Regardless of a tire drawback, the 23XI Racing driver appeared to search out an additional gear on the ultimate lap when he surged forward of each Denny Hamlin and Ryan Blaney.
33.379s — Tyler Reddick‘s last lap time, which was half a second quicker than anybody else on the monitor (and was even fast sufficient to land fourth place in Saturday qualifying). It was an astonishing cost that appeared to come back out of nowhere, slicing beneath Hamlin in Flip 1 earlier than blowing the doorways off Blaney with a high-side cross in Turns 3 and 4.
“I did not understand how unhealthy we had been going to bleed,” stated Reddick about his tire deficit. “I drove into flip three (on the restart) … out of desperation (and) I type of held serve. I used to be very shocked by that. Then as laps simply saved winding down, it did not actually really feel like we had been at an enormous tire deficit. You come to this place, you recognize tires are a premium.
“Early within the race we noticed the 8 [Kyle Busch], a lot of different vehicles, on three/four-lap tires keep out and get their doorways blown off. I used to be fully shocked we had been capable of keep within the combine like we had been. Yeah, going into (Flip 1), I made the proper guess. I bought the underside. I bought clear air. I bought up in entrance of the 11 [Hamlin]. I had a very good run on the 12 [Blaney].”
Race winner Tyler Reddick, 23XI Racing, The Beast Killer Dawn Toyota Camry
Picture by: Ben Earp / NKP / Motorsport Pictures
Because the leaders headed for the ultimate set of corners, Blaney selected to run center which left the highest large open for Reddick.
“I used to be simply blown away that I had that type of momentum going into flip three,” defined Reddick. “I believed there was no manner Blaney was going to depart me the skin. He should have thought that I used to be simply going to completely dive bomb it off in there to attempt to get round him. As soon as I noticed him type of shade down, I hit the fuel and forgot about every thing else. Got here out on the opposite aspect within the lead. It was simply loopy.”
It is fairly the turnaround from one week in the past when Reddick’s Las Vegas race led to a weird rollover crash by way of the infield grass. Seven days later, he is secured the second of 4 coveted spots within the finale. Reddick has by no means positioned larger than sixth within the Cup standings, however he’s now assured to complete no worse than fourth in 2024.
