Reddick impresses at Homestead with best career Cup Series finish

For Tyler Reddick, Homestead-Miami Speedway is not only where Reddick clinched his two NASCAR Xfinity Series titles in 2018 and 2019, but it is now where his best Cup Series finish, to date, has come at.

Reddick finished fourth in Sunday’s Dixie Vodka 400 at Homestead-Miami after earning points in both stages and leading three laps in the 267-lap race.

Reddick ran in the top five for much of the night, battling no. 9 Chase Elliott, no. 12 Ryan Blaney and no. 11 Denny Hamlin who all ran in the top 5 for much of the race.

“It was just a struggle to figure out what lane would be better for me to get the lead and hold it but unfortunately, we just got a little too tight there to get all that we could get through turn 1 to make the fence,” Reddick said. “All in all, solid effort gripping the fence with three of the best and somehow we kept it out of the wall. It was a good, hard-fought battle.”

Although he started outside of the top 15, in 24th, it only took two laps for the two-time Xfinity Series champion to reach the top 15. Reddick eventually finished third in stage 1.

Reddick backed up his stage 1 performance with a second place in stage 2, but not before a daring slide job pass on no. 12 Ryan Blaney to get ahead of him near the end of the stage.

Blaney and Reddick battled again as the two of them were within a second of the leader and racing for third with under 15 laps to go, but Reddick fell back and settled for fourth.

Reddick’s fourth-place finish bested his previous career-best of seventh, which came at Darlington in May 17’s The Real Heroes 400 at Darlington.

Reddick earned 17 stage points in the race which was second only to race winner no. 11 Denny Hamlin.

Reddick leads the rookie of the year points by 70 points over no. 38 John Hunter Nemechek.

Heading into next Sunday (June 21)’s GEICO 500 at Talladega Superspeedway (3:30 p.m. EST; TV: FOX; Radio: MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio), Reddick is 17th in points, two points behind teammate no. 3 Austin Dillon, in 16th, who currently holds the final Playoff spot.

SOURCES:
NASCAR
Racing-Reference.Info