Following a final round of green-flag pit stops, Reddick passed Elliott for position on the track and inherited the lead for the first and only time on Lap 47 of 62.
He then spent the last 16 laps masterfully matching Elliott move for move, finally pulled away and took the victory by 3.304 seconds.
Reddick’s first career win comes in his 92nd start and after many close calls while at Richard Childress Racing.
Reddick becomes the fifth first-time winner this season and the third to do so on a road course (joining Ross Chastain and Daniel Suarez).
Reddick’s victory is also the first for the No. 8 car in the Cup Series since Dale Earnhardt Jr. won at Richmond, Va., for Dale Earnhardt Inc. in 2006.
“I definitely knew he was fast,” Reddick said of Elliott, who led the most laps in the race (36). “We could stay with him on the long run which told me if we cycled through that last pit sequence, it’d be close. If I could get around him, I’d have a great shot.
“We didn’t quite get around him (at first) but we were within reach. Thankfully, just waited for the right opportunity and waited to take advantage of it in Turn 6.
“I thought he was going to run me back down. I started to make some mistakes. I started to take care of the brakes, turns out I didn’t need to. We were in good shape there. Wow – what a day.”
Kyle Larson ended up third, Chastain was fourth and Suarez rounded out the top-five.
Completing the top-10 were Chris Buescher, Austin Cindric, Michael McDowell, A.J. Allmendinger and Kevin Harvick.
Stage 3
During the break between Stages 2 and 3, those drivers who did not pit prior to the break did so, with Kurt Busch first off pit road.
William Byron (pitting on closed pit road), Todd Gilliland (too fast on pit road), Brad Keselowski (drove through too many pit boxes) and Kyle Busch (crew member over the wall too soon) all had to restart from the rear of the field.
Once again, Elliott inherited the lead and led the way on the restart on Lap 33. He was followed by Reddick and Larson.
On Lap 35, Bubba Wallace went off-course and into the gravel in Turn 1 but returned to the track and was able to continue.
Larson nudged Chastain briefly off-track on Lap 37 but was able to get back on course after losing the position.
Keselowski was forced to pit under green on Lap 40 with a flat left-rear tire he picked up after hitting the wall in the area of Turn 5. He returned to the track in 33rd.
With 21 laps to go, Martin Truex Jr. and…
Click Here to Read the Full Original Article at Motorsport.com – NASCAR – Stories…