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Tyler Reddick and Michael Jordan’s 23XI Racing have done it again. The No. 45 car has won its third race in a row to start the 2026 NASCAR season, racing to victory at the DuraMAX Texas Grand Prix Powered by RelaDyne on Sunday. Reddick, who opened the year with a victory at the Daytona 500, became the first driver to ever win the first three races of a NASCAR season. Reddick led from 60 of the 95 laps in Sunday’s race, getting his most dominant victory yet this season. As a result, 23XI Racing has also led for 206 laps this season. Here’s the full results from Sunday’s race:​Latest Sports News from FOX Sports

St. Petersburg, Fla. — Mick Schumacher’s INDYCAR debut was over after three turns. The former Formula 1 driver saw Sting Ray Robb and Santino Ferrucci locked up ahead of him and he had nowhere to go as they slammed into a tire barrier in the opening lap Sunday of the season-opening St. Petersburg Grand Prix. Schumacher’s car ended up on top of the rear of Ferrucci’s car, ending both of their days. Robb was able to continue but was issued a 30-second penalty for avoidable contact. [MORE MICK: Inside Schumacher’s Prep for Rookie INDYCAR Season] The 26-year-old former Formula 1 driver was disappointed but philosophical after his last-place finish. “That’s racing,” Schumacher told me and other reporters outside the INDYCAR medical unit. “So it’s very unfortunate. As a team, we’re really needed that race to kind of get everything sorted and not have doubts going into the next event. “But hey, we’ve got 16 or 17 more races to go. It’s just the first one. It’s just the start of it. And I’m very excited for the rest of the season.” Schumacher said he saw Ferrucci lock up and just had no time to react. “Sting Ray seemed like he went a little deeper than what’s supposed to be and that kind of chain-reactioned the whole scenario” Schumacher said. “Unfortunately, our real target was to finish the race, get all the laps in. We got even less than that. So very unfortunate.” Although Schumacher had started 21st in the 25-car field, his Rahal Letterman Lanigan team seemed pleased with his weekend up to the start of the race. He didn’t get a clean lap in qualifying, something that can be difficult to manage. The tough part for Schumacher — son of seven-time F1 champion Michael Schumacher — is now he heads to the March 7 race at Phoenix Raceway, a 1-mile oval. He has never competed on an oval in any form of motorsports. Schumacher has had tests at the 1.5-mile Homestead-Miami Speedway and Phoenix in the last month. “I’m still happy all the knowledge that we gained throughout this weekend, and things we can definitely take forwards and take it to Phoenix,” Schumacher said. “I’m looking ahead, not looking back, going to try to understand what we could have done better on our end. [ST. PETE HIGHLIGHTS: Alex Palou Begins Year With a Win] “Qualifying maybe being one of them — we were blocked, [in qualifying] so we kind of lost our bit of a momentum and kind of being in a better pack. When you’re starting in the back, things end up being quite difficult and tough anyways, but I think this just made it extra difficult for us.” Robb told me he didn’t really know what happened but agreed with the penalty that he could have avoided the situation. “I deserved it, I think,” Robb said. “I’m sorry to the 47 crew [of Schumacher], the 14 crew [of Ferrucci]. It’s just one of those days where it’s a shame to be a part of it. … Lap 1 – you’ve got to get through. We didn’t.” Ferrucci was frustrated that his day ended and Robb was able to continue. “We all sit around and talk about it at driver intros — it’s taking easy Lap 1,” Ferrucci told me and other reporters. “And for whatever reason, there’s a few of us that do that, and then there’s a couple of us that just forget where the brake zone is. “It’s a bummer.” Ferrucci and Schumacher know the one thing they potentially could have done came well before Sunday. “For us, the key takeaway here is qualify higher up,” Schumacher said. “Simple as that.” Bob Pockrass covers NASCAR and INDYCAR for FOX Sports. He has spent decades covering motorsports, including over 30 Daytona 500s, with stints at ESPN, Sporting News, NASCAR Scene magazine and The (Daytona Beach) News-Journal. Follow him on Twitter @bobpockrass.​Latest Sports News from FOX Sports

Meet the orchestrator of UCLA’s dominance: Kiki Rice The women’s college basketball season is ramping up with high-stakes games every night and the NCAA Tournament just around the corner. In those key regular-season games, March Madness stars introduce themselves to the nation with magical moments and Cinderella runs. We’re teaching you about them before they become national heroes. Ahead of No. 2 UCLA facing rival USC on Sunday afternoon (at 6 p.m. ET on FS1), let us help you get to know Rice: 1. Player Build Rice is a 5-foot-11 point guard who plays with patience, always seeking to make the right decision. She averages 15.3 points, 4.5 assists and 6.3 rebounds  per game. 2. Loyal Soldier In an era defined by transfers, Rice has played all four seasons at UCLA, staying with the program when it went to the Big Ten in 2024 and helping it develop into a national contender. She has also started 130 of 133 total games, showing that she was ready for the spotlight as a freshman 3. Power Couple Rice’s boyfriend is NBA champion and Oklahoma City Thunder guard Cason Wallace. Rice proved she knows all there is to know about Wallace’s basketball career in a viral TikTok video. In the video, Rice also says she beats Wallace one-on-one every time and that he would hope to have her driving ability, while she wants his defensive prowess. 4. Documentary Star Rice appeared on “Full Court Press,” a 2024 docuseries highlighting her, Caitlin Clark and Kamilla Cardoso’s journeys through women’s basketball. 5. Making Waves Rice became the first women’s college basketball player with a personal edition shoe on the Jordan Brand. She debuted them during UCLA’s game against Maryland last season. The shoes are a beautiful blue because, Rice said, of her love for the ocean and UCLA.​Latest Sports News from FOX Sports

The Minnesota Vikings appear set to undergo a roster overhaul that could see them bring in a veteran quarterback to compete with J.J. McCarthy for the starting job in 2026. Tua Tagovailoa (Miami Dolphins), Kyler Murray (Arizona Cardinals), Geno Smith (Las Vegas Raiders) and Kirk Cousins (Atlanta Falcons) are all being considered by the Vikings as a possible addition to their quarterback room this offseason, ESPN reported Sunday. Minnesota is also planning to move on from running back Aaron Jones and defensive tackle Javon Hargrave this offseason, according to ESPN. Cousins is the only quarterback in that group that’s set to become a free agent as of Sunday. The Falcons said last week that they will release Cousins when the new league year begins on March 11. Of course, Cousins previously played in Minnesota before signing with Atlanta in 2024. He enjoyed a decent amount of success in his six seasons with the Vikings, playing under Minnesota head coach Kevin O’Connell for two of those years. He helped the Vikings make the playoffs in 2022 before an Achilles tear ended his 2023 season early. Tagovailoa, Murray and Smith, meanwhile, are all candidates to be cut or traded in the coming weeks. Dolphins general manager Jon-Eric Sullivan suggested that the team was open to all options with Tagovailoa when he met with reporters at the combine this past week, including a release. If Tagovailoa is cut, the Dolphins could potentially take on a record $99.2 million dead cap hit, depending on when they release him. Murray is seeking to be cut by the Cardinals this offseason, a league source told FOX Sports’ Ralph Vacchiano and Henry McKenna this past week. The Cardinals have also “grown frustrated” with Murray, a team source told Vacchiano and McKenna. Finally, Smith appears to be on the outs in Las Vegas with Klint Kubiak taking over as head coach and the team presumably taking Fernando Mendoza with the No. 1 pick in the 2026 NFL Draft. Of those four quarterbacks, Cousins might have the strongest season in 2025. He went 5-3 as a starter, throwing for 1,721 yards, 10 touchdowns and five interceptions. Tagovailoa threw for 2,660 yards, 20 touchdowns and 15 interceptions before getting benched for the final three games of the season. Murray threw for 951 yards, six touchdowns and three interceptions to go with 173 rushing yards and a rushing score in five games before suffering a foot injury. Smith led the league in interceptions (17) to go with 3,025 passing yards and 19 passing touchdowns in 15 games. As for Jones and Hargrave, Minnesota will save over $18 million by releasing the two veterans. They could still reportedly trade the two players, though. Jones rushed for 548 yards in 2025, which was the second-fewest he’s had in his nine-year career. His 4.2 yards per attempt were also the second-fewest of his career. Jones also had two rushing touchdowns, 199 receiving yards and a receiving touchdown last season. Hargrave had 52 total tackles and 3.5 sacks this past season. He also had 31 total pressures, per Pro Football Focus, as he was in the first year of a two-year, $30 million deal.​Latest Sports News from FOX Sports

St. Petersburg, Fla — The more things change, the more they stay the same. While several organizations had changes in the offseason as far as their driver lineup, the driver who has dominated the series over the last year continued to blister the competition. Alex Palou, who won eight races in 2025 on the way to his third consecutive INDYCAR title (and fourth overall), won the 2026 season-opening St. Petersburg Grand Prix. And he didn’t just win, he won by a record 12.4948 seconds. Here are my takeaways: 1. Palou Pounds Them When a driver has a big lead, it sometimes feels prudent not to push the car to the limit. Even Palou made a mistake last year at Mid-Ohio while leading. So did Palou win by more than 12 seconds to send a message to the remainder of the field that he’s out to pound them again? The Chip Ganassi Racing driver indicated there was more to it than that. “Especially on street courses, it’s not good to relax for the tires [with] the bumps, how they feel,” Palou said in his post-race news conference. “You might just start feeling even worse if you go at lower speeds. “I try and keep my pace, try and keep a pace that’s good for the car and my driving. Every time that I try to stay calm or to drop the pace, it’s been bad. I was just trying to push.” 2. Power Wrecks, Is Disappointed Will Power had battled brake issues in his debut weekend with Andretti after a 17-year career at Penske. But he said his hitting the wall on Lap 21 was his fault. Power’s team got the car back out but he finished 45 laps down in 22nd, saying that was not what they needed as they looked to run all the laps. “The issues we had early in the weekend were true issues. That one was a slight issue, but I could have prevented that,” Power told me. “That was on me. We were doing really well on fuel, the car felt great. “The potential is really good. I’m feeling good about potential with the car. I think I learned a lot about this car this weekend. And obviously fixed some teething issues.” 3: Fun Battles Behind Palou Scott McLaughlin (second), Christian Lundgaard (third) and Kyle Kirkwood (fourth) had a spirited battle during the race. McLaughlin might have had flashbacks to 2023 when he and Romain Grosjean wrecked while battling for the lead at St. Pete. The Team Penske driver said the battles with the other cars up front, as well as at one point Marcus Ericsson, were clean. “They’re the guys that I have raced with in the past and very fair, very clean and hard,” McLaughlin said in his postrace news conference. “What you sort of expect.” Kirkwood, whose tires were fading fast, told me: “I figured [McLaughlin] would be a little bit more hesitant. Hye was not more hesitant. Kudos to him. We barely touched, caused no damage between us. It was just good, hard racing between us, and once I destroyed my tires, I think we raced very admirably. … They play clean, they play smart. You can trust them on a pass like that, on the street course around the outside.” 4: Pato Pleased Pato O’Ward said prior to this week that he wanted to keep his bad days from being too bad. And after a bad start, he rallied to finish fifth. Last year, he qualified 23rd and finished 11th at St. Pete. With McLaren teammate Lundgaard in third, it was a solid day for the McLaren team. “This was a good recovery,” O’Ward told me. “I don’t think the car was really there to fight super, super hard. So I think a lot of that was actually strategy and in the pits. “A P5 day in INDYCAR is a good day. But when another guy keeps winning races, it’s obviously making it very tough for everyone else. But much better start than last year. So pretty pumped about that.” 4 ½: What’s Next INDYCAR heads to Phoenix for a race Saturday, part of a doubleheader with the NASCAR O’Reilly Series and a day before the NASCAR Cup Series takes to the track. It is the first INDYCAR race at Phoenix since 2018. It will be Palou’s 100th career start. “Do I get a present or something?” Palou said when that was mentioned during the post-race news conference. Guess a win by 12 seconds is not enough.​Latest Sports News from FOX Sports

David Montgomery wants to leave the Detroit Lions, or does he? The standout running back questioned an ESPN report that stated he’s requested to leave Detroit this offseason. “Damn, Dmo told you that ?” Montgomery replied in a post about the report on X, seemingly referring to himself as “Dmo.” While Montgomery disputed ESPN’s report, the Lions have reportedly begun assessing the running back’s value on the open market. Detroit is hoping to get a “decent Day 3 pick” in exchange for Montgomery, ESPN added in its report. Montgomery is on a seemingly reasonable contract for a player of his caliber. His two-year, $18.25 million extension kicks in for the 2026 season, but he’s owed $6 million for the upcoming year. The Lions are also over the salary cap by just over $12 million, a week before free agency starts. So, trading Montgomery would help them shed some money, opening up $3.5 million in cap space, per Over The Cap. However, Detroit would eat $4.8 million in dead money if it dealt Montgomery prior to June 1. Montgomery, who joined the Lions in 2023, had a productive 2025 season, although his numbers took a bit of a dip from his first two years in Detroit. His 716 rushing yards were actually a career low, but he did it on a respectable 4.5 yards per carry. He also rushed for eight touchdowns, adding 192 receiving yards. In his first two seasons in Detroit, Montgomery rushed for 1,790 yards and 25 touchdowns in 28 games. He also had 458 yards receiving over that stretch. The emergence of Jahmyr Gibbs as a three-down running back might also make Montgomery expendable. Gibbs was top-10 in all-purpose yards again this past season, and he’s also up for a contract extension this offseason. If Gibbs ends up getting a deal that makes him one of the highest-paid running backs, it might make even more financial sense for Detroit to move on from Montgomery.​Latest Sports News from FOX Sports

Alex Palou won eight INDYCAR races during a historic 2025 season, including a victory in the 109th running of the Indianapolis 500. He picked up right where he left off on Sunday, beginning the 2026 season with a dominant performance at the Firestone Grand Prix of St Petersburg. The Winner Is … Alex Palou, driver of the Chip Ganassi Racing No. 10 car, earned his second consecutive victory at the Firestone Grand Prix of St Petersburg. It was Palou’s 20th career win. How The Race Was Won Palou won the race by a gap of 12.49 seconds and led for a total of 59 laps. Pole-sitter Scott McLaughlin led for 34 laps and finished in second. One Big Moment Newcomer Mick Schumacher crashed on Lap 1 of Sunday’s race, effectively ending his chances before things really even got started for the former F1 driver. Top-10 Results 1. Alex Palou2. Scott McLaughlin3. Christian Lundgaard4. Kyle Kirkwood5. Pato O’Ward6. Marcus Ericsson7. Josef Newgarden8. Romain Grosjean9. Rinus Veekay10. Dennis Hauger What’s Next The second race of the 2026 INDYCAR season is the Good Ranchers 250 on March 7 at Phoenix Raceway (Noon ET on FOX) as part of a doubleheader weekend with NASCAR.​Latest Sports News from FOX Sports

Tyler Reddick is having one of the hottest starts to the 2026 NASCAR Cup Series season, opening with back-to-back wins in the Daytona 500 and then last weekend at Atlanta. Next up is the DuraMax Texas Grand Prix at Circuit of The Americas in Austin, and Reddick had the fastest car in qualifying, delivering him the pole for Sunday’s race. The DuraMax Texas Grand Prix at COTA is set for Sunday, March 1 at 3:30 p.m. ET on FOX, and it will be streamed on FOXSports.com, FOX One and the FOX Sports App. [NASCAR ODDS: Shane van Gisbergen Favorite to Win at COTA] Following qualifying on Saturday, Reddick will lead the field to green on Sunday alongside Ross Chastain on the front row. Here’s a look at the complete starting lineup for NASCAR’s COTA race Sunday.​Latest Sports News from FOX Sports

St. Petersburg, Fla. — Dario Franchitti was glad he had hard contact with James Hinchcliffe in the opening laps of the truck race Saturday on the streets of St. Petersburg. Well, sort of. Franchitti just didn’t want to ruin the day for a driver who was running for the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series title. With the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series drivers never having competed on a street course, the prevailing theory was that the full-time truck drivers wouldn’t need some former INDYCAR stars’ help to ruin their day. But they put on an entertaining race that didn’t delve into the ridiculousness, with Layne Riggs prevailing. Here are my takeaways: 1. Franchitti Fast But Hot Franchitti, who had not raced at St. Petersburg since 2013 as he suffered an INDYCAR career-ending injury later that year, finished 27th. The four-time INDYCAR champion was running in the top 10 in the Tricon truck before a suspension issue. As his helmet blowers failed during the race, Franchitti was overheated afterward and sat on the ground for several minutes rehydrating. He was also surprised at how difficult it was to see behind him. “I had a great truck,” Franchitti told me and other reporters after the race. “I really did. I wish I hadn’t done so much damage to it, but that was just my experience in the truck. … I had a blast. It was really good. I made some rookie errors. “But how fortunate am I with what I went through in 2013 to come back and do this 13 years later.” 2. Hinchcliffe Top 10! Hinchcliffe, a former INDYCAR driver and current INDYCAR On Fox analyst, and Franchitti were philosophical about their contact on the opening laps. Hinchcliffe to me and other reporters after the race: “The irony of it being him that hit us was it was almost funny. I was almost laughing at my helmet, but it seems kind of poetic. Seems appropriate. Honestly, I’m glad that he hit me and not a full-season guy that’s running for points. That was a big thing. I didn’t want to ruin anyone’s day.” Franchitti: “I didn’t want to wreck Hinch. I really didn’t want to wreck anybody, especially guys running for the championship.” Hinchcliffe rallied for a top-10 finish in the Spire Motorsports truck. “[This] truck has been running so well for owners points, I didn’t want to let them down either,” Hinch said. “And salvaging the top 10 was great again. I learned how to race these guys a little bit. And if we could start the race again right now, I think it’d be a lot different.” 3. Johnson Pumped Seven-time Cup champion Jimmie Johnson was pumped that the deal he put together for Franchitti went as well as it did. He sat on the box and helped call the race. Johnson, who said he would do another deal for Franchitti for a future race if he wants it, will race that truck in San Diego. “I’m excited to get into a truck. I’ve only raced one at Bristol,” Johnson told me and other reporters after the race. “But this platform — the gearbox, all the elements — that’s in my sweet spot of my success and where I know the car the most. So I’m excited to get in the truck.” 4. Riggs Had Helping Hand Road-course ace Joey Hand works with the Ford Racing drivers on their road-course skills, and Riggs said he was pivotal in getting him ready and having the confidence at St. Pete. “I started in the simulator before, and just kind of did my own thing and thought what was fast,” Riggs said in his post-race news conference. “He’s very good at coaching, very good at nitpicking things. … I think every other lap I would hear his voice telling me something in my head of something he’s told me in the past to watch out for.” He started 28th, so Riggs drove a great race for his first non-oval victory. Ty Majeski was second, followed by Ben Rhodes, Chandler Smith and Kaden Honeycutt. 4 ½. What’s Next The trucks get a couple of weeks to breathe. Their next race will be at Darlington. The track is tough on trucks, and the telecast will have a unique twist, as it will be a drivers-only telecast when it comes to the broadcast team on FS1. Kevin Harvick, Joey Logano and Ryan Blaney will be in the booth while Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Austin Cindric will be on pit road for the race. As far as the long-term future, Riggs hopes they come back and race trucks again at St. Pete next year. It was the first time for the trucks in a true festival atmosphere that is typical of street-course events. “I would love to come back,” Riggs said in his press conference. “I could not believe how packed grandstands are. I thought we were the INDYCAR show.”​Latest Sports News from FOX Sports

St. Petersburg, Fla. – Jimmie Johnson is looking forward to fans being able to see him race in his next adventure.Johnson is going back to his roots to race around, well, roots and all, in the Mint 400, a 400-mile off-road race March 6-7 in Nevada outside Las Vegas. The race weekend was once immortalized as being the backdrop for Hunter S. Thompson’s Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas in 1971. The seven-time Cup champion and former INDYCAR driver will race for the Herbst family, which has a long, storied history in off-road racing and for whom Johnson drove for in his early years in racing. It’s common to see Terrible Herbst gas stations all over Nevada. “It’s just eye candy with what the vehicles do,” Johnson told a small group on Saturday. “The truck makes it look so smooth and easy, but we have a helicopter that follows the vehicle with a camera on the front, and the crew that’s filming and the infrastructure that Troy Herbst has put together. I honestly think that this experience will help the platform, production, TV world, understand that the technology is there, and we can finally capture off-road racing.” The hope is to expose the sport to those who have an interest but have never had an opportunity to watch, with the race live-streaming on FOX’s “SPEED With Harvick And Burton” YouTube page, as well as an in-car camera of Johnson during the race that can be seen on “SPEED on FOX” social channels.”It’s an unfortunate secret on how incredibly technically demanding vehicles [these are] and what they’re capable of, but nobody can watch it — even as a spectator, you stand there for hours, and they go by, and they’re gone, and you’re in the dust,” Johnson said. [Jimmie Johnson: “I’m One Of Those Idiots Who Keeps Going”]”It’s not a great way to experience it. But what the Herbsts have done for their own personal viewing, and now it’s going to be turned on at FOX, it’s going to really show people a different side of the sport.”Johnson said he believes people will be able to listen to his in-car radio.”From dumb stories and making mistakes or yelling at myself, whatever it might be, [you’ll hear it],” Johnson said. Bob Pockrass covers NASCAR and INDYCAR for FOX Sports. He has spent decades covering motorsports, including over 30 Daytona 500s, with stints at ESPN, Sporting News, NASCAR Scene magazine and The (Daytona Beach) News-Journal. Follow him on Twitter @bobpockrass.​Latest Sports News from FOX Sports