Tyler Reddick wins after 3h30 of racing ahead of Kyle Busch who is having a terrific start to the season with Richard Childress Racing and William Byron.
Jimmie Johnson will not keep an imperishable memory of this participation in the COTA since he saw himself excluded from the race from the 2th round. A round to forget and the hope of doing much better during his next two outings in Chicago and on the Monster Mile in Dover, his favorite track.
Jimmie Johnson still has to wait for an 84th win ©NASCAR
Bubba Wallace distinguished himself a little later by running aground on Kyle Larson. The 23XI Racing driver simply seems to have forgotten to brake and admitted to the press that in his boss’ place he would turn immediately… William Byron kept a cool head and heavy foot to finish the first segment in the lead.
An incident has occurred between the No. 23 and the No. 5. pic.twitter.com/KyQbQiIV2X
— NASCAR (@NASCAR) March 26, 2023
The second section was more fluid, and after the first phase of pit stops under green flag, Tyler Reddick in shifted strategy took the lead and gave himself a small lead over Austin Dillon to win.
On the 40th lap the race was neutralized for a little track cleaning session. The track limits are a very vague concept in NASCAR and the track became impassable according to the earth projections. The race was restarted and we found in the lead William Byron and Tyler Reddick, the two strong men of the event, ahead of Ross Chastain and Alex Bowman. Kyle Larson then lost 2 laps on a broken left rear suspension. The bad luck does not seem to want to let go of the driver Hendrick in total bad luck since the beginning of the season.
15 laps from the finish, Brad Keselowski made yet another mistake and remained on the grass causing the yellow flag to come out. Kimi Raïkkönen skipped a pit stop and found himself in 4th position on the restart. Chastain was taken out at the first corner and remained immobilized on the track, causing a new neutralization.
Reddick restarted the race for 7 laps, a new opportunity to see up to 8 cars abreast under the braking of the first corner! He was surprised by Byron who took the lead. The two men widened the gap on their pursuers and could start a fierce fight for victory which would have deserved a draw. But we need a winner and Austin Dillon was responsible for creating a little suspense by dying and causing a final neutralization.
At the restart, Kyle Busch surprised William Byron to take second place behind Reddick but everything had to be done again since Ryan Blaney and Ryan Preece strewn debris on the track causing a second overtime, which called for a third! Already 4 out of 6 races this season ending under overtime… the big trend for the 2023 season.
This third extra time was the right one and Tyler resisted the onslaught of Kyle Busch and William Byron to win.
Burn it down @TylerReddick! 🔥💨 pic.twitter.com/LV8Rxq2EZe
— NASCAR (@NASCAR) March 26, 2023
And our Road Ringers, luxury temporary workers specializing in road races? A great animator at the start of the race, Jordan Taylor started from 4th place after an exceptional qualifying and returned to the ranks to finish 24th. Jenson Button led a wise and fairly anonymous race but in the end took a very good 18th place. Kimi Raïkkönen blew hot and cold, navigating between the back of the pack and the outposts to finish 29th.
Jenson Button enters the Top 20 at the experiment ©NASCR
Ranking NASCAR from the Echopark Automotive Grand Prix to the COTA
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