NASCAR
Tyler Reddick Wins Kansas in Overtime Scramble, No. 45 Victorious Again
KANSAS CITY, Kan. – In their 100th start, 23XI Racing took a third trip to Kansas victory lane. Wheeling the No. 45 Toyota to this big win was Tyler Reddick. Three different drivers have now conquered Kansas in this car over the past two years. Reddick only led the final two laps in overtime, after restarting fifth. For the first time in his career, Reddick has no concerns heading into the Round of 16 cutoff race next week.
From the drop of the green flag, Darlington winner Kyle Larson appeared well in position to go back-to-back. The No. 5 easily won Stage 1, while other Playoff drivers ran into major problems. Lap three saw Martin Truex Jr. run over debris and slam into the outside wall, finishing last. After two bad races, the 19 now faces potential elimination after entering the Playoffs as the top seed.
Running second to Larson early in Stage 2, defending Kansas winner Bubba Wallace also found the outside wall after a cut tire. After showing race-winning pace and leading laps early, the No. 23 had to settle for 32nd-place.
Going off-strategy on tires would set Larson back in the pack midway through Stage 2. The 5 would only recover later on, handing the lead to teammate Chase Elliott. The 9 was on track for a Hendrick-Stage sweep, until Brad Keselowski passed him late in the second Stage.
Keselowski would lose ground early in Stage 3 to both Denny Hamlin and Tyler Reddick. Both drivers were going for a fourth-straight Toyota Kansas win, with Hamlin also going for the season sweep. The No. 11 looked unbeatable once out front, leaving Reddick and the field in the rearview mirror.
Hamlin’s apparent cruise to victory lane would only be interrupted by a late caution. Chris Buescher cut a tire and slowed on track, sending the race into overtime.
Hamlin would be the first off pit road with four fresh tires. Three others took only two tires however, and Daniel Suarez opted to stay out. This put Hamlin lining up sixth for the overtime restart, with Reddick to his inside. The No. 45 got up to speed better than the 11, having the lead by the white flag. Reddick would hang on for win number two of the season, while Hamlin came home in second.
After the win, Reddick joked about what Ryan Newman said a week ago while racing him. “I knew Newman said I couldn’t get my hand off my wheel, but I got my body out doing that burnout,” Reddick said. “But just an outstanding job by this whole 23XI team. We had really good pace, but just couldn’t get ahead of Denny there, but chaos ensued, people stayed out, some took two tires, and the bottom lane opened up. Pretty crazy.”
“Four fresh tires and send it in there and slide up,” Reddick said reliving the final two laps. “Just hats off, like I said, to everybody at 23XI. This Toyota Camry TRD had a lot of pace, and we’ve had really fast cars with this MoneyLion scheme, and it’s really great to get it back to Victory Lane.”
“When we came here in the spring, I broke the streak. I didn’t get the 45 back in Victory Lane. So I came back here motivated to get it where it belongs.”
Thanks to this victory, Reddick is now locked into his first Round of 12 appearance. Bad luck has kept Reddick from advancing past the opening round in past years, that will not be the case for 2023. Kansas marks Reddick’s second checkered flag of 2023, the first one since COTA all the way back in March.
Behind Reddick and Hamlin, the Kansas top-10 were: Erik Jones, Kyle Larson, Joey Logano, Chase Elliott, Kyle Busch, Christopher Bell, Brad Keselowski and Alex Bowman.
Take a look at the updated Cup Series Playoff standings below, heading into Saturday night’s Round of 16 elimination race.
Four drivers’ championship paths will be over after 500 laps at Bristol. The Bass Pro Shops Night Race will go green Saturday at 7:30 p.m. ET on USA, PRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Channel 90. Only seven points separate two past champions at the cut line. Can any of the four danger zone drivers put it all together in the fan-favorite race?
Written by Peter Stratta
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Photo Credit to Sean Gardner/Getty Images
