Tyler Reddick tallied a tough but rewarding victory in Austin, Texas. (Photo: Cody Porter | The Podium Finish)
AUSTIN, Texas – Tyler Reddick is making a compelling case to become NASCAR’s current road course king.
After scoring his first two Cup Series wins on road courses (Road Atlanta and Indianapolis), the 27-year-old Corning, California native sharpened his knives for Sunday’s EchoPark Automotive Grand Prix at Circuit of the Americas.
The manufacturer, car number and sponsors may differ. However, as 1980 song by Roxy Music goes, it was more of the “Same Old Scene.”
Qualifying in second position, Reddick wasted little time getting to the front of the field.
On Lap 8, Reddick assumed command of the lead, scooting past Austin Cindric. However, the on-track skirmishes were frequent throughout the 75 lap, 255.75 mile race.
In the first NASCAR Cup Series road course race without any stage break cautions, drivers and teams had more options at their disposal. Long run strategies were considered to maximize track position without a yellow flag breaking up Stages 1 and 2.
Reddick and his No. 45 Monster Energy Toyota Camry were the class of the field despite the 23rd place result in Stage 1. Throughout the balance of the race, Reddick raced with respect, keeping his car relatively clean and not pressing the issue against the likes of William Byron, Alex Bowman and Kyle Busch.
Following a Stage 2 win, Reddick waged in spirited duels with Byron, Bowman, Busch, Cindric and Ross Chastain, the race’s defending winner. Byron seemed to have the upper hand in the early moments of Stage 3 before Reddick capitalized within the final 22 laps.
However, a flurry of cautions prolonged the race’s finish. While a few yellows, namely for debris in Turn 9 on Laps 42 through 43 and the No. 6 of Brad Keselowski stopping in Turn 7 on Laps 58 through 59, slowed the pace down, no caution changed the complexity of the race like the Lap 61 incident that saw Chastain’s No. 1 car stopped in Turn 1.
From there on, it was it became a 13 lap, extended shootout that featured more stops and gos than Pennzoil’s 1998 commercial.
Like Al Pacino and Robert De Niro in Heat, Reddick and Byron attempted to outwit each other for the lead and race win.
Perhaps the game changer was Byron’s decision to take the outside lane in Row 1 ahead of the first Overtime restart. The move proved a bit peculiar given the inside row’s preferrable opportunities in Turn 1.
Reddick understood his assignment at COTA. (Photo: John Arndt | r/NASCAR)
Undoubtedly, Reddick capitalized on Byron’s lane choice, taking the lead for good on Lap 64.
For the final 10 laps of the race and Overtime session, Reddick had to earn his paycheck and path to Victory Lane. Despite having a fast No. 45 Camry, he had to keep himself composed.
“Yeah, you just got to remove emotion from your thought,” Reddick said. “You’re being emotional in a moment, you can’t have the mental clarity to get the job done. You just have to remove all that from your brain.”
For the three additional Overtime restarts, Reddick had to hold off a bevy of determined Chevrolet racers. Each time out, he had to hit his reset button.
“Yes, it can be frustrating to have caution after caution, almost made it back to the start/finish line, it didn’t go our way,” he said. “You just have to remove all that from your brain. It’s done and over with.
“You have to reset, be ready to go for the next restart, because everybody behind you is grinding their teeth, doing everything they can to get an edge on you.”
Unlike last year’s race, Reddick was denied his road to the winner’s circle, besting Busch by 1.411 seconds.
Busch, who started ninth, observed the positives of his runner-up result.
“Once you get one caution, you’re going to get a slew of cautions,” Busch said. “So that was pretty much expected. But, you know, we had a good day. It was really just didn’t know how it was going to shake out with all of our pitch strategy stuff.
“You know, we were always the first ones on pit road, but for some reason we had really good long run speed when we tested here. And today we just didn’t didn’t have enough long run speed.”
Bowman rounded out the podium finishers with another consistent run. Pending the results of the Hendrick penalties levied against Bowman’s No. 48 team and his organizational teammates, his consistency may reward him with the points lead or a path toward nailing out a solid top 16 points position during these spring season races.
“We didn’t have anything for the No. 45 (Tyler Reddick), but we had a good No. 48 Ally Camaro,” Bowman said in a Chevy press release. “Just need to be a little better. We have some malfunctions inside the race car that we have to work on to be better for the next hot day, but we’ll just keep digging. Proud of all my guys.”
Reddick left his competitors in the dust, or smokeshow. (Photo: Dylan Nadwodny | The Podium Finish)
Nobody left Austin feeling as proud of their team like Reddick with his 23XI Racing brigade. In concert with a fast car and great, consistent pit stops, the driver had to refresh his memory banks to push onward.
“You can’t be feeling bad for yourself,” Reddick said. “You have to get back to work and execute and just do it again.
Stage 1 Top 10 Finishers
Byron-Cindric-Allmendinger-Bowman-Chastain/Suárez-Busch-Berry-Bell-Preece
Stage 2 Top 10 Finishers
Reddick-A. Dillon-McDowell-Harvick-Buescher/Stenhouse Jr.-Larson-E. Jones-Briscoe-Gragson
EchoPark Automotive Grand Prix Top 10 Finishers at Circuit of the Americas
Reddick-Busch-Bowman-Chastain-Byron/Cindric-Stenhouse Jr.-Buescher-Gibbs-Gilliland
