Certainly, the FireKeepers Casino 400 at Michigan International Speedway was not lacking in action or drama. 23XI Racing’s Tyler Reddick claimed his second victory of the season — seventh of his career — while the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series playoff standings shifted dramatically yet again in Monday’s weather-delayed double-overtime finish to the race.
Reddick’s No. 45 Toyota pulled away from William Byron’s No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet on the second overtime restart — holding off Byron and Joe Gibbs Racing’s Ty Gibbs to claim the win by a slight 0.168s and break a nine-race winning streak at the historic two-mile track for Ford.
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“Just great teammate and a fantastic push from Ty Gibbs, the Toyota racing family tries to take care of each other,” said Reddick, who immediately dedicated his win to longtime family friend and late model racing legend Scott Bloomquist, who was killed in a plane accident this week.
“The last couple days have been tough, but this really helps. This win goes to him [Bloomquist] and his family and friends, and all that meant a lot to him. It’s always tough when someone you care about passes away.
“We did a really good job today,” he said of the win. “I think we were the last car on the lead lap starting stage three today so good effort for us.”
Byron, a three-race winner and the 2024 Daytona 500 champion, second-guessed the decision to start his Chevrolet alongside Reddick on the high-side of the front row on that final restart after starting on the bottom lane previously.
“I will re-live that restart and what lane to choose overnight for sure,” Byron said. “It seems like always as the leader you want to take the top, but I’ve gotten beat twice here by the bottom and I had the lead on the bottom barely over him.
“But he had a better car than us — he was a little bit faster. Second sucks, but really proud of the effort. I feel like we’ve been trying to put weeks together like this and this is a really good step.”
Richard Childress Racing’s Kyle Busch finished fourth and led 24 laps in the race, one of his better showings of the season. The two-time series champion still sits more than 100 points out of the playoff standings and is trying to extend a record 19-year winning streak in the series but Monday’s showing marks his second consecutive top-five finish – answering a fourth-place at Richmond last week.
Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing teammates, owner-driver Brad Keselowski and Chris Buescher were fifth and sixth place — the top finishing Fords. Keselowski was hoping to win at his home-state track for the first time in 28 starts there. For Buescher that sixth-place finish may have felt a little like a win after two days of dramatic ups and downs.
It improved his place in the championship standings to 15th out of the 16-drivers currently playoff eligible — now 16 points up on the cutoff line. Trackhouse Racing’s Ross Chastain moved into the 16th and final position — only a single point ahead of Reddick’s 23XI Racing’s Bubba Wallace.
Chastain, who brought out a caution flag in the first overtime, had been 12 points to the good inside the Playoff standings taking the first overtime green flag.
It was indicative of the non-stop action from Sunday’s green flag and red flags to Monday’s checkers. The race resumed Monday on lap 52 and so did the aggression with 16 different race leaders and 26 lead changes in all.
On Sunday, polesitter, Joe Gibbs Racing’s Denny Hamlin spun out while trying to pass Wallace for the lead early. His No. 11 JGR Toyota was largely undamaged despite a slide through the infield grass and he ultimately battled his way back up through the field Monday to secure an impressive ninth-place finish.
Hendrick Motorsports’ Kyle Larson, who led the NASCAR Cup Series championship points standings coming into the race, was sidelined early after triggering a seven-car accident on lap 116 after misjudging a pass on Wallace as well.
The defending Michigan winner Buescher, Chase Briscoe, Christopher Bell, Joey Logano and Todd Gilliland were all involved in the incident in varying degrees. Although Larson, Bell, Logano and Gilliland’s cars were sidelined, Buescher’s Mustang was able to continue with an assortment of challenges. His team called him in for two new tires on the final caution period and he was able to race back to that sixth-place finish.
Larson’s miscue had a major effect on the regular season championship with race winner Reddick now taking the lead by 10 points over Chase Elliott, who led laps but finished 15th.
Hamlin’s race recovery moves him into third place, 28 points back and Larson has dropped to fourth place, 32 points behind Reddick with only two races remaining to decide who will earn the regular season title and receive that all-important 15-point playoff bonus.
“Had an extremely fast car so hate I screwed that up for our team as well the others out there that got collected in it,” said Larson, driver of the No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet. “Just trying to get what I could, get some stage points and just lost it.”
Rookie Zane Smith finished seventh, followed by Daniel Suarez, Hamlin and rookie Carson Hocevar.
The NASCAR Cup Series returns to competition in Saturday night’s Coke Zero Sugar 400 at Daytona International Speedway (7:30pm ET, NBC, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). Buescher is the defending race winner.