Reddick survives multiple restarts to win at COTA
By Dave Hascall
One of last year’s biggest stories saw Tyler Reddick announcing a 2024 move to Michael Jordan and Denny Hamlin’s 23XI Racing and Joe Gibbs Racing pushing two-time Cup champ Kyle Busch to Free Agency. In the end, Kyle replaced Tyler Reddick at Richard Childress Racing, Reddick moved to 23XI a year early as Busch’s brother Kurt Busch retired from full-time racing with a serious head injury.
Kyle Busch won at Auto Club Speedway earlier this year, and Sunday’s EchoPark Automotive Grand Prix at Circuit of the Americas (COTA), saw Reddick complete the Chevrolet – Toyota swap. This was the series’ first Road Course race of the year.
Reddick and William Byron were the class of the field, but several late race restarts shook the order somewhat as several accidents marred the proceedings. It was the race that didn’t want to end, but on the third restart, Reddick outdueled Kyle Busch for the win. Former 23XI driver Kurt Busch was choked up with emotion as his old car took Reddick to the win. Behind the top two were Alex Bowman, last year’s COTA winner Ross Chastain, and Byron. The multiple restarts showcased a disturbing trend over the past few decades in NASCAR Cup racing where drivers simply put themselves and others in bad situations trying at all costs to gain a position or two. Some are calling for time limits in NASCAR, as do Formula 1 and IndyCar.
Full-time Cup driver A.J. Allmendinger won Saturday’s Xfinity race while defending NASCAR Camping World Truck series champ Zane Smith took that series’s win.