AVONDALE, Ariz. (AP) — The flipside to Tyler Reddick taking Michael Jordan to victory lane in NASCAR's first three races this season is teammate Bubba Wallace feels a bit left out of the euphoria surrounding 23XI Racing.
Reddick set a NASCAR record in winning the first three races of the season, the Daytona 500, at Atlanta and last weekend on the road course in Austin, Texas, with Jordan in attendance, and the Pro Basketball Hall of Famer will be at Phoenix Raceway on Sunday when Reddick goes for four in a row.
The success has 23XI Racing buzzing and Reddick and Wallace are 1-2 in the Cup Series standings. Wallace can find solace in how he's running — he had chances to win at Daytona and Atlanta — but is still disappointed the wins have gone solely to Reddick.
The difference between the Toyota teammates, Wallace joked, is that Reddick inherited the mythical lucky horseshoe Jimmie Johnson had for seven Cup championships.
“You know, Tyler's been driving his (butt) off, simple as that, I couldn't be more proud of him and the way he's turned around from his (winless) season from last year,” Wallace said. “It's been pretty cool to witness that. I wish it was our team.”
Reddick can empathize with Wallace and noted he had a tinge of jealousy last season when Wallace won the Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis as Reddick was slumping.
“I've experienced it other places that I've raced and feel like I contended to win, didn't win and teammates did, so I understand where he probably would be with that part of it,” Reddick said. “I think he's doing a good job of remaining positive and it's a good start to the year for him.”
Reddick and Wallace are winless at Phoenix. Reddick was third in 2023 and 2024, while Wallace has an average finish of 20th and failed to finish either race at Phoenix last year.
Anthony Alfredo has spent hundreds of hours over the past four years inside a racing simulator doing test work for Hendrick Motorsports.
That thankless job has finally led to a breakthrough opportunity driving in a Cup Series race for NASCAR's winningest team. Alex Bowman will miss Sunday's race and Alfredo was pulled from the bullpen to drive the No. 48 Chevrolet.
It will be Alfredo's first Cup start of the season — he qualified for the Daytona 500 driving for tiny Beard Motorsports, but his car was disqualified and kicked out of the field. Alfredo has 43 career Cup starts for smaller teams so Sunday will be the best car he's ever driven.
Bowman had to give up his seat during last weekend's race in Texas and has since been diagnosed with vertigo. It's left Alfredo with mixed feelings.
“It’s just weird, right? I don’t want to see anyone in the position Alex is in, so it’s hard for me to be excited,” Alfredo said. “That makes it certainly disappointing, because a lot of people are asking me how excited I am, and I’m not excited that I have to fill in for someone who’s not able to be in their own car this weekend.
“But it is, of course, a huge opportunity for me to go out there and do a good job and maybe turn some heads, but I don’t even feel like I have to prove anything to anybody. Honestly, I don’t think they would have picked me if they didn’t think I could do it right, so it’s not about that. I think it’s more going out there and just do what’s asked of me and doing a good job behind the wheel filling in.”
AJ Allmendinger had to be medically treated after last week's race in Austin, Texas, when his cool suit failed and caused Allmendinger to overheat while driving.
He collapsed on pit road after exiting his car.
“Cool suits are a tough thing because they are not designed in our environment to fail,” said Brad Keselowski. “So when they fail, it's fairly devastating.”
A cool suit is a specialized, liquid-cooled garment meant to prevent heat stroke and manage core temperatures in extreme environments. It circulates chilled water through tubes embedded in a shirt or vest, connected to a small cooler box.
William Byron said the suits can be hit-or-miss, and when one fails, it is miserable for the driver.
“Definitely when it works, it’s great. But I feel like there’s definitely a handful, if not more times, that it doesn’t work,” Byron said. “That shirt is very insulated. I was at a Martinsville test one time and was wearing it and didn’t turn it on for most of the day and just started to feel sick because just the way it insulates your body and kind of has the opposite effect when it’s not on.”
Byron teammate Kyle Larson said he was trying a different cooling system this weekend at Phoenix. He planned to use the version teammate Chase Elliott has been wearing in which a pad connects to the core and a fan pushes cool air in.
Ryan Blaney, winner at Phoenix in November's season finale, is the BetMGM favorite at +475. Blaney has 10 top-five finishes in 20 career starts here. ... Joe Gibbs Racing drivers have led 56% of the laps — most of every team — in each of the past four races at Phoenix. But this season the organization has opened with an average finish of 21st, their worst opening three races since 2017. ... All three Spire Motorsports cars are currently inside the top 10 in Cup points, while none of the 4 JGR cars is inside the top 16. JGR is suing Spire and former competition director Chris Gabehart in federal court.
AP auto racing: https://apnews.com/hub/auto-racing
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)
Team co-owner Michael Jordan celebrates by 23XI Racing's Tyler Reddick during a NASCAR Cup Series auto race in Austin, Texas, Sunday, March 1, 2026. (AP Photo/Stephen Spillman)
23XI Racing's Bubba Wallace, right, congratulates teammate Tyler Reddick on his win during a NASCAR Cup Series auto race in Austin, Texas, Sunday, March 1, 2026. (AP Photo/Stephen Spillman)
U.S. President Donald Trump warned in a Truth Social post that more Iranian officials will be targets, saying, “Today Iran will be hit very hard!,” while noting an apology by Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian earlier in the day to neighboring nations over Tehran’s attacks.
Gulf countries say they have intercepted more ballistic missiles and drones launched from Iran.
Here is the latest:
DUBAI - The United Arab Emirates’ Dubai Media office said Saturday that falling shrapnel from interception of projectiles from Iran caused a minor damage to the facade of a tower in Dubai Marina, an area with many luxury high rises. There were no injuries reported.
Sirens have sounded several times across the UAE on Saturday.
The number of people killed by Israeli strikes in Lebanon since Monday has risen to 294, with another 1,023 wounded, Lebanon’s health ministry said.
It was not clear how many of them were civilians. Tens of thousands more have been displaced.
After the attacks by the U.S. and Israel on Iran triggered a new war in the Middle East, Hezbollah launched missiles and drones into Israel Monday for the first time in over a year, and Israel has retaliated with bombardment of southern Lebanon and Beirut’s southern suburbs.
The United Arab Emirates said it was intercepting another round of missile and drone threats from Iran.
President of the United Arab Emirates Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan said that the UAE is in a time of war as he visited five civilians who were wounded in strikes against the Gulf country on Friday.
He also had a clear message for the country’s foes in a statement released Saturday by the country’s media office. “The UAE has thick skin and bitter flesh – we are no easy prey,” said Sheikh Mohammed.
Earlier Saturday, the UAE’s Defense Ministry said that it had intercepted hundreds of missiles and drones since the war started last week. Three residents were killed last week and 112 have been wounded since the beginning of the war.
The island Kingdom’s Interior Ministry said Saturday evening that Iranian missiles caused a fire and other damage to a house and several surrounding buildings in the country’s capital of Manama.
It was not clear if an Iranian missile hit the country or the damage was a result of interception efforts.
This is the first material damage the country reports Saturday, but sirens have sounded at least seven times.
The Israeli military issued an urgent, renewed evacuation warning Saturday for residents of Beirut’s southern suburbs, urging those remaining in the area to leave immediately.
The warning, covering an area which had previously received evacuation warnings in the past few days, appeared to be directed at those who have not yet left ahead of what could be renewed Israeli strikes in the area.
Israeli military spokesperson Avichay Adraee told residents they would be notified by the military when it is considered safe to return to their homes.
Israel’s military said over the weekend it has struck more than 170 targets associated with Hezbollah in Lebanon.
The Israeli military says two soldiers have been moderately wounded by anti-tank fire in southern Lebanon.
Israel has been battling Hezbollah militants in the area.
Israel’s airport authority says some 5,268 people are expected to return to the country on Saturday on special flights repatriating Israelis stranded abroad.
That would bring the number of Israelis returning to Israel to nearly 15,000 people since the flights began on Thursday.
Israel’s skies have been mostly closed since the war broke out a week ago. There have been very limited repatriation flights, including through the U.S. state department, in the past two days. Limited commercial flights of Israeli companies offering rescue flights to Greece and Cyprus will resume on Sunday, the airports authority said.
Israel’s overland borders have remained open. Almost 19,000 people have entered Israel and 24,700 people have exited Israel via its land crossings since the war began last week.
The U.K.’s Ministry of Defence said one of the country’s two flagship aircraft carriers has been placed on advanced preparedness, stoking speculation that it may be deployed to the Middle East.
Following reports that an aircraft carrier was being prepared in response to the crisis in the Middle East, the ministry said it is “reducing the time it would take” for HMS Prince of Wales to set sail for any deployment.
“HMS Prince of Wales has always been on very high readiness and we are increasing the preparedness of the carrier,” it said in a statement.
A university student who lives in western Tehran has described deepening fear in the capital as strikes intensify.
Tehran is under severe bombardment, he said, speaking on condition of anonymity because of security concerns. Every moment without any warning sirens or any announcement some part of the city is under attack and many buildings have broken glass, he added.
Even residents in parts of the city far from clear government and military targets are living in fear, he said.
By Amir-Hussein Radjy
Qatar, Bahrain, and the United Arab Emirates all reported they intercepted missiles and drones on Saturday evening from Iran. The attacks come eight hours after Iranian president apologized Saturday for attacks on “neighboring countries.”
The attacks underlined the limited powers exercised by the theocracy’s leaders over the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, which controls the ballistic missiles targeting Israel and other countries. It answered only to Khamenei and now appears to be picking its own targets.
The UAE’s Defense Ministry said that it was responding to intercept missiles and drones launched toward the country, as Qatar’s Defense Ministry also said that it intercepted a missile attack. Meanwhile, sirens went off in the island kingdom of Bahrain for the seventh time on Saturday.
The United Arab Emirates says it is being attacked by Iran.
The Defense Ministry says air defense systems were intercepting missiles and drones.
The Israeli military said Saturday that it struck a Tehran airport used to help transport weapons to militant groups that Iran supported across the Middle East.
The military said the Mehrabad Airport was used to transfer weapons and cash to militant groups, especially Hezbollah in Lebanon. Israel said it destroyed 16 aircrafts that were used for transporting weapons as part of a broad wave of strikes against Tehran overnight. The strike also destroyed several Iranian fighter jets.
There was no immediate acknowledgement of the strike on Iran’s state media.
Trump spoke during an event on Florida about the six U.S. troops who were killed in a drone strike in Kuwait. Trump is set to fly to Dover Air Force Base, Delaware later Saturday, to be on hand for the dignified transfer of the troops.
Trump called it a “very sad situation to greet the families of the heroes who are coming home from Iran and coming home in a different manner than they thought they’d be coming home.” He added the troops are “great heroes in our country.”
Trump said that “when it comes to war,” there will be U.S. troop deaths, but added “we’re going to keep it to a minimum.”
Kuwait says it is reducing oil production as a “precautionary” measure due to the war in the Middle East.
The Kuwait Petroleum Cooperation blamed Iran’s attacks on the country as well as threats to the Strait of Hormuz, where a fifth of the world’s oil trade passes.
The Kuwaiti statement did not say how much it was reducing output, but Saturday’s announcement threatened to further jolt global energy markets.
Kuwait is one of the world’s largest oil producers. The week-old war has disrupted the flow of oil out of the Gulf and sent oil prices surging.
State-run Anadolu news agency reported the Defense Ministry is considering deploying F-16 aircraft “to ensure the security” of the ethnic Turkish part of the island.
A British air base on Cyprus’ southern coastline was hit by a Shahed drone on Sunday.
Citing a ministry statement, Anadolu said the move would be under “phased plans” currently being discussed.
Ankara maintains some 30,000 troops in northern Cyprus, which broke away from the Greek south in 1974. Turkey is the only country to recognize the northern administration.
The State Department says more than 28,000 Americans have returned to the United States from the Middle East since the start of the Iran war seven days ago.
The vast majority of those have made their way home without government assistance on commercial flights, although the department said Saturday it had organized more than a dozen charter flights that had evacuated several thousand Americans.
It said it had offered direct assistance - in the form of safety and security information as well as providing charter options - to more than 16,000 U.S. citizens who have reached out for help.
The family of an Israeli soldier who has been missing for more than 40 years urged Israel’s leaders not to endanger the lives of Israeli soldiers in their search to bring home his body.
The Israeli military said on Saturday that troops had searched in Lebanon overnight for the body of Ron Arad, a pilot shot down over Lebanon in 1986.
The clashes killed more than 41 people in Lebanon, the Health Ministry said.
“Our desire to know what happened to Ron stops the moment it endangers Israeli soldiers,” his wife Tami, wrote on Facebook, noting that the family has said this multiple times through the years. “For 40 years we have lived with the fact that Ron is missing, and we want to know what happened to Ron, but not at any price. The sanctity of life is above any closing of the circle of certainty for us.”
The military does not believe Arad is alive.
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Corrects that Tami is the missing soldier’s wife, not daughter
President Donald Trump is gathering with Latin American leaders on Saturday at his Miami-area golf club as his administration looks to demonstrate that it is still committed to sharpening U.S. foreign policy focus on the Western Hemisphere even as it deals with five-alarm crises around the globe.
The gathering, which the White House is calling the “Shield of the Americas” summit, comes just two months after Trump ordered an audacious U.S. military operation to capture Venezuela’s then-president, Nicolás Maduro, and whisk him and his wife to the United States to face drug conspiracy charges.
Looming even larger is Trump’s decision to join with Israel to launch a war on Iran one week ago, a conflict that has left hundreds dead, convulsed global markets and unsettled the broader Middle East.
Recep Tayyip Erdogan said there were “still things that can be done” to promote dialogue between the U.S. and Iran, according to his office’s account of a phone call with Prime Minister Keir Starmer.
Kuwait intercepted a drone attacking the Gulf country on Saturday.
The National Guard, which assists the country’s military in intercepting Iranian missiles and drones, made the announcement in a social media post.
No casualties were reported.
The area witnessed intense clashes and airstrikes overnight after an Israeli force landed there and clashed with local gunmen.
The Lebanese army said the dead included three Lebanese troops.
The Israeli force was looking for information about Israeli navigator Ron Arad who went missing after his fighter jet crashed in Lebanon 40 years ago.
The Israeli military said it did not find Arad’s remains.
The United Arab Emirates said Iran launched 16 ballistic missiles and 121 drones at the country on Saturday, with only two drones striking the nation.
Jordan has been attacked with 119 missiles and drones since the U.S. and Israel launched a war against Iran a week ago, authorities said Saturday.
Fourteen people have been injured in the attacks.
Military spokesman Brig. Gen. Mustafa Hiyari told a news conference Saturday the attacks were aimed at “purely Jordanian targets.” He said no attacks against Iran originated from Jordan.
Police spokesperson Lt. Col. Amer Sartawi said most of the casualties suffered minor injuries from falling shrapnel.
Three Lebanese troops were killed in an Israeli military operation to gather information on a pilot who has been missing in Lebanon for almost 40 years, Lebanon’s military said Saturday.
The military said Israeli helicopters landed in the eastern town of Nabi Shit, triggering fighting when residents clashed with Israeli troops.
It was not immediately clear whether the troops were among 16 dead reported earlier by the Health Ministry.
The Israeli army said it found no evidence related to Israeli pilot Ron Arad, who was captured alive after his fighter jet crashed over south Lebanon in 1986. He was believed to have been held in Nabi Chit until 1988, when he went missing.
Trump made the comments on his Truth Social website, noting an apology by Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian earlier in the day to neighboring nations over Tehran’s attacks.
“Under serious consideration for complete destruction and certain death, because of Iran’s bad behavior, are areas and groups of people that were not considered for targeting up until this moment in time,” Trump wrote, without elaborating.
The Israeli military says its special forces conducted an operation deep inside Lebanon in an attempt to gather information about an Israeli navigator who has been missing for nearly 40 years.
The Israeli army’s Arabic spokesman posted on X that no evidence was found related to Israeli pilot Ron Arad, who was captured alive after his fighter jet crashed over south Lebanon in 1986.
According to Lebanon’s state media, Israeli forces landed in the eastern Lebanese town of Nabi Chit late Friday and were intercepted by members of the militant Hezbollah group, triggering a gunfight that lasted until the early hours of Saturday.
Ron Arad was believed to have been held in Nabi Chit until 1988, when he went missing.
A prominent cleric in Iran, Ayatollah Nasser Makarem Shirazi, urged the country’s Assembly of Experts to act quickly and name a new supreme leader, likely in response to the ongoing political confusion.
Buildings associated with the 88-cleric panel have been hit by airstrikes in the war, likely slowing any meeting of the group.
“The timely realization of this important matter will lead to national authority and the best possible organization of affairs,” Shirazi said in a statement.
Qatar Airways says it will operate six flights into Doha on Sunday through a “safe corridor,” as the country’s airspace remains closed.
The state-owned airline said the flights will come from five European cities as well as Bangkok.
The latest wave of Israeli airstrikes included targets in Lebanon’s eastern Bekaa Valley, the Israeli military said.
The Lebanese Health Ministry said earlier that overnight airstrikes in that area killed at least 16 people and wounded 35.
The Iranian-backed militant group Hezbollah said its fighters clashed with an Israeli force that landed there late Friday. Israel hasn’t commented on the fighting in the Bekaa Valley.
The military also said its Saturday strikes hit rocket launchers, weapons storage facilities and two command centers of Hezbollah’s Radwan Force in southern Lebanon.
Bahrain’s military intercepted two missiles and a drone on Saturday, the Defense Ministry said.
That brought to 86 missiles and 148 drones that have been intercepted over Bahrain since the U.S. and Israel launched war against Iran last weekend.
India’s foreign minister said Saturday that an Iranian naval vessel has docked in India, after a U.S. submarine sank an Iranian warship and another vessel sought assistance from Sri Lanka.
Subrahmanyam Jaishankar said the IRIS Lavan is docked in southern Kochi city, after India granted permission when the vessel reported “having problems” on March 1. “I think it was the humane thing to do,” Jaishankar said.
A U.S. submarine sank the Iranian warship IRIS Dena off the coast of Sri Lanka on Wednesday. Another vessel, the IRIS Bushehr, requested assistance from Sri Lanka and more than 200 sailors were brought ashore. Both ships had previously taken part in naval exercises hosted by India, but Jaishankar said they got “caught on the wrong side of events” once the war began.
Dubai and its long-haul carrier Emirates said Saturday the airline would resume operations after temporarily halting them following an Iranian attack on the city-state.
The news brought cheers in Dubai International Airport, where passengers had been sheltering after hearing a large boom overhead.
Authorities have not explained if there was an interception or damage at the airport, which is the world’s busiest for international travel.
An Israeli airstrike flattened a residential building in southern Lebanon, killing at least six people early Saturday, the country’s state-run news agency reported.
The dead from the strike in Jibchit town included four from the same family, the National News Agency said.
The Lebanese Health Ministry earlier reported at least 16 killed and 35 wounded in overnight Israeli airstrikes in the mountain town of Nabi Chit.
Sirens sounded in Bahrain ahead of a potential attack for the fifth time Saturday, the interior ministry said, urging people to head to the nearest safe location.
Smoke rises following an Israeli airstrike in Dahiyeh, Beirut's southern suburbs, Friday, March 6, 2026. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)
Plumes of smoke rise as strikes hit the city during the U.S.–Israeli military campaign in Tehran, Iran, Thursday, March 5, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)
Smoke rises following an Israeli airstrike in Dahiyeh, Beirut's southern suburbs, in Beirut, Lebanon, Friday, March 6, 2026. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)
