The final 16 laps of Sunday’s Kwik Trip 250 at Road America was the purest version of a blow-by-blow brawl between two drivers.
In the end, Tyler Reddick passed Chase Elliott, who had started from Pole Position and dominated the first part of the race.
It was Reddick’s first NASCAR Cup Series victory, making him the fifth driver to accomplish the feat this season and the 13th. different winner this year, thus Reddick reduced the Playoff spots to only 3 available, with only 8 races left before he ends the regular season at Daytona on August 27.
Photos of the weekend
Reddick’s win relegated Kevin Harvick – who finished 10th. on Sunday -, below the elimination line.
Elliott dominated the first two stages but won neither, choosing to pit before the end of each to preserve track position.
At the final green-flag pit stop on lap 44 of 62, Elliott narrowly edged out Reddick as he returned to the track to begin the final stretch to the finish.
But Reddick kept Elliott in his sights.
“I definitely knew he was fast, but we were able to follow him for the long haul, which made it clear to me that if we went through the last…that pit sequence, we would either come close to or beat him (on pit road), (and) we would have a great opportunity,” Reddick said.
“We were within reach. Fortunately, I waited for the right opportunity and was able to take advantage of it at turn 6,” she added.
Reddick closed in on Elliott on Lap 46 and overtook the No. 9 Chevrolet into Turn 5, bringing the front of his No. 8 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet up next to the left rear quarter panel of Elliott’s car.
Reddick parried uphill at Turn 6 on the left and passed Elliott from the corner. Elliott struggled through Turns 7 and 8, but Reddick pulled away on the carousel.
At that point, the fight for third place began, as Denny Hamlin and Harrison Burton still had pit stops to make. On lap 47 Reddick passed 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 came within 100 yards of victory at the Bristol dirt track in April when Chase Briscoe took him out of contention at the final corner, couldn’t have picked a better place to score his first victory.
“What better place than Road America?” Reddik said. “I love the fans. I love this track. Being here the 4th of July weekend is very special, and just a big thank you to (sponsoring) 3Chi and the space car look we had this weekend.
“I loved that they came on board this year and took a chance on a young guy like me, and we did it. We won a race,” he added.
Elliott accepted his second place gracefully, acknowledging the mistakes he made late in the race.
“First of all, congratulations to him,” Elliott said. “I know he’s been very close to that first win, and I’ve been down that road, and it can be tough. I’m happy for those guys. They deserve it.
“For us, we’re just proud of our NAPA team. I didn’t do a very good job. I just let it stay close enough to put pressure on me there while we had decent tires and we could never get enough room. He made a couple of mistakes. I was gaining a gap there a couple of times and I made a couple of mistakes and let him come back close enough to throw me out of sync, and then after that I started to struggle.
“Obviously, it was very difficult to get someone to pass them. It was impressive that he was able to get there and take advantage of my mistakes… I felt like we probably needed a little bit more, but I think we were good enough to win, so that always hurts.”
Trackhouse Racing teammates Ross Chastain and Daniel Suarez finished fourth and fifth, respectively, as Chevrolet swept the Top 5.
Chris Buescher, Austin Cindric, Michael McDowell, AJ Allmendinger and Harvick rounded out the top 10. Martin Truex Jr. led the top-ranked Toyota in 13th place.
Grades: All 3 road course races so far this season have produced first-time winners: Chastain at Circuit of the Americas and Suarez at Sonoma Raceway plus Reddick… Harvick is 20 points behind Christopher Bell for the final position eligible for the playoffs. Elliott leads the series standings by 33 points over Ryan Blaney, who finished 11th… Elliott led a race-high 38 laps. Reddick led the last 16… Reddick’s win was also the first for his Crew Chief Randall Burnett.
The next NASCAR Cup Series race is scheduled for next Sunday (3 PM on USA Network, NBC Sports App, PRN, SiriusXM) at Atlanta Motor Speedway.
complete results
NASCAR Cup Series – 2nd. annual edition Kwik Trip 250 Presented by JOCKEY Made in America
Road America, Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin
Sunday, July 3, 2022
1. (4) Tyler Reddick, Chevrolet, 62.
2. (1) Chase Elliott, Chevrolet, 62.
3. (3) Kyle Larson, Chevrolet, 62.
4. (12) Ross Chastain, Chevrolet, 62.
5. (17) Daniel Suarez, Chevrolet, 62.
6. (7) Chris Buescher, Ford, 62.
7. (5) Austin Cindric #, Ford, 62.
8. (6) Michael McDowell, Ford, 62.
9. (21) AJ Allmendinger (i), Chevrolet, 62.
10. (28) Kevin Harvick, Ford, 62.
11. (19) Ryan Blaney, Ford, 62.
12. (8) Alex Bowman, Chevrolet, 62.
13. (15) Martin Truex Jr., Toyota, 62.
14. (2) Chase Briscoe, Ford, 62.
15. (10) Cole Custer, Ford, 62.
16. (29) William Byron, Chevrolet, 62.
17. (14) Denny Hamlin, Toyota, 62.
18. (16) Christopher Bell, Toyota, 62.
19. (33) Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Chevrolet, 62.
20. (30) Ty Dillon, Chevrolet, 62.
21. (9) Joey Hand, Ford, 62.
22. (23) Harrison Burton #, Ford, 62.
23. (22) Kurt Busch, Toyota, 62.
24. (34) Justin Haley, Chevrolet, 62.
25. (32) Todd Gilliland #, Ford, 62.
26. (27) Erik Jones, Chevrolet, 62.
27. (18) Joey Logano, Ford, 62.
28. (24) Aric Almirola, Ford, 62.
29. (13) Kyle Busch, Toyota, 62.
30. (37) Kyle Tilley, Ford, 61.
31. (20) Austin Dillon, Chevrolet, Brakes, 60.
32. (31) Cody Ware, Ford, 59.
33. (11) Brad Keselowski, Ford, 58.
34. (35) Corey LaJoie, Chevy, 57.
35. (25) Bubba Wallace, Toyota, Frenos, 54.
36. (26) Josh Bilicki(i), Chevrolet, 52.
37. (36) Loris Hezemans(l), Ford, Gas Pump, 9.
Average speed of the winner: 96.622 mph.
Duration of the race: 2 Hours, 35 Minutes, 51 Seconds.
margin of victory: 3,304 Seconds.
yellow flags: 2 for 2 laps.
leader changes: 8 between 6 pilots.
Lap Leaders: C. Elliott 1-12;C. Briscoe 13-16;C. Elliott 17-28;R. Blaney 29-31;C. Elliott 32-43;R. Blaney 44;D. Hamlin 45;H. Burton # 46;T. Reddick 47-62.
Leaders Summary: Chase Elliott 3 times for 36 laps; Tyler Reddick 1 time for 16 laps; Ryan Blaney 2 times for 4 laps; Chase Briscoe 1 time for 4 laps; Harrison Burton # 1 time for 1 lap; Denny Hamlin 1 time for 1 lap.
Top Ten Stage #1: 14,2,48,22,45,21,23,43,31,9
Top Ten Stage #2: 12,15,42,45,43,31,21,23,9,8
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