For the sixth time this year, and the first time in six months, Tyler Reddick returned to Victory Lane with a dramatic NASCAR Cup Series win at Phoenix Raceway.
He threaded the needle on the final restart, slicing up the middle to take second. He then ran down Chase Briscoe, using his fresh right-sides to take control of the race.
Reddick was hyped up after that win, and climbed the fence before celebrating with the fans.
“That’s way too long,” said Reddick on the wait between victories. “Man, the way we worked there, I mean, thinking of Phoenix, we wanted to be a lot better when we came back here. I think we checked that box.
“For us, this group never lost motivation, never lost the drive to keep searching and keep trying to find ways to make ourselves better, just be an all-around better team.
“I don’t know, something about today. It didn’t really start right. Just something about today, I had a really good feeling. Practice was amazing. Yeah, we’re back to Victory Lane. First victory for Rockstar Energy, too.”
Ryan Blaney finished second, Chase Elliott third, Christopher Bell fourth, and Corey Heim fifth. Joey Logano, Daniel Suarez, Chase Briscoe, Ross Chastain, and Ty Gibbs filled out the rest of the top ten.
The championship picture has tightened substantially after Kyle Larson crashed out of the race with a tire failure. He still leads the standings, but just 56 points cover the top seven drivers.
Bell is 5pts behind Larson, Briscoe is 24pts back, and Denny Hamlin had a rough day but still gained ground to be 31pts adrift of the lead. Blaney is -40pts and Logano is -44pts as both Penske drivers gained a ton of ground. With the victory, Reddick is 56pts out.
Stage 1
Blaney controlled the race from pole position, and while Larson made some quick headway, he stalled out in 17th.
The first incident of the race involved Michael McDowell and Riley Herbst. After making contact on the backstretch, Herbst punted McDowell into Turn 3 and wrecked both cars.
The running order suddenly changed as Hamlin, Byron, Elliott, and Larson all made two-tire calls. Logano was the top-running driver with four fresh tires in fourth, while Blaney fell back to eighth on the same strategy due to a slow stop.
It was a ten-lap dash to end Stage 1, and as Hamlin struggled to clear Byron, Logano passed them both.
Logano went on to win Stage 1 over Hamlin, Bell, Blaney, Briscoe, Byron, Elliott, Chastain, Reddick, Berry.
As for Larson, he slipped all the way back outside the top 20, struggling mightily as the track position grab did not work out.
Stage 2
On pit road during the stage break, Briscoe had to briefly stop to avoid a collision with Allmendinger, then Z. Smith got hit with a penalty for dragging his fuel can down pit road.
Several teams opted for two tires, with Logano maintaining the lead. Blaney was the first driver to take four fresh tires back in ninth.
On the restart that followed, Bell moved into the lead while Hamlin got hit battling the mid-field and dropped deeper into the pack, near Larson.
There were lots of tense battles, including a moment where Suarez booted Van Gisbergen out of the way, which the Kiwi repaid later in the run. Byron slipped up into the wall, but everything stayed green as pit stops got underway.
Keselowski went for a spin after running into the back of Zilisch at the pit entry, and though he was sitting sideways in the pits, there was no caution as he got back rolling.
Bell, who pitted early in the sequence, suddenly had an eight-second lead as things cycled through but Logano quickly began to chip away at it.
Jones and T. Dillon suffered flat tires, but it was A. Dillon’s flat tire that finally triggered a yellow as he crashed into the wall.
During this yellow, Larson was among several drivers who took the opportunity to take the wave-around and return to the lead lap.
Logano barely won the race off pit road, and held the lead on the restart as Berry and Cindric slammed doors behind him.
The next flat tire was for Nemechek, but he made it back to the pits without issue.
Logano went on to win Stage 2 as well, followed by Briscoe, Bell, Berry, Wallace, Blaney, Reddick, Hamlin, Gilliland, and Elliott.
The wave-around gamble worked out for Larson, getting his lap back at the end of the stage.
Stage 3
Logano held the lead off pit road, while Blaney and Bell lost ground due to messy stops. In the next run, Logano was still in control but a new player appeared to challenge him as Wallace closed the gap.
Before they could battle it out, a sudden tire issue for Hamlin sent the No. 11 skating across the track. He kept it out of the wall and dove to pit road, where he was hit with a speeding penalty.
Soon after, Cody Ware lost a tire and crashed into the wall, triggering a caution. Due to the speeding penalty, Hamlin was now trapped a lap down.
Wallace took the lead on pit road as Logano dropped all the way down to fifth. Suarez, who was running inside the top ten, got hit with a speeding penalty and was sent to the rear.
Wallace held the lead over Briscoe and Reddick, never letting them get too close. Logano was reporting voltage issues and there were some concerns about the alternator on the No. 22 Ford.
With 50 laps to go, Larson made the call to pit for tires, and was already running outside the top 20. Logano and Blaney were the first among the front-runners to dive down pit road.
Wallace pitted from the lead with 44 laps to go, locking up a bit at the pit entry. Briscoe pitted from the lead with 40 to go, giving the lead to Gibbs. He pitted a couple of laps later, handing the lead back to Wallace, with teammate Reddick about a second behind.
T. Dillon and Nemechek both suffered flat tires, but neither caused a caution. Not long after, championship leader Larson suddenly blew a tire on entry to Turn 1 and slammed the wall.
Briscoe, Elliott, and Gibbs vaulted to the front of the field after choosing to stay out. Reddick, Logano, Blaney, and Bell led those with a two-tire call.
As for Wallace, he fell from the lead to ninth as he opted for four fresh tires, but got caught speeding and was sent to the rear of the field.
The caution was extended several laps, as the order wasn’t correct at the time of the choose and the field had to do it all over again.
Finally, the green flag flew with 19 laps to go. Briscoe had the lead, but Reddick squeezed up the middle to suddenly be right behind him with a tire advantage. He quickly moved into the lead and never looked back.
Blaney was on the same tire strategy, but he couldn’t make up the ground to challenge Reddick, crossed the finish line eight tenths behind the race winner.
RACE
All Stats
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