Tyler Reddick survives to advance to Round of 8

CONCORD, N.C. — Tyler Reddick saw his season flash before his eyes several times Sunday, but was able to fight his way through to the Round of 8, keeping his championship hopes alive.

Reddick started the Bank of America Roval 400 with his No. 45 Toyota on the front row alongside Shane van Gisbergen’s No. 16 Chevrolet. That gave Reddick the track position he needed to stay out and win the first stage.

The 10 stage points would be massive down the road when things went wrong — and went wrong quickly. 

Early on in the second stage, Reddick dove in turn seven as other drivers slowed down for Austin Dillon spinning and stopping on track. Reddick dove in and made hard contact with Denny Hamlin that sent the No. 45 car airborne in turn seven. Then, of course, Reddick had to stop for Dillon.

“Yeah, I thought I was going to flip, but I think I was behind the 19 (Martin Truex Jr.) – trying to work the move to the inside. I got clear of him – I saw the 3 (Austin Dillon) spun and everyone on the binders coming to a stop, and of course, me and my boss (Denny Hamlin) get together. It was like I was going to do a front flip,” Reddick said.

In all, Reddick lost 13 spots. Lucky for him, but not for playoff competitor Chase Briscoe who had a tire issue, Reddick caught a caution. During that caution, Reddick’s team fixed the toe link and only lost a lap. It was a huge break that saved his season.

Using the second stage break, they worked on the car even more. As they headed into the final stage, Reddick found himself below the cutline with plenty of work to do. At one point, the battle was between Reddick and Chase Elliott. They ran nose-to-tail at the start of the stage after Elliott snagged stage points in stage two.

When Elliott rallied back into the top-five, Tyler Reddick had to take down Joey Logano to get into the next round. Reddick showed speed, going from 24th to 18th. He still needed more so crew chief Billy Scott called him in for fresh tires with 28 laps to go.

Reddick restarted 26th and slowly climbed his way through the field from the lap 83 restart.

While coming through the field, Reddick had another moment that saved his season. He slid into turn seven and sacrificed Daniel Hemric’s car, which kept his No.45 car from spinning in turn seven. Meanwhile, Hemric spun and fell abck.

Reddick made up 15 positions in all, finishing 11th, to outpoint Logano and steal the final playoff spot from the two-time NASCAR Cup Series champion by four points.

“This thing [the car] was absolutely destroyed. Huge props to everyone on this Monster Energy Toyota Camry. This thing couldn’t go within four seconds of what the pace was, and we just kept working on it. We were a lot better in stage three. This is how this place can be sometimes, but it is really nice to pull this off,” Reddick said.

Following post-race tech inspection, it worked out for both Logano and Reddick, as NASCAR disqualified Alex Bowman – putting Logano in as well.

Next weekend’s Round of 8 opener at Las Vegas Motor Speedway could be a huge opportunity for Tyler Reddick to secure a Championship Four spot. Reddick missed winning at LVMS in the spring by less than a car length to Kyle Larson.

A half car length closer could be huge in next Sunday’s South Point 400 at LVMS (2:30 p.m. ET; NBC, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).