Reddick Survives at Texas!

The AutoTrader EchoPark Automotive 500 at Texas Motor Speedway was not a good look for NASCAR. Between tire failures, inconsistent officiating, and the difficulty to pass, there wasn’t much to be excited for. However, there was a lot that went down- for better or worse. Let’s recap all the action!

Brad Keselowski led the field to green and led the first handful of laps. Eventually, the car lost its handling and became very loose. He fell back until the first round of stops where he got caught for speeding and stuck in the back of the pack. The first caution was caused by Martin Truex Jr. spinning off of four and making slight contact with the outside wall.

The next caution involved Kyle Busch having a pretty big wreck in turn four. This would be his third DNF in four races. His time at Joe Gibbs Racing appears to be coming to a less than a glamorous end, as in six races time, he is a driver for Richard Childress Racing. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Ty Dillon got together to cause the next caution, but both continued. 

Then around lap 80, both Christopher Bell and Cole Custer both lost tires in turn one. Bell continued, but Custer would be out of the race. Alex Bowman then had a spin a few laps later in turn four and sustained serious damage. Bowman’s caution would create a shootout for the stage win, and Kyle Larson made an aggressive move on Denny Hamlin to get the bonus point. Hamlin was less than thrilled with the move, but both drivers were able to continue.

Stage two kicked off with Stenhouse leading the field to green. But it wasn’t long until Harrison Burton took the lead in a year that has been a sharp learning curve. About 30 laps into stage two, Christopher Bell had another issue in turn four, this time making more serious contact and obtaining significant damage. During the stops, Harrison Burton’s team had a fire and lost many positions. 

Around 60 laps into stage two, Cody Ware had a massive accident in turn four. He then went flying towards the pit wall, just narrowly missing the pit road gap. He gingerly got out of his car and was carted away on a stretcher. Cody Ware suffered no broken bones in the crash and did not sustain a concussion. He has some minor ankle discomfort but should be able to race next week. 

A few laps later, race leader Chase Elliott had a major incident in, you guessed it, turn four. This led to some major damage and fire. This took him out of the race. Then last week’s winner Chris(topher) Buescher spun off of four but avoided any contact and continued. Ryan Blaney went on to win stage two.  

But before we could get stage three started, the rain came to the area. NASCAR, out of an abundance of caution, opted to not start the race and throw the red. After a long red flag, Michael McDowell led the field back to green on the restart. 

On lap 243, Chris Buscher had a tire issue in… yes, turn four. This comes after NASCAR allowed teams to adjust air pressures during the red flag. With 80 laps to go, race leader Kevin Harvick had a right rear tire failure, this time going into turn three. Rodney Childers, his crew chief, said there was a direct correlation between how fast you go and when a tire fails. 

About 30 laps later, the race leader Martin Truex Jr. had a tire issue. Denny Hamlin was spun by William Byron under yellow, which led to the two exchanging a few bumps out of frustration. NASCAR opted not to penalize Byron for spinning Hamlin out and relegated Hamlin to where he blended back in after his spin. 

Ricky Stenhouse Jr. led them to the restart, but Tyler Reddick quickly took the lead from him. Eventually, Stenhouse spun out, leading Austin Cindric to spin to avoid him on the backstretch. 

On the next restart, Aric Almirola spun out, in turn two after clipping the apron. He made some contact with Ross Chastain that slightly damaged the #1 car’s nose. This meant the next restart would be within 25 laps to go. Tyler Reddick was the leader. 

Reddick eventually went on to lead the last 25 laps and win the race. This meant for the first four races of the Playoffs, we have yet to see a Playoff driver win. Another notable finish was Justin Haley finishing in third. Here is how the points standings look after the first race of the Round of 12:

1. Joey Logano             +30
2. Ross Chastain           +18
3. William Byron.          +17
4. Kyle Larson              +16
5. Ryan Blaney             +15
6. Denny Hamlin          +8
7. Daniel Suarez          +4
8. Chase Elliott            +4
9. Chase Briscoe          -4
10. Austin Cindric          -11
11. Christopher Bell       -29
12. Alex Bowman.         -30

The next race will be the YellaWood 500 at Talladega Superspeedway on October 2. I’m not sure there can be any more carnage than tonight, but who knows!