Entering 2022, Tyler Reddick had never won a NASCAR Cup Series race. This Sunday (July 31), at the end of the Verizon 200 at the Brickyard on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course, the Richard Childress Racing driver can kiss the bricks as a two-time winner in 2022.
Reddick took the lead for the final time with 33 laps to go, wheeling around the outside of Christopher Bell’s No. 20 in the final chicane, but it wasn’t exactly a Sunday cruise from there. Through restart after restart, Reddick had to defend from the Cup Series best, fending off Ryan Blaney, Chase Elliott and Ross Chastain one by one as they challenged for the top spot, then came up short.
In one last overtime restart, Reddick got the jump on the field, but Ross Chastain muscled past him on the backstretch after cutting the access road in Turn 1. Rather than waiting for NASCAR to hand down a verdict on the No. 1, Reddick passed him back in Turn 12 before taking the white flag and setting off for the checkered.
See how @TylerReddick scored the win at @IMS in overtime!
Here’s a look at the final restart at Indy. #NASCAR pic.twitter.com/Yo43SqrrzP
— NASCAR on NBC (@NASCARonNBC) July 31, 2022
After Chastain’s penalty, rookie Austin Cindric claimed a strong second-place finish after starting alongside Reddick on the front row. Fellow rookies Harrison Burton and Todd Gilliland finished third and fourth, the best results of their young career, and Bubba Wallace scored his first career road-course top five in fifth place.
Sixth was Joey Logano, followed by Saturday’s Xfinity Series winner AJ Allmendinger, Michael McDowell, Cole Custer and Chris Buescher to complete the top ten.
The first stage was calm out front, as Reddick and Cindric pulled out a comfortable lead over the field, before both came to pit road with two laps remaining in the stage, leaving hometown boy Chase Briscoe on track to claim his third stage win of the season.
Back in the pack, the first 15 laps were anything but calm. Turn 1 was a trouble spot, with Justin Haley, Brad Keselowski, Chase Elliott and Chastain (twice) all spinning in the 90-degree right-hander.
Chase Elliott went for a ride before the end of Stage 1. #NASCAR
📺 : @NBC pic.twitter.com/Xm0qPAkxU2
— NASCAR on NBC (@NASCARonNBC) July 31, 2022
Chris Buescher in the RFK Racing No. 17 had just cracked the top 10 when he came to pit road with three laps left on lap 12. Mysteriously, black smoke began billowing from inside the driver…
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