Reddick “hit the gas and forgot about everything else” in last-lap heroics

Despite a tire disadvantage, the 23XI Racing driver appeared to find an extra gear on the final lap when he surged ahead of both Denny Hamlin and Ryan Blaney.

33.379s — Tyler Reddick‘s final lap time, which was half a second faster than anyone else on the track (and was even quick enough to land fourth place in Saturday qualifying). It was an astonishing charge that appeared to come out of nowhere, cutting under Hamlin in Turn 1 before blowing the doors off Blaney with a high-side pass in Turns 3 and 4.

“I didn’t know how bad we were going to bleed,” said Reddick about his tire deficit. “I drove into turn three (on the restart) … out of desperation (and) I kind of held serve. I was very shocked by that. Then as laps just kept winding down, it didn’t truly feel like we were at a big tire deficit. You come to this place, you know tires are a premium.

“Early in the race we saw the 8 [Kyle Busch], a number of other cars, on three/four-lap tires stay out and get their doors blown off. I was completely shocked we were able to stay in the mix like we were. Yeah, going into (Turn 1), I made the right guess. I got the bottom. I got clean air. I got up in front of the 11 [Hamlin]. I had a good run on the 12 [Blaney].”

As the leaders headed for the final set of corners, Blaney chose to run middle which left the top wide open for Reddick.

“I was just blown away that I had that kind of momentum going into turn three,” explained Reddick. “I thought there was no way Blaney was going to leave me the outside. He must have thought that I was just going to absolutely dive bomb it off in there to try to get around him. Once I saw him kind of shade down, I hit the gas and forgot about everything else. Came out on the other side in the lead. It was just crazy.”

It’s quite the turnaround from one week ago when Reddick’s Las Vegas race ended in a bizarre rollover crash through the infield grass. Seven days later, he’s secured the second of four coveted spots in the finale. Reddick has never placed higher than sixth in the Cup standings, but he is now guaranteed to finish no worse than fourth in 2024.