By David Morgan, Associate Editor
CONCORD, N.C. – Survive and advance.
Tyler Reddick’s run through the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs nearly went up in smoke, but the regular season champion was not going to go down without a fight.
After starting on the outside pole, the driver of the No. 45 23XI Racing Toyota went on to win the first stage, but after finding himself mired back in traffic after pitting at the end of the stage, things were about to take a drastic turn.
Heading into notorious Turn 7 on Lap 31, Reddick carried too much speed into the hairpin corner and when he got on the brakes, his car was practically out of control as he slid in with a head of steam, slamming into team owner Denny Hamlin before also making contact with Austin Dillon, who had also spun in that same corner.
Reddick would drop to 37th as a result of the incident and when the caution flag flew a handful of laps later, he was able to bring his car to the attention of his crew so they could get their first look at the damage and work up a game plan to get him back to a raceable condition.
The team determined the right-rear toe link needed to be fixed, so they were able to get that changed and get him back on track without falling any further behind than he already was.
Under the final caution, the call was made by crew chief Billy Scott to bring Reddick to pit road for fresh tires and let him go out and earn his spot in the next round of the Playoffs over the final 26 laps.
Starting the final run to the finish in 26th place as Logano ran in the top-five, Reddick found himself 13 points back, with plenty of spots to gain in front of him.
Lap by lap, position by position, Reddick started to claw his way forward, picking away at Logano’s points advantage.
With 20 laps remaining, that gap had fallen to just six points.
With 12 laps to go, he pulled even with Logano in the standings.
And then when the field reached the 10 to go mark, Reddick had finally eclipsed Logano in the standings and started to open up a positive gap of his own.
From there, he continued his march forward, eventually climbing as high as 11th place at the finish to Logano’s eighth-place result, cementing a final four-point margin in the points to deliver his team into the Round of 8 in the Playoffs.
Fist pumps and high fives ensued atop the No. 45 pit box, with Reddick greeted by team owners Denny Hamlin and Michael Jordan after climbing from his car on pit…
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