NASCAR at Kansas: Tyler Reddick wins in a wild finish, earns trip to Round of 12

Tyler Reddick swerved to the inside lane as the final lap began, bolted past his competitors and zoomed to Victory Lane.

Near the top of the leaderboard throughout a caution-filled NASCAR Cup Series playoff race that featured 19 lead changes, Reddick emerged victorious with a steady, consistent performance at Kansas Speedway in Kansas City. He poked his head out the window and pumped his fists in the air as his turquoise No. 45 Toyota burned out.

“Chaos ensued,” Reddick told NBC Sports in a post-race interview. “People stayed out, some took two tires, and the bottom lane opened up. Pretty crazy.”

This year’s Hollywood Casino 400 was anybody’s race throughout the final moments, but for most of the last stage, it seems like it might have been Denny Hamlin’s. The No. 11 car battled Brad Keselowski and Reddick during a late stretch, and Reddick was running in fifth place entering that final lap.

“It’s good to have multiple bullets in the gun when you’re in a late-race restart situation where you had one car dominating and then next thing you know you’re in fifth and sixth,” said Hamlin, who co-owns 23XI Racing with Michael Jordan. “Myself and that team work really, really close together. Typically when we run well, that team runs well, and we’re learning as much from them as they’re learning from us.”

Reddick quickly moved into third, trailing Erik Jones and Joey Logano. Jones, who’d yet to finish in the Top Five this season, was trying to get around last year’s Cup Series champion. Then, there went Reddick.

“When a guy gets loose under you and kind of runs you up, you get tight, too. So I had to lift, and then the 45 obviously had a big run there,” Jones said post-race. “It’s probably the fastest car we’ve had all year. Would have loved to sneak one out there, but our year has been up and down, and to have a good run like that is a good day for the team.”

Before that final lap, Hamlin heard on his radio that the No. 45 car was at the fence, getting all the help he could as he tried to keep up. Hamlin said he reminded Reddick’s team not to be the caution and to keep running, as you’re never out of a race until you cross the finish line.

Reddick tracked down his co-owner on Victory Lane after that race. What’d he have to say to his owner and opponent? Asked Hamlin what he was doing during the final run, just trying to learn more.

“Tyler is a sponge,” Hamlin said. “It’s easy to be cocky at times and just know that you’ve got speed and you’ve got what it takes to be a champion and a lot of race winners, and he will be. But he is a sponge that is always willing to learn.”

It’s the fifth win of Reddick’s young Cup Series career and his first in nine races at Kansas Speedway. The 23XI Racing driver had three victories last year as he finished 14th. He also won at the Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas, in March and has 13 Top 10 finishes to his name this season. Reddick, two-time Xfinity Series champion, joined 23XI Racing this year after three seasons with Richard Childress Racing.

Reddick and Kyle Larson, who won at Darlington last weekend, are the only drivers who have cemented spots in the Round of 12. Larson led for most of the first two stages of Sunday’s race but, like most drivers, had some misfortune along the way and fell down on the leaderboard.

“This Toyota Camry TRD had a lot of pace,” Reddick said. “We’ve had really fast cars with this MoneyLion scheme, and it’s really great to get it back to Victory Lane.”