By Holly Cain, NASCAR Wire Service
Certainly, the FireKeepers Casino 400 at Michigan International Speedway was not lacking in action or drama.
23XI Racing’s Tyler Reddick claimed his second victory of the season – seventh of his career – while the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series Playoff standings shifted dramatically yet again in Monday’s weather-delayed double-overtime finish to the race.
Reddick’s No. 45 Toyota pulled away from William Byron’s No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet on the second overtime restart – holding off Byron and Joe Gibbs Racing’s Ty Gibbs to claim the win by a slight .168-second and break a nine-race winning streak at the historic two-mile track for Ford.
“Just great teammate and a fantastic push from Ty Gibbs, the Toyota racing family tries to take care of each other,” said Reddick, who immediately dedicated his win to longtime family friend and late model racing legend Scott Bloomquist, who was killed in a plane accident this week.
“The last couple days have been tough, but this really helps. This win goes to him [Bloomquist] and his family and friends, and all that meant a lot to him. It’s always tough when someone you care about passes away.
“We did a really good job today,” he said of the win. “I think we were the last car on the lead lap starting stage three today so good effort for us.”
Byron, a three-race winner and the 2024 Daytona 500 champion, second-guessed the decision to start his Chevrolet alongside Reddick on the high-side of the front row on that final re-start after starting on the bottom lane previously.
“I will re-live that restart and what lane to choose overnight for sure,” Byron said. “It seems like always as the leader you want to take the top, but I’ve gotten beat twice here by the bottom and I had the lead on the bottom barely over him.
“But he had a better car than us, he was a little bit faster. Second sucks, but really proud of the effort. I feel like we’ve been trying to put weeks together like this and this is a really good step.”
Richard Childress Racing’s Kyle Busch finished fourth and led 24 laps in the race, one of his better showings of the season. The two-time series champion still sits more than 100-points out of the Playoff standings and is trying to extend a record 19-year winning streak in the series but Monday’s showing marks his second consecutive top-five finish – answering a fourth-place at Richmond, Va….
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