Is Tyler Reddick on pace for a 1998 Jeff Gordon-esque NASCAR season?

There is only one season that can seriously be considered the greatest in NASCAR's modern era (1972-present): Jeff Gordon's otherworldly 1998 campaign, in which he won 13 of 33 races, finished top five 26 times and had an average finish of 5.7. 

Especially in a more parity-oriented modern sport, it will be difficult for a team and driver to ever come close to matching Gordon's 1998 romp of the NASCAR Cup Series field. 

But in 2026, Tyler Reddick and the No. 45 23XI Racing team are going to try their darndest to give Gordon's legendary 1998 season a run for its money. 

Reddick has won four of the first six races to start 2026, including Sunday's Goodyear 400 at Darlington Raceway. He has already amassed a 95-point lead over Ryan Blaney in the standings, which he has led from the outset. 

Can Tyler Reddick match Jeff Gordon? 

Reddick does have an advantage of a 36-race season compared to Gordon's 33-race schedule in 1998. He's also gotten off to a hotter start than Gordon did 28 years ago. 

While Reddick won the first three races of the season and already has five top 10 finishes, Gordon "only" won twice through the first six races of 1998. He also had three finishes of 16th or worse, leaving him third in the standings after the sixth race of the season at Bristol. 

Race 7 at Texas led to a 31st-place finish for Gordon, a fate Reddick hopes eludes him in the seventh race of 2026 at Martinsville Speedway on March 29. 

The next two races at Martinsville and Bristol don't bode particularly well for Reddick, who is yet to get a good handle on short tracks. He only has two top-10s in 12 Martinsville starts and only one top-10 in nine races at Bristol. 

Reddick quipped at the end of his post-race news conference on Sunday that if he won at Martinsville, the world was going to end. 

The good news for Reddick? Races 9-12 should hold much better fortune in store. 

Kansas, Talladega, Texas and Watkins Glen make up the four races after Martinsville and Bristol and before the May 17 All-Star Race at Dover. Reddick is a former winner at both Kansas, Talladega and Texas, and while he's yet to win at Watkins Glen, he has four top-10s in five starts at the New York road course. 

By race 12 of 1998, Gordon had three wins, a mark Reddick has already beaten. 

The rest of the summer stretch will provide Reddick with several more opportunities to win races, including the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte, Nashville, Pocono, Naval Base Coronado and Sonoma. 

The Cup Series will also return to Atlanta, Daytona and Darlington before the season is out, giving Reddick a chance to sweep the 2026 events at those tracks. 

The No. 45 will be fast every week, and even in a series where parity is extremely high, it will likely be in contention for the win on a weekly basis.

Will that be enough to come close to matching Gordon's mark of the most wins in a season in the modern era? It's hard to say. Gordon went on his season-defining tear from race 16-24, winning seven of nine races to get to 10 victories before winning three of the last four to sew up the title. 

Reddick will need to keep winning at his current clip for the discussion of matching Gordon to be a serious one, but it's safe to say he's off to a fast start.