From the NASCAR Wire Service
It was Tyler Reddick who outdueled pole winner Chase Elliott in the intense mano-a-mano battle in Sunday’s Kwik Trip 250 at Road America.
The victory was Reddick’s first in the NASCAR Cup Series, making him the fifth first-time winner this season. As the 13th different winner this year, Reddick shrank the Playoff bubble by one position.
With seven races left before the cutoff race at Daytona, there are currently three Playoff positions available on points. Reddick’s victory bumped 10th-place finisher Kevin Harvick below the Playoff cut line.
Elliott dominated the first two stages but won neither, choosing to pit before the end of the runs to preserve track position. And on the final green-flag pit stop on Lap 44 of 62, Elliott narrowly beat Reddick off pit road to start the last green-flag run.
But Reddick kept Elliott in his sights.
“I definitely knew he was fast, but we could stay with him on the long run, which told me if we cycled through that last… that pit sequence, we’d be close or get around him (on pit road), (and) we’d have a great shot.
“Didn’t quite get around him. We were within reach. Thankfully, just waited for the right opportunity and was able to take advantage of it in Turn 6.”
Indeed. Reddick closed on Elliott on Lap 46 and outbraked the No. 9 Chevrolet into Turn 5, getting the nose of his No. 8 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet beside the left rear quarter panel of Elliott’s car.
Reddick pulled even up the hill into left-hand Turn 6 and cleared Elliott off the corner. Elliott fought back through Turns 7 and 8, but Reddick pulled clear in the Carousel.
At the time, the pass was for third place, given that Denny Hamlin and Harrison Burton still had pit stops to make. On Lap 47 Reddick overtook Burton for the lead and gradually pulled away in the closing laps.
He crossed the finish line 3.304 seconds ahead of Elliott and 21.138 seconds ahead of third-place finisher Kyle Larson.
Reddick, who was 100 yards from victory on the Bristol Dirt Track in April when Chase Briscoe overdrove the final corner and knocked him sideways, couldn’t have picked a better venue to score his first win.
“What better place than Road America?” Reddick said. “I love the fans. I love this race track. Being here on 4th of July weekend is just so special, and just a huge shoutout to (sponsor) 3Chi and the special paint scheme we had this weekend.
“Love that they’re coming on board this year and taking a chance on a young guy like me, and we got it done. We won a race.”
Elliott took his second-place finish with grace, acknowledging mistakes he made in the final run.
“First off, congrats to him,” Elliott said. “I know he’s been super close to that first win, and I’ve been down that road, and it can be a rocky one. I’m happy for those guys. They deserve it.
“For us, just proud of our NAPA team. I didn’t do a very good job there. I just let him stay close enough to pressure me there while we had decent tires and never could get enough of a gap. Made a couple mistakes. I was gaining a gap there a couple times and made a couple mistakes and let him get back close enough to get me out of sync, and then after that just started struggling.
“Obviously, it was super difficult to get to somebody to pass them. It was impressive he was able to get up there and capitalize on my mistakes… I felt like we probably needed a little bit, but I think we were good enough to win, so those always hurt.”
Trackhouse Racing teammates Ross Chastain and Daniel Suarez finished fourth and fifth, respectively, as Chevrolets swept the top five positions.
Chris Buescher, Austin Cindric, Michael McDowell, AJ Allmendinger and Harvick completed the top 10. Martin Truex Jr. drove the top-finishing Toyota to a 13th-place result.
Notes: All three road courses so far this season have produced first-time winners: Chastain at Circuit of the Americas and Suarez at Sonoma Raceway in addition to Reddick… Harvick trails Christopher Bell by 20 points for the final Playoff-eligible position. Elliott leads the series standings by 33 points over Ryan Blaney, who finished 11th…Elliott led a race-high 38 laps. Reddick led the final 16… Reddick’s victory also was the first his crew chief, Randall Burnett.
— NASCAR Wire Service —
Kwik Trip 250 Results:
POS # Driver Delta Laps Last Best Speed BL
1 8 Tyler Reddick -- 62 103.318 135.932 107.207 48
2 9 Chase Elliott 3.304 62 103.796 135.716 107.377 3
3 5 Kyle Larson 21.138 62 103.094 136.115 107.062 3
4 1 Ross Chastain 25.641 62 103.238 136.084 107.087 3
5 99 Daniel Suarez 32.080 62 103.505 136.165 107.023 3
6 17 Chris Buescher 32.482 62 103.480 136.188 107.005 3
7 2 Austin Cindric 32.782 62 103.765 136.150 107.035 46
8 34 Michael McDowell 42.348 62 102.498 136.216 106.983 2
9 16 AJ Allmendinger 44.127 62 103.188 136.979 106.387 45
10 4 Kevin Harvick 45.463 62 103.226 136.932 106.424 45
11 12 Ryan Blaney 48.094 62 102.422 137.014 106.360 48
12 48 Alex Bowman 52.287 62 103.019 136.517 106.747 46
13 19 Martin Truex Jr. 53.661 62 102.886 136.711 106.596 4
14 14 Chase Briscoe 54.005 62 103.304 136.132 107.049 2
15 41 Cole Custer 54.647 62 103.109 136.445 106.803 3
16 24 William Byron 54.797 62 103.352 136.377 106.857 47
17 11 Denny Hamlin 55.326 62 103.569 136.641 106.650 3
18 20 Christopher Bell 60.416 62 102.212 136.778 106.543 46
19 47 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. 61.488 62 102.646 137.357 106.094 20
20 42 Ty Dillon 65.639 62 101.570 137.350 106.100 47
21 15 Joey Hand 75.689 62 100.105 136.064 107.103 3
22 21 Harrison Burton 81.015 62 102.997 137.628 105.885 5
23 45 Kurt Busch 84.397 62 102.362 137.816 105.741 5
24 31 Justin Haley 94.589 62 101.763 137.091 106.300 47
25 38 Todd Gilliland 95.913 62 100.163 137.508 105.978 44
26 43 Erik Jones 106.207 62 101.928 137.574 105.927 3
27 22 Joey Logano 124.765 62 103.893 137.245 106.181 5
28 10 Aric Almirola 125.922 62 105.449 137.702 105.829 44
29 18 Kyle Busch 132.088 62 104.717 137.756 105.787 47
30 78 Kyle Tilley -1 61 100.236 139.969 104.114 22
31 3 Austin Dillon -2 60 103.206 136.838 106.497 46
32 51 Cody Ware -3 59 102.620 138.166 105.473 43
33 6 Brad Keselowski -4 58 103.613 136.900 106.449 19
34 7 Corey LaJoie -5 57 103.286 136.221 106.979 46
35 23 Bubba Wallace -8 54 102.453 137.767 105.779 20
36 77 Josh Bilicki(i) -10 52 101.564 137.553 105.943 36
37 27 Loris Hezemans -53 9 71.707 138.531 105.195 4
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