Reddick Takes Two Tires, Leads Two Laps, Wins Kansas

Tyler Reddick and crew celebrate in Kansas Speedway's Victory Lane
NASCAR photo

(KANSAS CITY, KS – SEPT 10, 2023 – RIS) Tyler Reddick gave 23XI Racing a victory in the team’s hundredth race, sweeping into the lead after a late race restart to lead only two laps of the 268 rounds in a green-white-checker overtime. Thew win moves Reddick on to the round of twelve in the Playoffs for the NASCAR Cup championship. 

Christopher Bell and Kyle Larson Ran out to the lead while regular season champion Martin Truex Jr faded before crashing into the third turn wall on the fourth lap, breaking the right front suspension on the impact. Truex had been telling his team that the car was not handling before the crash and appeared to have the right rear tire go down. “We were going to have a great day, just not sure what we need to do to get some luck here,” Truex reported before being driven to the track’s care center to be checked and released.

“I knew something was up for sure, just didn’t realize it was going to blow the tire out. I felt like the right rear was soft. I was hoping it was going to go down on the straightaway, not going into turn three. Really unfortunate. In hindsight, I guess I should have just pitted, but at that point in time, you just don’t know if the car is just really tight or what’s going on. It’s a real shame.

“There is not a thing we can do about [the points situation] right now.” Later, it was reported that technicians found a puncture in the center of the tread. Kyle Busch was also complaining about the car not handling and made an extended pit stop for adjustments during the caution.

Kyle Larson and Christopher Bell almost broke away from the rest of the field at the restart, with Larson almost a half second ahead adnd Bell nearly a second ahead of third-place Ross Chastain.

Bubba Wallace moved into second place with the fastest car on the track early in the event, dropping Bell to third with William Byron over two seconds behind Bell and Ross Chastain over a second behind Byron in fifth.

Austin Dillon slapped the wall and spun, with William Byron spinning in almost the same spot but without hitting anything or dropping out of the top ten places. He continued after getting the tires replaced on the No. 24 Chevy.

Bubba Wallace exited the pits in first place with Kyle Larson, Christopher Bell, Tyler Reddick and Denny Hamlin the top five after pit stops.

The green flew with eleven laps left in the first stage and Kyle Larson immediately drove off into the lead with Bell taking second just a lap later.

Larson, Wallace, Bell, Chastain and Blaney ran top five to end the first stage.

Larson’s pit stall location let him keep the lead after stopping, followed by Wallace and Chastain’s crew gained him a spot with a fast service.

Larson again jumped into the lead with Chase Elliott using an inside line to take second from Wallace who held third with Chastain trying to chase him down. Wallace swept down the back straight after a fast exit from the second turn and back into second place.

Bubba Wallace started reporting that the No, 23 was ‘wrecking loose’ then it hit the wall in the second turn after the right rear tire blew. The impact bent the toe link and repairs had the car sitting in the pits for several laps.

After the restart, Tyler Reddick moved around Larson and Elliott for the lead just before Austin Cindric spun off the second turn to cause a quick yellow flag.

Chase Briscoe slowed to bring out another caution

With fewer than ten laps to run, Chris Buescher’s car suffered a flat right-rear tire, bringing out a late yellow and setting up a short dash to the checkered flag and making the crew chiefs decide their late-race strategies. Larson led off of pit road, Erik Jones gained five spots, and Larson got forced to the right by Brad Keselowski exiting his stall, forcing contact with Chase Elliott, who expressed his displeasure with Larson. Daniel Suarez moved into the lead by staying out on the track instead of stopping, followed by Erik Jones, Kyle Busch in third, then Logano and Briscoe. At the choose, Suarez ran the inside line, flanked by Jones, with Logano inside of Busch, then Hamlin to the outside of Larson approaching a atwo-lap overtime.

Logano jumped to the inside, Jones fought back on two fresh tires and Reddick read the side draft slowing Logano and Jones and dove inside for the lead to weep into the lead to win the race and advance in the playoffs. 

“Just an outstanding job by this whole team – pretty crazy,” he said. “It’s really great to get the 45 back to victory lane.”

Unofficial Results: Hollywood Casino 400, September 10, 2023 - Kansas Speedway
Fin, Str, Driver, Car, Laps, St1, St2, Tms Led, Laps Led, Playoff Pts, Pts, Status
1) 5, Tyler Reddick (P), No. 45 MoneyLion Toyota, 268, 6, 5, 1, 2, 5, 51, Running
2) 14, Denny Hamlin (P), No. 11 Yahoo! Toyota, 268, 7, 2, 3, 63, , 48, Running
3) 19, Erik Jones, No. 43 Allegiant Chevrolet, 268, , 6, , , , 39, Running
4) 2, Kyle Larson (P), No. 5 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet, 268, 1, , 5, 99, 1, 43, Running
5) 11, Joey Logano (P), No. 22 Shell Pennzoil Ford, 268, , 8, , , , 35, Running
6) 4, Chase Elliott (P), No. 9 NAPA Auto Parts Chevrolet, 268, 9, 3, 2, 47, , 41, Running
7) 35, Kyle Busch (P), No. 8 Casey's General Store Chevrolet, 268, , , , , , 30, Running
8) 1, Christopher Bell (P), No. 20 DEWALT Perform & Protect Toyota, 268, 3, 10, 2, 15, , 38, Running
9) 12, Brad Keselowski (P), No. 6 BuildSubmarines.com Ford, 268, 8, 1, 2, 23, 1, 41, Running
10) 23, Alex Bowman, No. 48 Ally Chevrolet, 268, , , , , , 27, Running
11) 20, Kevin Harvick (P), No. 4 SunnyD Ford, 268, 10, 4, , , , 34, Running
12) 17, Ryan Blaney (P), No. 12 Wabash Ford, 268, 5, 7, , , , 35, Running
13) 6, Ross Chastain (P), No. 1 Kubota Chevrolet, 268, 4, , , , , 31, Running
14) 36, Ty Gibbs #, No. 54 Monster Energy Toyota, 268, , , , , , 23, Running
15) 9, William Byron (P), No. 24 RaptorTough.com Chevrolet, 268, , , , , , 22, Running
16) 15, Daniel Suarez, No. 99 Freeway.com Chevrolet, 268, , , 2, 12, , 21, Running
17) 25, Aric Almirola, No. 10 Smithfield Ford, 268, , , 1, 3, , 20, Running
18) 28, Ryan Preece, No. 41 United Rentals Ford, 268, , , , , , 19, Running
19) 26, Chase Briscoe, No. 14 Mahindra Tractors Ford, 268, , , , , , 18, Running
20) 21, Carson Hocevar(i), No. 42 Sunseeker Resorts Chevrolet, 268, , , , , , 0, Running
21) 30, Justin Haley, No. 31 Celsius Chevrolet, 268, , , , , , 16, Running
22) 24, Corey LaJoie, No. 7 Gainbridge Chevrolet, 268, , , , , , 15, Running
23) 16, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. (P), No. 47 Dillons/NOS Energy Drink Chevrolet, 268, , , , , , 14, Running
24) 27, Cole Custer(i), No. 51 Biohaven/Jacob Co. Ford, 268, , , , , , 0, Running
25) 32, Todd Gilliland, No. 38 Boot Barn Ford, 267, , , , , , 12, Running
26) 7, Michael McDowell (P), No. 34 FR8Auctions.com Ford, 267, , , , , , 11, Running
27) 13, Chris Buescher (P), No. 17 Fastenal Ford, 267, , 9, , , , 12, Running
28) 33, Ty Dillon, No. 77 Raze Tea Chevrolet, 267, , , , , , 9, Running
29) 34, Sheldon Creed(i), No. 78 Whelen Chevrolet, 266, , , , , , 0, Running
30) 22, AJ Allmendinger, No. 16 Nutrien Ag Solutions Chevrolet, 266, , , , , , 7, Running
31) 18, Austin Cindric, No. 2 Menards/Richmond Water Heaters Ford, 266, , , , , , 6, Running
32) 10, Bubba Wallace (P), No. 23 Columbia Sportswear Company Toyota, 264, 2, , 1, 3, , 14, Running
33) 8, Austin Dillon, No. 3 Bass Pros Shops Chevrolet, 259, , , , , , 4, Running
34) 31, JJ Yeley(i), No. 15 Jungle Law Ford, 212, , , 1, 1, , 0, DVP
35) 29, Harrison Burton, No. 21 Menards/MasterForce Ford, 175, , , , , , 2, DVP
36) 3, Martin Truex Jr. (P), No. 19 Bass Pros Shops Toyota, 3, , , , , , 1, Accident
(i) Ineligible for driver points in this series, (#) Rookie, (P) Playoffs 

Total Race Length: 268 Laps, 402. Miles
Time of Race: 3 Hrs, 12 Mins, 38 Secs.
Average Speed: 125.212 mph
Margin of Victory: 0.327 Seconds

Stage 1 Top 10: 5, 23, 20, 1, 12, 45, 11, 6, 9, 4
Stage 2 Top 10: 6, 11, 9, 4, 45, 43, 12, 22, 17, 20

Comments: Tyler Reddick has won the Hollywood Casino 400 at Kansas Speedway, his fifth career victory in the NASCAR Cup Series.

Prior to the start, the following vehicle(s) dropped to the rear of the field under penalty for the reason(s) indicated: No. 8 (Unapproved Adjustments), and No. 54 (Backup Car).

Cautions: 9 for 45 laps;
Laps: 5-9 (No. 19 Incident Turn 3 [None]);
64-69 (No. 24 Spin Backstretch [14]);
82-87 (Stage 1 Conclusion [15]);
109-113 (No. 23 Incident Turn 2 [38]);
116-119 (No. 2, 34 Incident Turn 2 [23]);
129-132 (No. 14 Slow On Track [None]);
167-171 (Stage 2 Conclusion [2]);
175-179 (No. 21 Incident Turn 3 [14]);
262-266 (No. 17 Slow On Track [14]).

Lead Changes: 19 among 10 drivers;
C. Bell (P) 1-9;
K. Larson (P) 10-39;
A. Almirola 40-42;
K. Larson (P) 43-66;
B. Wallace (P) 67-69;
K. Larson (P) 70-109;
J. Yeley(i) 110;
K. Larson (P) 111-114;
C. Elliott (P) 115-131;
K. Larson (P) 132;
C. Elliott (P) 133-162;
B. Keselowski (P) 163-171;
D. Hamlin (P) 172;
B. Keselowski (P) 173-186;
D. Hamlin (P) 187-215;
C. Bell (P) 216-221;
D. Suarez 222-230;
D. Hamlin (P) 231-263;
D. Suarez 264-266;
T. Reddick (P) 267-268.