Tyler Reddick took the tongue-lashing Chris Buescher gave him on pit road Sunday at Darlington Raceway after the two made contact with 10 laps to go in the Goodyear 400.
Reddick made, in his own words, an aggressive move when he drove under Buescher going into Turns 3 and 4, washed up the track and collided with the No. 17. It cost both drivers the opportunity to win the race. The pole-sitting and dominant Reddick fell off the pace in the No. 45 Toyota with a flat right-side tire down the frontstretch and finished 32nd.
“I completely understand where he is coming from,” Reddick said. “He was running the top, running his own race, running his own line to keep me at bay. I made a really aggressive move and was hoping I was going to clear him. When I realized I wasn’t going to, I tried to check up to not slide up into him, but yeah, I wish I wouldn’t have done that. I completely understand why he is that mad. He did nothing wrong.
“[I was] just trying to win the race, and to take myself out – that’s one thing – I can live with that, but just disappointed it played out the way that it did, and I took him out of the race as well. That was not the goal there. If I was going to go for it, I was hoping I was going to clear him. If I hit the wall, pop a tire – I take myself out, I can live with that – it’s tough to walk away knowing I used someone up and took away their chance of winning the race — [someone] that has raced me really cleanly since he came in the Cup Series. Just have to work on that and try to make some better decisions going forward.”
[lawrence-auto-related count=3 category=1428]
Reddick led a race-high 174 laps and won the second stage, but he became the chaser after losing the lead when Brad Keselowski collided with him off Turn 4 with 30 laps to go. That incident opened the door for Buescher to make it three-wide down the frontstretch and clear both Keselowski and Reddick.
On pit road afterward, Buescher, who had removed his helmet, confronted Reddick. The latter had climbed from his car but was still removing his protective equipment when Buescher expressed his frustration. The RFK driver turned away before Reddick put a hand on his shoulder, apologized, and explained he tried to back out when he knew he wouldn’t complete the pass.
“I [screwed] up,” Reddick could be heard saying.
Reddick also told Buescher he didn’t care about his 23XI Racing car, and the last thing he wanted to do was wreck the RFK Racing driver. But a still frustrated Buescher continued to vent to Reddick, which included how they had never had problems, he needs Reddick to be better, and because Buescher’s team doesn’t have a win, it means more to him.
“Honestly, I think it went probably as good as it could have,” Reddick said of the conversation. “Everything he said was accurate, to be honest. He raced me respectfully and I got really aggressive.”