first stage after starting 30th.
It was the second consecutive year that the first stage in the February race was completed without a yellow flag – an oddity for a track known for chaos since its 2022 reconfiguration into a high-banked drafting oval.
The cautions quickly picked up pace in the second stage with three yellow flags in 40 laps that collected 16 cars and eliminated notable drivers Ty Gibbs, Josh Berry, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Kyle Busch. The 160-lap middle segment ended under another yellow when defending Cup Series champion Kyle Larson slammed the outside wall after a collision with Shane van Gisbergen.
Busch was perturbed after his No. 8 Chevrolet “got rammed” exiting Turn 2 by the No. 4 Ford of Noah Gragson on the 125th lap.
Though both drivers hail from Las Vegas, Nevada, the 40-year-old Busch felt little kinship in taking issue with the aggressive style of Gragson, who is 13 years younger.
“He didn’t give me an opportunity to make sure I was straight before hitting me or get into me gently to try and get the momentum back,” said Busch, who finished 33rd. “He just drove right through me.”
The NASCAR Cup Series will race at the Circuit of the Americas, the first road course of the 2026 season, on Sunday, March 1. Christopher Bell outdueled Kyle Busch and William Byron to win at the Austin, Texas, track last year.
AP auto racing: https://apnews.com/hub/auto-racing
Tyler Reddick (45) reacts after winning a NASCAR Cup Series auto race, Sunday, Feb. 22, 2026, in Hampton, Ga. (AP Photo/Colin Hubbard)
Tyler Reddick wins a NASCAR Cup Series auto race, Sunday, Feb. 22, 2026, in Hampton, Ga. (AP Photo/Colin Hubbard)
Tyler Reddick reacts after winning a NASCAR Cup Series auto race, Sunday, Feb. 22, 2026, in Hampton, Ga. (AP Photo/Colin Hubbard)
23XI Racing co-owner Michael Jordan, left, reacts with Bubba Wallace, right, after a NASCAR Cup Series auto race, Sunday, Feb. 22, 2026, in Hampton, Ga. (AP Photo/Colin Hubbard)
Brad Keselowski (6) and Chase Elliott (9) drive on the track during a NASCAR Cup Series auto race, Sunday, Feb. 22, 2026, in Hampton, Ga. (AP Photo/Colin Hubbard)
Austin Cindric drives on the track before winning the first stage during a NASCAR Cup Series auto race, Sunday, Feb. 22, 2026, in Hampton, Ga. (AP Photo/Colin Hubbard)
Tyler Reddick drives on the track during a NASCAR Cup Series auto race, Sunday, Feb. 22, 2026, in Hampton, Ga. (AP Photo/Colin Hubbard)
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Jacob Bridgeman allowed himself to imagine winning the Genesis Invitational, the massive crowd filling the amphitheater around the 18th green at Riviera, the trophy presentation with Tiger Woods. Almost all of it came true Sunday except for one small detail.
“I pictured myself walking up that hole with a four-shot lead knowing that I'd won,” Bridgeman said. “Unfortunately for me, it was only a one-shot lead and it became a lot more nervous.”
Bridgeman started with a six-shot lead. He stretched it to seven with 12 holes to play. And as the lead began to shrink with superb finishes by Adam Scott (63), Kurt Kitayama (64) and finally Rory McIlroy (67), he lost feeling in his hands on the putter.
Bridgeman pulled it together with one last par, making a nervy 3-footer on the 18th for a 1-over 72 and a one-shot victory over McIlroy and Kitayama for his first PGA Tour title.
“This is way, way better than I’ve ever dreamt it,” said Bridgeman, the first player since Scott in 2005 to play Riviera for the first time and leave with the trophy.
Woods met him atop the steps overlooking the 18th green, and as they walked toward the trophy presentation, Bridgeman said the tournament host told him how cool it was to win at Riviera, the one place Woods could never master.
“He said, ‘You’ve got one on me.' So I guess he's never won yet,” Bridgeman said. “I got one thing. He's got all the other ones.”
It all felt so easy for Bridgeman until it wasn't. McIlroy needed to apply pressure in the final group and was even par for the round through 10 holes.
“Because I wasn’t putting pressure on him it probably felt to him like he didn’t need to do that much, but he played very well,” McIlroy said. “But it's hard to close out big tournaments. Even though he was a little shaky coming down the stretch, he held it together when he needed to.”
Bridgeman finished at 18-under 266 and didn't make a birdie over the final 15 holes. He heard constant cheers for McIlroy, one of golf's most popular figures who was never a threat until he holed a bunker shot for birdie on the 12th and finished birdie-birdie for a 67.
More cheers rang out across Riviera — Max Greyserman with a hole-in-one on the 14th, Tommy Fleetwood jarring one for eagle from the fairway on the 15th, and Kitayama stuffing his tee shot on the par-3 16th and then barely clearing the bunker to set up a two-putt birdie on the par-5 17th.
Bridgeman, after a marvelous approach to 12 feet for birdie on the third hole that received only a smattering of applause from the LA crowd, didn't play poorly. He hit a strong chip on the fourth that led to bogey. The rest of the way was a steady diet of 20-foot birdie chances.
But he found the bunker on the 16th and had to make a 5-foot bogey putt to stay in the lead. His birdie chances on the 17th and 18th were woefully short on greens where short putts can be scary.
The last par putt brought a mixture of joy and relief.
“I thought it was going to be a lot easier,” Bridgeman said. “It was honestly easy until I got to 16 and then it got really hard. I made it as hard as I could have made it.”
Scott, who received a sponsor exemption, ran off five birdies on the back nine and closed with a 63 to finish fourth, two shots behind. It was his best finish since a tie for third in the DP World Tour Championship in Dubai at the end of 2024.
“I feel really good that I almost made the most of it this week,” Scott said. “It’s not a win, which I really kind of refocused on trying to get back to the winner’s circle this year, but a result feels good because it’s been a while since I’ve just had a good result.”
Scottie Scheffler, who had to make a 7-foot par putt on Friday to make the cut, had a 66-65 weekend and wound up tied for 12th, his worst finish since he tied for 20th at The Players Championship nearly a year ago. He ended his streak of 18 consecutive top 10s.
Bridgeman already is in the Masters from having reached the Tour Championship last year. He became the first player this year to be ranked outside the top 50 (No. 52) and win on the PGA Tour. The victory propels him inside the top 25.
He won not only at a storied course like Riviera but with McIlroy, the Masters champion, alongside and getting most of the attention until falling off the pace. So many putts burned the edge, and then the last one dropped from 30 feet leading to his big finish.
For a second, it looked like it might give McIlroy extra holes in a playoff when Bridgeman left his first putt short. But just like he has all week, Bridgeman never looked uncomfortable. Turns out he felt that way.
“I couldn’t even feel my hands on the last couple greens,” Bridgeman said. “I just hit the putt hoping it would get somewhere near the hole, and both of them I left a mile short. But I’m glad it’s done now.”
AP golf: https://apnews.com/hub/golf
Kurt Kitayama measures his putt on the 17th green during the final round of the Genesis Invitational golf tournament at Riviera Country Club, Sunday, Feb. 22, 2026, in the Pacific Palisades area of Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Caroline Brehman )
Rory McIlroy, from Northern Ireland, raises his putter to the gallery after the final round of the Genesis Invitational golf tournament at Riviera Country Club, Sunday, Feb. 22, 2026, in the Pacific Palisades area of Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Caroline Brehman)
Jacob Bridgeman, right, stands with Tiger Woods after winning the Genesis Invitational golf tournament at Riviera Country Club, Sunday, Feb. 22, 2026, in the Pacific Palisades area of Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Caroline Brehman )
Jacob Bridgeman poses with the winner's trophy after winning the Genesis Invitational golf tournament at Riviera Country Club, Sunday, Feb. 22, 2026, in the Pacific Palisades area of Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Caroline Brehman)
Jacob Bridgeman smiles next to caddie GW Cable after winning the Genesis Invitational golf tournament at Riviera Country Club, Sunday, Feb. 22, 2026, in the Pacific Palisades area of Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Caroline Brehman)
Adam Scott, from Australia, hits from the second tee during the final round of the Genesis Invitational golf tournament at Riviera Country Club, Sunday, Feb. 22, 2026, in the Pacific Palisades area of Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Caroline Brehman )
Rory McIlroy, from Northern Ireland, hits from the second tee during the final round of the Genesis Invitational golf tournament at Riviera Country Club, Sunday, Feb. 22, 2026, in the Pacific Palisades area of Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Caroline Brehman )
Kurt Kitayama chips to the first green during the final round of the Genesis Invitational golf tournament at Riviera Country Club, Sunday, Feb. 22, 2026, in the Pacific Palisades area of Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Caroline Brehman)
Jacob Bridgeman chips to the fourth green during the final round of the Genesis Invitational golf tournament at Riviera Country Club, Sunday, Feb. 22, 2026, in the Pacific Palisades area of Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Caroline Brehman )
