Tag: Tyler Reddick

Michigan Cup race remainder postponed to noon ET Monday

The remainder of Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series race at Michigan International Speedway has been postponed until noon ET Monday due to persistent rain and diminishing daylight. Rain delayed the start of the FireKeepers Casino 400 by 1h43m after showers …

The remainder of Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series race at Michigan International Speedway has been postponed until noon ET Monday due to persistent rain and diminishing daylight.

Rain delayed the start of the FireKeepers Casino 400 by 1h43m after showers fell during pace laps. The field managed to complete 74 of the scheduled 200 laps, but additional showers descended upon the two-mile oval and forced officials to halt the event.

USA Network will carry coverage of the resumed race, with MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio handling the radio broadcast. Fans can also view it on the NBC Sports App.

Parking lots will open at 10:30 a.m. ET for fans returning to the track, with gates to open at 11 a.m. ET.

Tyler Reddick is scored as the leader of the race ahead of Alex Bowman, Kyle Larson, Martin Truex Jr. and Erik Jones. Truex has led a race-high 30 laps and won Stage 1.

Completing the top 10 are Austin Cindric, Brad Keselowski, Austin Dillon, Bubba Wallace and Denny Hamlin.

Sunday’s opening stint was an eventful one, involving crashes for Kyle Busch, Chase Elliott, William Byron, Christopher Bell and Josh Berry. Busch, Elliott, Byron and Berry are out of the race.

Reddick wins off-the-wall pole at Richmond

Tyler Reddick bounced off the wall in the first round of NASCAR Cup Series qualifying at Richmond Raceway before coming back in the second round to earn the pole for Sunday’s Cook Out 400. Reddick claimed the top spot with a lap of 113.749 mph …

Tyler Reddick bounced off the wall in the first round of NASCAR Cup Series qualifying at Richmond Raceway before coming back in the second round to earn the pole for Sunday’s Cook Out 400.

Reddick claimed the top spot with a lap of 113.749 mph (23.749 seconds). It is Reddick’s first pole win of the season and first at Richmond.

The 23XI Racing driver hit the wall on the frontstretch coming to finish his lap in the first round of qualifying. Reddick ran out of room coming off Turn 4 but didn’t lift, and the lap advanced him into the final round.

Although there was damage to the right rear and right front of his Toyota, it didn’t keep Reddick from the final round of qualifying. Reddick is hopeful the team will not need to make significant repairs and force him to start at the rear of the field.

Kyle Busch qualified second at 113.636 mph. Virginia native Denny Hamlin qualified third at 113.536 mph.

Chase Elliott qualified fourth at 113.503 mph. Not only is it Elliott’s best qualifying effort of the season, but the first time the No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet will start inside the top five.

Bubba Wallace was fifth at 113.374 mph and William Byron sixth at 113.369 mph. Ty Gibbs qualified seventh at 113.355 mph. Kevin Harvick, the defending race winner, qualified eighth. Harvick’s lap was 113.246 mph.

Ricky Stenhouse Jr. qualified ninth at 112.843 mph and Martin Truex Jr. qualified 10th at 112.622 mph.

Noah Gragson earned a 12th-place starting position in the No. 42 Chevrolet. It is just the second time Gragson will start inside the top-15.

Michael McDowell, who is on the Cup Series playoff grid bubble, qualified 18th. BJ McLeod qualified 21st in his Live Fast Motorsports Ford.

In his first Cup Series qualifying effort, Derek Kraus was 36th fastest in the No. 16 Kaulig Racing Chevrolet. AJ Allmendinger was going to start at the rear of the field anyway because he will be in the car Sunday after competing in the Xfinity Series.

RESULTS

Dillon and Reddick remain at odds over Pocono contact

Austin Dillon and Tyler Reddick differed on their contact Sunday at Pocono Raceway, after which Dillon threw his helmet at his former teammate. The two made contact on lap 42 going into Turn 1 when Reddick hit Dillon in the left rear. Dillon’s No. 3 …

Austin Dillon and Tyler Reddick differed on their contact Sunday at Pocono Raceway, after which Dillon threw his helmet at his former teammate.

The two made contact on lap 42 going into Turn 1 when Reddick hit Dillon in the left rear. Dillon’s No. 3 Chevrolet slammed the outside wall and then slid down the track and to a stop in the grass.

“I thought I was doing the right thing going into the middle lane of the track,” Dillon said. “I wasn’t on the bottom lane, I was going to hold the middle. He drove up into me from the bottom lane. I just heard one interview where (Dale Earnhardt) Jr. thought I started coming down (into) the corner, and that’s kind of natural to enter the corner that way.

“I don’t know (but) I’m (expletive) about it because, from my perspective, I couldn’t see him. I know I was three-wide, but my left front is in front of him. That’s the bigger thing. I’m in front of him, so I didn’t come down egregiously. He drove in the corner deep enough to try and get me back, to get his right front in front of my left front. That was not possible with how I drove in the corner, and he wiped me out at the fastest part of the track.”

After climbing out of his car under his own power, Dillon threw his helmet at Reddick when the field drove back by the scene.

“I was just trying to hit him,” Dillon said. “I’m (expletive) I didn’t lead it; they were going probably 65mph. If I was started at the front of the car, I probably would have got him in the door.”

Reddick, who departed Richard Childress Racing to join 23XI Racing this season, denied there was anything intentional at play. In acknowledging he knew Dillon didn’t have a lot of room, Reddick wasn’t trying to make a squeeze move or run him up the racetrack.

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In the immediate aftermath of the race, Reddick only had the replay to go by. However, he plans on looking at SMT data to get a better understanding of what happened even as he said by the time he realized what Dillon was doing, he was going for the brake pedal.

“The biggest thing is I’m glad he’s OK because that’s a big hit,” Reddick said. “But we’re three wide, I’m trying to make it into the corner and I had one plan of approach and he had another, and unfortunately, just made contact. We hadn’t really had any moments today or anything really to put us in a spot where we would intentionally run into each other.”

Reddick was also ready for the helmet throw. He saw Dillon wind up and go for it but wasn’t sure where the helmet landed.

“I thought I missed it,” Reddick said. “It doesn’t count then if it hit the ground first.”

Reddick finished second. Dillon left Pocono with his seventh DNF of the season.

“I’m not really (mad) about (the hit), I’m just (mad) about (how) it hasn’t been a great season for us,” Dillon said. “We’re having a pretty solid run, minding our own. He knows why he got to that position which is because the No. 6 (Brad Keselowski) got tight off the corner and he got a run, tried to split us three wide, and we wrecked into Turn 1.”

Reddick and 23XI have speed, but still searching for execution

Tyler Reddick might have one of the fastest cars in the NASCAR Cup Series, but he and his 23XI Racing team haven’t done themselves any favors in trying to show it. “That’s pretty much it,” Reddick said Saturday about the team’s lack of execution in …

Tyler Reddick might have one of the fastest cars in the NASCAR Cup Series, but he and his 23XI Racing team haven’t done themselves any favors in trying to show it.

“That’s pretty much it,” Reddick said Saturday about the team’s lack of execution in recent weeks. “We’ve got plenty of speed, it’s just we got to have clean races. It’s really difficult in this day and age of this Cup (Series) racing to have mistakes, rebound from it and still win.

“We haven’t had many of those this year, and that’s basically what we have to do.”

Reddick started and finished sixth last weekend in New Hampshire. It was his first top-10 finish since late May at Charlotte Motor Speedway. But it wasn’t a clean top-10 finish in New Hampshire as Reddick was called or speeding on pit road at the end of the first stage.

Some of the other mistakes or issues the No. 45 team has made in recent weeks:

Atlanta: pit crew called for being over the wall too soon.

Chicago: Reddick goes into the Turn 6 tire barriers with 18 laps to go and gets stuck.

Nashville: Reddick spins onto pit road as the right-rear wheel comes off.

Sonoma: suffered a flat left-front tire with 14 laps to go.

St. Louis: Reddick gets spun in Turn 1 on lap two. Explodes a brake rotor with 66 laps to go.

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He led eight laps in Chicago before nosing into the tire barriers, led 33 laps in Nashville and four laps in St. Louis.

Before his sixth-place finish in New Hampshire, Reddick had finished 27th or worse in the previous five races. And those results followed qualifying efforts of ninth (St. Louis), second (Sonoma), second (Nashville), second (Chicago), and 12th (Atlanta).

With six races to go before the postseason starts, Reddick didn’t deny being concerned about the team’s execution. He’s already locked into the postseason with a win from Circuit of The Americas.

“It’s good we can bounce back from so many of these things that happen,” Reddick said. “We’ve pretty much gotten used to unnatural races, so we have to get back to having some boring races where nothing really exciting happens.”

Reddick isn’t immune to making mistakes and has put some of the blame on his shoulders. He apologized over the radio to his team at Atlanta Motor Speedway before the race was called official for weather, saying he had “screwed” them two weeks in a row.

“At the time, I thought the penalty was on me,” Reddick said. “But we still have had a few races where I’ve cost the team and, collectively, we have to get out of that habit. We’re pretty much used to the craziest of things happening and just moving on and trying to get the best finish possible after the fact.

“We have to stop doing that and have normal days. I feel like if we’re fast enough where we don’t even have to give it 100 percent, honestly, we could run top 10, no problem.”

The good news is that Reddick and his team aren’t searching for speed, which is a far tougher task than needing to clean up their execution.

“Correct,” he said. “We’re just searching for ways to get the finishes that we’re deserved with the speed we have.”

Reddick paces mostly smooth sailing Cup practice at Pocono

Tyler Reddick was fastest in NASCAR Cup Series practice at Pocono Raceway with a lap of 168.596mph (53.382s) – his second on track Saturday afternoon. He was quickest over Kyle Busch, who ran 168.483mph. William Byron was third fastest at …

Tyler Reddick was fastest in NASCAR Cup Series practice at Pocono Raceway with a lap of 168.596mph (53.382s) — his second on track Saturday afternoon. He was quickest over Kyle Busch, who ran 168.483mph.

William Byron was third fastest at 168.397mph, Kyle Larson fourth at 168.290mph and Martin Truex Jr. completed the top five at 168.205mph.

Chris Buescher was sixth fastest at 168.130mph. Buescher then went for a single-car spin off Turn 1 but kept his Ford Mustang off the wall — the only incident of practice.

Denny Hamlin was seventh fastest at 167.854mph. Hamlin crossed the finish line first at Pocono last season but, along with now-former teammate Kyle Busch, was later disqualified. It handed the win to Chase Elliott, who was eighth fastest in practice at 167.748mph.

Ty Gibbs was ninth at 167.436mph. Alex Bowman completed the top 10 at 167.408mph.

Gibbs ran the most laps — 19. It was a year ago this weekend at Pocono Raceway when he made his Cup Series debut, filling in for the injured Kurt Busch.

There are 36 drivers entered in the HighPoint.com 400.

William Byron was the fastest in the best 10 consecutive lap averages over Tyler Reddick, Gy Gibbs, Chris Buescher and Denny Hamlin.

Reddick leads Cup field in rare Friday practice at Nashville

Tyler Reddick was fastest in a rare extended Friday practice session for NASCAR Cup Series teams at Nashville Superspeedway. He clocked in at 162.25mph (29.51s) in his 23XI Racing Toyota, running a total of 46 laps. Martin Truex Jr.’s Toyota was …

Tyler Reddick was fastest in a rare extended Friday practice session for NASCAR Cup Series teams at Nashville Superspeedway.

He clocked in at 162.25mph (29.51s) in his 23XI Racing Toyota, running a total of 46 laps.

Martin Truex Jr.’s Toyota was second fastest behind Reddick. Truex’s fastest lap was 161.408mph.

Ross Chastain was third fastest at 161.37mph, Erik Jones fourth at 160.99mph, William Byron fifth at 160.914mph, Bubba Wallace sixth at 160.795mph and Denny Hamlin seventh at 160.763mph.

Chase Elliott, the defending race winner, was eighth fastest in practice with a run of 160.714mph.

Chris Buescher was ninth at 160.66mph and AJ Allmendinger completed the top 10 at 160.585mph.

There was one incident during practice.

Kyle Busch went for a single-car spin off Turn 4 and through the frontstretch grass. He had no contact with the wall and did return to the track to finish practice. Busch was 21st fastest.

Reddick was also fastest in the best 10 consecutive lap average. Chastain, Truex, Byron, and Larson were the rest of the top five in the category.

There are 36 drivers entered in the Ally 400 at Nashville Superspeedway.

NASCAR explains Reddick’s Sonoma penalty

NASCAR appreciated Tyler Reddick not shedding debris around Sonoma Raceway when he suffered a flat tire late in Sunday’s race, but it still had to enforce the rule book. The left-front tire on Reddick’s 23XI Racing Toyota went down coming off Turn …

NASCAR appreciated Tyler Reddick not shedding debris around Sonoma Raceway when he suffered a flat tire late in Sunday’s race, but it still had to enforce the rule book.

The left-front tire on Reddick’s 23XI Racing Toyota went down coming off Turn 11 with 14 laps to go. It was an inopportune time for the issue as Reddick has already passed pit road and would have had to limp his wounded car back around the 1.99-mile course.

Instead, Reddick hooked a right and drove across the ‘island’, which is the center section between the straightaway coming to Turn 11 and the frontstretch. NASCAR penalized Reddick for cutting the course and made him serve a pass-through penalty.

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“Obviously, it changes it time and distance of the race,” NASCAR Cup Series director Brad Moran told SiriusXM NASCAR Radio on Tuesday. “So yes, he did go down pit road and got his tires changed, but came back well ahead of where he would have. We appreciate the fact he didn’t tear stuff up down the racetrack, but unfortunately, we have rules that you cannot shortcut the course, and that was a shortcut back to pit road. He saved about 90% of the racetrack.

“We reviewed it and made sure we were on the same page, but under different circumstances, that could have looked a lot worse. It was heads-up driving by Tyler to do what he did; he probably gained some time even in doing that with the stop and the drive-through. Unfortunately, that one’s in the rule (book), and we would have had to enforce that, and after reviewing that, we made that call.”

Reddick finished 33rd in the Toyota / Save Mart 350. He was one lap off the pace at the finish.

In explaining his move, Reddick told SiriusXM NASCAR Radio earlier in the week that NASCAR officials had told his team he was penalized for missing the commitment line to pit road. Either way, Reddick doesn’t regret the move.

“I thought morally it was the right thing to do,” Reddick said. “I didn’t know who was leading at the time, but I knew there was no way I would have made it around that racetrack had I gone the full course. By the time I got to pit road, I would have gotten in the way of the leaders, and it would have been a real mess.

“I’d do it again, even if I get penalized or penalized worse. I’m not going to ruin someone’s race; especially as it turned out being (Toyota teammate) Martin Truex’s day. I’m really glad we didn’t bring the caution out there by going around the racetrack and potentially changing the outcome for those guys.”

Reddick crew chief ejected after Darlington inspection

Tyler Reddick will be without crew chief Billy Scott this weekend at Darlington Raceway after NASCAR ejected Scott following multiple inspection failures for Reddick’s No. 45 Toyota. Dave Rogers will fill in for Scott during Sunday afternoon’s race. …

Tyler Reddick will be without crew chief Billy Scott this weekend at Darlington Raceway after NASCAR ejected Scott following multiple inspection failures for Reddick’s No. 45 Toyota. Dave Rogers will fill in for Scott during Sunday afternoon’s race.

Reddick’s was one of two NASCAR Cup Series cars that failed pre-race inspection twice Friday. It is at NASCAR’s discretion which team member is ejected based on the infraction, and no details were given about the issue on Reddick’s car. Additional penalties could be announced next week.

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It is the second consecutive week that Reddick’s 23XI Racing car has failed pre-race inspection. Last weekend at Kansas Speedway, his car chief was ejected.

The No. 54 Toyota of Joe Gibbs Racing rookie Ty Gibbs was the other car that failed twice. Gibbs will be without his car chief, Nate Bellows, this weekend for the Goodyear 400.

Both teams also lost pit stall selection. The cars passed inspection on the third time through.

23XI bidding for a unique triple first at Kansas

23XI Racing will attempt NASCAR history this weekend at Kansas Speedway with the No. 45 Toyota. Kurt Busch and Bubba Wallace swept the NASCAR Cup Series races in Kansas last season, and both were driving the No. 45 when they won. Tyler Reddick will …

23XI Racing will attempt NASCAR history this weekend at Kansas Speedway with the No. 45 Toyota.

Kurt Busch and Bubba Wallace swept the NASCAR Cup Series races in Kansas last season, and both were driving the No. 45 when they won. Tyler Reddick will drive the car Sunday afternoon (3 p.m. ET, FS1) as he tries to win the team its third consecutive race at the track.

No car number has won three consecutive races at a racetrack with three different drivers.

“It would be really cool, but all that aside, it’s about coming in here and putting together a good weekend and executing,” Reddick said. “Both cars and both teams, this whole organization is really, really excited and really wants to see what we’ve got a couple of months removed from the last time we were here.

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“Everyone comes in with a lot of confidence, and we need to capitalize on that and get the weekend started on the right foot in practice and qualify well. But certainly, it would be really cool to do that. I know we’ll both be out there giving it everything we’ve got, so as long as one of us gets it done, it’s fine by me.”

Busch won the spring race at Kansas Speedway. Wallace is the most recent winner, capturing his second career win in the series in September. In both races, the No. 45 was one of the fastest in the field.

“It was massive for the team,” Wallace said of his triumph. “The win last year was big for the team, and to complete the sweep was really cool. I thought the 23 car was pretty solid there in the first race, too, and had some troubles that took us out of contention, but to come back and seal the deal in the 45 was just special for our team and being so new. That was our second year, and (we made) the most of it.

“I’m assuming when they all started this, they didn’t really plan on sweeping Kansas races in the second year going. So, I’m just proud to be a part of the process and coming back here, I think all the momentum is on our side.”

Wallace drove the No. 45 in the second Kansas race because Busch had been sidelined in the summer with a concussion. Because Busch’s car was still in the owner championship hunt, 23XI Racing made the decision to put Wallace behind the wheel in its hunt for owner points.

Thoughts of winning aside, Wallace and Reddick are optimistic and eager about the weekend ahead. Kansas is a fast intermediate facility that will make it clear where an organization stands.

“I think it’s going to be exciting,” said Wallace. “Obviously, it feels really good to get back here to Kansas and get back to what we did in the fall. … I’ve seen some talks that Toyota is the top of the topic heading into the weekend, so it’s good. We’re on track to get our ship righted in the right way, so it all starts here.”

Wallace has not had a top-10 finish since Martinsville Speedway three weeks ago. He has two top-10 finishes through 11 races.

Reddick has five top-10 finishes, including a win. Reddick started on the front row in both Kansas Speedway races last year and led laps in both races but finished no better than 30th in those events.

“This is a track that I had a lot of speed last year in both events but couldn’t quite put the whole race together,” Reddick said. “The second race went out with a bang for us (crashing from the pole). But really excited to get back here, obviously.

“I had to race against 23XI last year here, and it was really cool to see all the speed they had and knowing I was going to be going there at some point, and now that we’re here I’m really excited to see what we have in practice in a few hours. It’s going to be a little warmer, but I think that should help us even more.”

Reddick clocks in fastest in Martinsville practice

Tyler Reddick put down the quickest lap in NASCAR Cup Series practice Saturday afternoon at Martinsville Speedway and was the only driver to crack 93mph. His 23XI Racing Toyota clocked in at 93.664mph (20.217s) after running 53 laps in practice. …

Tyler Reddick put down the quickest lap in NASCAR Cup Series practice Saturday afternoon at Martinsville Speedway and was the only driver to crack 93mph.

His 23XI Racing Toyota clocked in at 93.664mph (20.217s) after running 53 laps in practice.

William Byron was second fastest at 92.846mph. Byron and the No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports team are the defending spring race winners at Martinsville.

Ross Chastain was third fastest at 92.837mph. Chris Buescher was fourth at 92.615mph and Kevin Harvick fifth, also at 92.615 mph.

Daniel Suarez was sixth at 92.583mph, Kyle Busch seventh at 92.569mph, Michael McDowell eighth at 92.524mph, Noah Gragson ninth at 92.520mph, and Chase Elliot 10th fastest at 92.466mph.

Elliott ran 37 laps in his first time behind the wheel since late February at Auto Club Speedway. The 2020 series champion is making his return to competition this weekend after missing six races following a snowboarding accident.

Zane Smith was 18th fastest in the No. 51 for Rick Ware Racing. Smith is driving the car at Martinsville due to Cody Ware being indefinitely suspended this week after being arrested and charged with assault.

Reddick was also fastest in the best 10 consecutive lap average over Byron, Harvick, AJ Allmendinger, and Elliott.

There are 36 drivers entered in Sunday’s NOCO 400 at Martinsville.