Tyler Reddick was a man of few words after finishing third Sunday night at Nashville Superspeedway.
Reddick and his 23XI Racing team were in a position to win the Ally 400 by being among the safest on fuel mileage. The team pitted for the final time before the first overtime attempt, and Reddick was back inside the top 10 by the time the race went into its fifth and final restart.
He was third in the outside lane, sixth position, at the green and was running fourth when the field came off Turn 2 with two laps to go and took a run in the outside lane to second place coming through Turn 4.
It was Joey Logano and Reddick going into Turn 1 at the white flag. The No. 45 again went for the high lane, but Logano blocked the run, putting the 23XI car into defensive mode with Zane Smith down the backstretch.
[lawrence-auto-related count=3 category=1428]
Logano blocked another run on the high side from Reddick in Turns 3 and 4, which was enough to propel him to the finish. Smith then nipped Reddick in a side-by-side battle at the checkered flag for the runner-up spot.
“Everything,” Reddick told NBC Sports about what he would have done different on the last lap. “It’s pretty disappointing.”
The disappointment and frustration were evident. When asked how he was handling the emotions, he replied, “I’m trying my best, but it’s tough. I’m trying to keep cool at the moment; I’m really upset about how that ended.”
Reddick led 16 laps and earned his first top-three finish since winning at Talladega Superspeedway (April 21). It was also his fifth top-10 finish in the last six races.
But he wanted no part in any of the silver linings.
“No,” Reddick said. “All the good cars ran out of fuel and we were in position to pass the No. 22 (Logano), who hadn’t been good all day long and didn’t get the job done.”