Tyler Reddick is racing for the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series title.
Reddick made an incredible last-lap pass of Ryan Blaney to win his way into the the final four. Reddick was third on the white flag lap on older tires than the two drivers ahead of him and got past Denny Hamlin for second in Turns 1 and 2. And then he ripped the fence in Turns 3 and 4 to get past Blaney for the win.
“Little kid drove his ass off, I’m proud of him,” Reddick’s 23XI Racing team owner Michael Jordan said after the race.
Blaney left the high line open for Reddick in the final two corners and clearly didn’t expect him to get as much of a run up there as he did. Blaney said he thought he drove hard into Turn 3 himself, but Reddick just shot right past him.
“Had a great shot to win, didn’t have a very good last lap,” the 2023 Cup Series champ said.
Reddick was over a half-second faster than Blaney on the final lap and nearly eight tenths of a second faster than Hamlin.
Hamlin took the lead on the race’s final restart but Blaney got past him on the penultimate lap. That brought Reddick into play for the final lap, as he was able to overcome the tire disadvantage.
Reddick’s chances for a win looked to be gone until Kyle Larson brought out the caution with 13 laps to go when he tried to pass Blaney for the lead. Blaney got pinned behind the lapped Austin Dillon down the backstretch and then used Dillon as a pick of sorts entering Turn 3. Larson tried to split the two and his car snapped loose and he spun.
Reddick had just pitted before Larson’s spin. He stayed out as long as possible on his previous tank of fuel in the hopes of getting a caution before he pitted from the lead. He had just unlapped himself on fresh tires before Larson’s spin and stayed out on track while the leaders pitted for fresh tires themselves under the caution.
Larson dropped to ninth on that final cycle of pit stops as his team had to make a couple necessary adjustments to the car following his spin. He dropped to 13th over the final two laps.
Larson’s spin was the second caution he caused on Sunday. The first came in the second stage when he cut a tire and hit the wall.
Christopher Bell finished fourth ahead of Chase Elliott in fifth.
How the points stack up
1. Joey Logano (won at Las Vegas)
2. Tyler Reddick (won at Homestead)
3. Christopher Bell (+29 to Kyle Larson)
4. William Byron (+7)
5. Kyle Larson (-7 to Byron)
6. Denny Hamlin (-18)
7. Ryan Blaney (-38)
8. Chase Elliott (-43)
There are two spots in the final four at Phoenix available heading into Martinsville. Christopher Bell isn’t guaranteed a spot in the final four, but he’s comfortably ahead of Larson and everyone else. Even if a driver behind him in the standings won, it’d take a really bad day to knock Bell out of the final four.
Unless Blaney or Elliott win the race, Byron, Larson and Hamlin appear to be racing for one spot. Larson won at Martinsville in 2023, Byron has two victories in the last three seasons at the half-mile track and Hamlin has five wins at Martinsville over the course of his career.
Race results
1. Tyler Reddick
2. Ryan Blaney
3. Denny Hamlin
4. Christopher Bell
5. Chase Elliott
6. William Byron
7. Alex Bowman
8. AJ Allmendinger
9. Carson However
10. Ryan Preece
11. Josh Berry
12. Chase Briscoe
13. Kyle Larson
14. Michael McDowell
15. Chris Buescher
16. Daniel Suarez
17. Brad Keselowski
18. Bubba Wallace
19. Noah Gragson
20. Todd Gilliland
21. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
22. Erik Jones
23. Martin Truex Jr.
24. Harrison Burton
25. Austin Dillon
26. John Hunter Nemechek
27. Austin Cindric
28. Joey Logano
29. Daniel Henric
30. Zane Smith
31. Kyle Busch
32. Kaz Grala
33. Ross Chastain
34. Justin Haley
35. Corey LaJoie
36. Ty Gibbs
37. Chad Finchum
38. JJ Yeley
