What happened?
Tyler Reddick‘s tires held on where so many others didn’t while en route to his third NASCAR Cup Series win of his career on Sunday evening (Sept. 25) at Texas Motor Speedway. Joey Logano, Justin Haley, Ryan Blaney and Chase Briscoe finished behind him to round out the top five.
Since Reddick’s win came one week after his elimination from the playoffs, it continued the trend of non-playoff drivers winning each race during the 2022 postseason.
How did it happen?
At one point during the early stages of Sunday’s 500-miler, Reddick was a lap down after making an unscheduled pit stop for a vibration.
But as one tire fell flat after another throughout the day and into the night, the attrition rate at Texas skyrocketed. Soon enough, Reddick found himself back in contention and even took the lead on lap 227 before losing it 17 laps later.
Unfortunately, the end of the race saw leader after leader falling victim to sudden tire failures ending their rule over the field at Texas. Two of them occurred in the final stage of the event, one right after the other.
“How do we get to the end of this race?” – @DaleJr
Martin Truex Jr. crashes from the lead. #NASCAR pic.twitter.com/vzvBGYPPRl
— NASCAR on NBC (@NASCARonNBC) September 26, 2022
The shuffle at the end saw Reddick inherit the lead on lap 281 after deciding not to pit for track position. Suddenly, the racing world held their breath as everyone awaited the inevitable high-pitched shriek of NBC broadcast analyst Dale Earnhardt Jr. announcing Reddick’s demise.
Reddick clears Logano!
The 8️⃣ re-takes control of the race late in Texas! pic.twitter.com/fgtos1Km82
— NASCAR (@NASCAR) September 26, 2022
But no such call occurred. Through two more yellow flags, Reddick kept the lead and stayed ahead of Logano to capture the third win of his career and third of 2022.
Who stood out?
There weren’t many heroes on Sunday, only those who survived.
However, we did see the birth of a new rivalry between William Byron and Denny Hamlin.
It began shortly after one of the many restarts on lap 258. While contending for the second-place spot, Byron held the high line as Hamlin attempted to clear the Hendrick Motorsports driver while the duo raced through the exit of turn 2.
Hamlin, however, went slightly wide and side-bumped Byron, sending the No. 24 into the outside wall and costing the two their momentum. Austin Dillon snuck by and took the spot.
Or at least, it kind of looked like…
Click Here to Read the Full Original Article at Frontstretch…