The regular season champion faced a challenging race, nearly seeing his playoff hopes slip away at Charlotte Motor Speedway’s reconfigured Turn 7.
Tyler Reddick, who won the first stage by staying out, restarted deep in the pack for Stage 2. As Austin Dillon spun in the tight Turn 7 just ahead, Reddick, entering the corner too quickly, lost control. He collided with fellow Toyota driver and car owner Denny Hamlin, causing the No. 45 23XI Racing Toyota to lift off the ground and damage a toelink.
“Yeah, I thought I was gonna flip,” Reddick recalled post-race. “I think I was behind the No. 19 [Martin Truex Jr.] and just trying to make a move to the inside. I got past him — then saw the No. 3 [Dillon] spun, and everyone was braking. Of course, me and my boss [Hamlin] get together. Felt like I was gonna do a front flip — this thing was absolutely destroyed. Just real hats off to everybody on this Monster Energy Camry. This thing couldn’t go four seconds of what the pace was. And we just kept working on it and we made it a lot better for Stage 3.”
The team managed to keep Reddick on the lead lap while repairing the rear damage, including replacing the right-rear toelink. He missed out on Stage 2 points, leaving him in a tough spot for the final half of the race.
It appeared that he would be competing with Chase Elliott for the final transfer spot, but Elliott gained ground as the Hendrick Motorsports driver climbed through the field. When Austin Dillon lost a wheel late in the race, it set up a final restart with 26 laps remaining.
**The Final Push**
Reddick’s crew chief, Bill Scott, made a bold call, opting for fresh tires over track position, resulting in a restart in 26th place, 14 points behind Joey Logano. However, Logano, running inside the top-five, had little room to improve his position with points being tight.
Adding to Logano’s challenges, road course specialists A.J. Allmendinger and Shane van Gisbergen, with fresher tires, overtook him, pushing him toward the back end of the top ten.
Meanwhile, Reddick made a rapid recovery, nearly spinning out with 20 laps left but instead colliding with Daniel Hemric in the same corner where he had earlier crashed. This time, Reddick managed to continue without significant damage. His charge continued, and on Lap 100 of 109, he passed Hamlin cleanly, moving above the cut-line with just nine laps remaining.
Reddick ultimately climbed from 26th to 11th place, while Logano fell to eighth. Reddick advanced to the next playoff round by a slim margin of four points, eliminating the two-time Cup champion.
“It’s tough, but you just got to stay calm, stay focused,” Reddick said. “In those moments, it’s so easy to lose track of what you can control. Either way, I was going to drive the car as fast as I could. It just worked out for us. This thing was able to get back up through the field and get us to the good side of the NASCAR cut-line.”
23XI Racing co-owner Michael Jordan, alongside Hamlin, congratulated Reddick for his resilient drive and his advancement in the playoffs.
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