From winning the pole on Saturday to capping off a dominant run by winning on Sunday, Tyler Reddick made an emphatic statement in his bid to contend for this year’s NASCAR Cup Series championship after winning the Verizon 200 at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course in overtime.
The 26-year-old Reddick from Corning, California, led three times for a race-high 38 of 86 over-scheduled laps and outdueled a late battle with Ross Chastain, who was penalized for using the access road in the first turn before rejoining the track to challenge Reddick for the win, during an overtime shootout to capture his second victory of the 2022 season and of his Cup career at the Brickyard, which solidified his hopes of making the 2022 Cup Series Playoffs.
With on-track qualifying that determined the starting lineup occurring on Saturday, Tyler Reddick claimed his first Cup pole position of the season and the second of his career after posting a pole-winning lap at 99.378 mph in 88.354 seconds. Joining him on the front row was rookie Austin Cindric, who posted his best lap at 99.095 mph in 88.606 seconds.
Prior to the event, Aric Almirola dropped to the rear of the field due to an engine change along with Cody Ware, who received unapproved adjustments to his car.
When the green flag waved and the race started, Reddick jumped ahead with an early advantage in front of a side-by-side between Cindric and Chase Briscoe. Then in Turn 1 and amid the field fanning out to five lanes, Justin Haley got turned while running in 17th place as he spun in the middle of the track and in front of oncoming traffic, but the field dodged him as the race proceeded under green.
As the field made its way through the first three turns before entering Turns 4 to 6 and a brief straightaway leading to Turn 7, Reddick continued to lead ahead of the field with the competitors jostling early for positions. In Turn 7, Joey Logano made a three-wide move on Christopher Bell and Michael McDowell in a bid for fourth place as more competitors behind him fanned out as far as five lanes. The field remained fanned out from Turns 7 to 14.
By the completion of the first lap, as the field made their way back to the frontstretch, Reddick led the first lap by more than eight-tenths of a second over Briscoe followed by Cindric, Christopher Bell and Joey Logano. By then, Haley pitted his No. 31 LeafFilter Gutter Protection Chevrolet Camaro ZL1.
Then in Turn 1, more on-track trouble ensued as Ross Chastain went for a spin in Turn 1 while running towards the top 15. Three turns later, Hamlin, who was running in 12th, got loose entering Turns 5 and 6 as he spun his No. 11 FedEx Toyota TRD Camry through the infield straightaway as he plummeted below the leaderboard.
Following the second lap, Reddick’s No. 8 3CHI Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 remained out in front by more than a second over Cindric’s No. 2 Discount Tire Ford Mustang followed by Briscoe’s No. 14 HighPoint.com Ford Mustang. Bell remained in fourth followed by Logano while Michael McDowell, Daniel Suarez, Ryan Blaney, Chase Elliott and rookie Harrison Burton were in the top 10.
Through the first five scheduled laps, Reddick extended his advantage to more than two seconds over Cindric followed by Briscoe, Bell and McDowell while Logano, Suarez, Blaney, Elliott and rookie Todd Gilliland were in the top 10. Burton was back in 11th followed by Kyle Busch, Chris Buescher, Brad Keselowski and William Byron while Kyle Larson, AJ Allmendinger, Bubba Wallace, Kevin Harvick and Martin Truex Jr. were in the top 20. Meanwhile, Cole Custer was in 21st ahead of Alex Bowman, Joey Hand, Ty Gibbs, Ty Dillon, Ross Chastain, Erik Jones, Austin Dillon, Josh Bilicki and Corey LaJoie. Hamlin, whose rough start became rougher as he missed Turn 1, was mired in 34th behind Aric Almirola, former Formula One star Daniil Kvyat was in 36th and Haley was mired a lap down in 38th, dead last.
Shortly after, Brad Keselowski overshot the first turn while trying to out-brake Kyle Busch as he spun his No. 6 Castrol Ford Mustang. By the eighth lap, trouble ensued again for Chastain as he spun his No. 1 Worldwide Express Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 for a second time in the turn after overshooting the turn, where he collected Joey Hand in the process.
At the Lap 10 mark, Reddick stabilized his advantage to less than two seconds over Cindric while Briscoe, Bell and McDowell remained in the top five. By then, Chastain, who spun twice in the opening stage, pitted for four tires and repairs under green despite losing a lap to the leaders.
During the following lap, names like AJ Allmendinger, Kevin Harvick, Bubba Wallace, Alex Bowman, Ty Gibbs, Austin Dillon, Hamlin and Chris Buescher, whose car was on fire while on pit road and lost two laps in the process, pitted under green. Back on the track, Elliott spun his No. 9 NAPA Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 in Turn 1 after he snapped loose entering the turn and hopped the curb while barely missing Logano.
By Lap 12, Reddick surrendered the lead to pit along with Cindric, Suarez, Bell and McDowell as Briscoe inherited the lead.
When the first stage concluded on Lap 15, Briscoe, who has yet to pit, claimed his third stage victory of the season. Blaney settled in second followed by teammate Byron, Logano and Elliott while Gilliland, Kyle Larson, Kyle Busch, Burton and Truex were scored in the top 10.
Under the stage break, some led by Briscoe pitted while the rest led by Blaney remained on the track. During the stage break, a pop-up canopy was flown out on the track between Turns 1 and 2, which promoted the safety workers to tend to the cover.
The second stage started on Lap 19 as Blaney and Byron occupied the front row. At the start and as the field fanned out to multiple lanes entering the first, Byron and Blaney dueled for the lead. Then in Turn 1 as the field scrambled to make it through the turn, Harvick got bumped by Austin Dillon as he spun and plummeted to the bottom of the leaderboard with Ty Gibbs and Hamlin sustaining minimal damage to their respective Toyotas after hitting Harvick’s Ford.
Back at the front, Blaney retained the lead ahead of Byron, Cindric, Cindric, Brad Keselowski and Reddick as the field made their way through the infield turns.
During the following lap, Bowman pitted his No. 48 Ally Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 for repairs as Blaney retained the lead ahead of Byron, Cindric, Keselowski and Reddick while Allmendinger, Corey LaJoie, Bubba Wallace, Suarez and Bell were in the top 10.
By Lap 25, Blaney, who has yet to pit, remained as the leader by half a second over Byron followed by Reddick, Cindric and Allmendinger while Keselowski, Suarez, Bell, McDowell and Wallace were in the top 10. Meanwhile, Aric Almirola, who sustained a flat left-rear tire after locking up his front tires and making contact with Larson in Turn 1, took his No. 10 Mobil 1 Ford Mustang to the garage and retired for the day. Larson, meanwhile, fell out of the lead lap category as his pit crew popped the hood of the No. 5 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 open while repairing the right side of Larson’s car.
During the following lap, the on-track chaos continued as Allmendinger’s No. 16 Gold Fish Casino Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 went off the track and into the gravel in Turn 3 while Harrison Burton locked up the front tires of his No. 21 DEX Imaging Ford Mustang and made contact against Cole Custer’s No. 41 HaasTooling.com Ford Mustang as both spun in Turn 1.
On Lap 30, Byron, who briefly challenged Blaney for the lead, pitted his No. 24 Acronis Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 for the first time. Suarez and Harvick also pitted as Blaney continued to lead. Three laps later, however, Blaney surrendered the lead to pit his No. 12 Menards Ford Mustang for the first time along with Reddick and Cindric as Bell moved into the lead. By then, McDowell, Truex, Austin Dillon, Stenhouse, Logano, Gilliland and Burton had pitted.
When the second stage concluded on Lap 35, Bell captured his second stage victory of the season. Teammate Kyle Busch settled in second ahead of a tight battle against Wallace and Elliott. Ty Dillon, Hamlin, Briscoe, Custer, Erik Jones and Cody Ware were scored in the top 10.
Under the stage break, some led by Kyle Busch pitted while the rest led by Bell, who opted to remain on the track as part of a strategic move, remained on the track.
With 43 laps remaining, the final stage started as Bell and Wallace occupied the front row. At the start and the field fanned out entering the first turn, Bell retained the lead followed by Wallace while Briscoe engaged in a battle and eventually overtook Hamlin for third place. Not long after, Reddick overtook Ty Dillon in Turn 7 to bolt his way back in the top five.
At the halfway mark with 41 laps remaining, Bell retained the lead by more than two seconds over Wallace followed by Reddick, Briscoe and Hamlin while Ty Dillon, Blaney, Byron, Erik Jones and Chastain were in the top 10. McDowell was in 11th ahead of Suarez, Custer, Allmendinger and Cindric while Truex, Logano, Harvick, Austin Dillon and Elliott occupied the top 20. Gilliland was in 21st followed by Ty Gibbs, Kyle Busch, Burton and Bowman while Stenhouse was in 26th. Meanwhile, Keselowski plummeted to 32nd after spinning and going off the course in Turn 7 a lap earlier.
Down to the final 35 laps of the event, Bell continued to lead by less than six-tenths of a second over Reddick, who was closing in on Bell for the lead. Meanwhile, Blaney and Byron moved up to third and fourth while Wallace retained fifth ahead of Briscoe, Hamlin, Allmendinger, Ty Dillon and McDowell.
Then two laps later, Reddick made his move and overtook Bell to reassume the lead in Turn 12. By then, Wallace, Briscoe, Hamlin and the Dillon brothers pitted under green. Additional names like Harvick and Logano would also pit.
With 31 laps remaining, the leader Reddick pitted along with Bell, Chastain and Byron as Blaney inherited the lead while Reddick exited pit road ahead of Bell upon his completed service. Once Blaney pitted with less than 30 laps remaining, Allmendinger cycled to the lead. By then, Keselowski encountered more trouble as he spun in Turn 6.
With 25 laps remaining, Todd Gilliland, who has yet to pit, was leading followed by Kyle Busch, Bowman, Joey Hand and Reddick. By then, Allmendinger, Cindric, Suarez, Elliott, Stenhouse and Truex had made a pit stop. Kyle Busch would then pit his No. 18 M&M’s Toyota TRD Camry with 24 laps remaining.
Three laps remaining, the caution flew for a vicious wreck when Larson, who was multiple laps behind the leaders, lost his brakes entering the first turn and collided with Ty Dillon at full speed as both cars were sent spinning towards the infield while briefly catching air. Both competitors emerged uninjured as the field settled in a cautious pace. By then, Daniil Kvyat, who was slow for a full lap with a flat tire earlier, limped his No. 26 Team Hezeberg Toyota TRD Camry to pit road.
During the caution period, names like initial leader Joey Hand, Stenhouse, Harvick, Custer, Austin Dillon, Burton, Erik Jones, and Briscoe pitted while the rest led by Reddick remained on the track as Reddick cycled back to the lead.
Down to the final 18 laps of the event, the race restarted under green as Reddick and Bell occupied the front row. At the start, Reddick retained the lead by a narrow margin over Blaney, who made a three-wide move and muscled his way into the runner-up spot over Bell entering the first turn. Then through Turns 4 to 6 as the field jumbled, a three-wide action occurred between Bell, Allmendinger and Elliott as Allmendinger bolted his way to third followed by Elliott and Byron while Bell was being challenged by McDowell for sixth. Behind, Bowman and Harvick got together between Turns 8 and 9, but the race proceeded under green.
With 15 laps remaining, Reddick was leading by more than a second over Blaney followed by Elliott, who retained third ahead of Allmendinger, Byron and Bell while Chastain, McDowell, Suarez and Gilliland were in the top 10. By then, Truex was in 11th ahead of Cindric, Kyle Busch, Hamlin and Austin Dillon while Logano, Briscoe, Wallace, Stenhouse and Custer were in the top 20.
Five laps later, Reddick extended his advantage to nearly three seconds over Blaney while Elliott, Allmendinger and Byron remained in the top five. By then, Custer spun in Turn 6 while Bowman and Harvick retired in the garage following their late contact. A few laps later, Elliott emerged as the new runner-up competitor after he overtook Blaney while Reddick continued to lead by more than three seconds.
The caution returned with six laps remaining due to debris on the frontstretch as the right-front tire off of Bell’s No. 20 CRAFTSMAN Toyota TRD Camry was shredded. During the caution period, some like Hamlin, Keselowski, Stenhouse, Erik Jones, Custer and Cody Ware pitted while the rest led by Reddick remained on the track.
Down to the final three laps of the event, the field restarted under green. At the start, Reddick and Elliott dueled for the lead entering the first turn. Then in Turn 1, Elliott got bumped by Blaney as he spun along with Byron, Briscoe and Kyle Busch as Wallace, who sustained damage, went through the grass. Meanwhile, Reddick rocketed away with the lead followed by Allmendinger, Blaney, Chastain, Suarez and McDowell. As the field proceeded through the infield turns, the caution flew and the race was sent into overtime as Austin Dillon, who spun in Turn 4 with Erik Jones, was stuck in the gravel trap while Truex sustained a flat tire in the ensuing contact.
At the start of the first overtime attempt, Reddick retained the lead in front of the field that was fanning out to multiple lanes through the frontstretch. Then in Turn 1, Chastain and Austin Dillon bolted their way off the track and through the run-off access road through the first three turns while the rest of the field made their way through the first turn. That was where Blaney, who needed a victory and a strong run to stabilize his Playoff hopes, got sandwiched in between Suarez and Allmendinger before getting turned by Allmendinger as he stacked the field.
Back at the front, Chastain, who rejoined the racing surface after going off the course and using the access road to blend back on the course, challenged Reddick for the lead in Turn 3. Through Turns 4 to 6, Chastain muscled his way into the lead as he nearly went sideways in the process. Reddick, however, fought back, beginning in Turn 7 as he drew himself alongside Chastain’s Chevrolet. Despite Chastain’s valiant effort to remain out in front from Turns 8 to 12, Reddick seized an opportunity on the outside lane entering Turn 13 and managed to reassume the lead in Turn 14 as Cindric tried to join the battle.
When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Reddick was still out in front by a narrow margin over Chastain and Cindric. Through the first three turns followed by the infield Turns 4 to 6, Reddick remained as the leader over Chastain and Cindric, both of whom were battling for the runner-up spot. He continued to lead through Turns 7 to 12 as he started to gap himself from Chastain. With both Chastain and Cindric unable to mount a final charge through Turns 13 and 14, Reddick was able to smoothly navigate his way through the final turns and cycle back to the frontstretch as he grabbed his second checkered flag of the season and of his Cup career.
By winning for the second time in his career and on a road course, Reddick, who achieved his first Cup victory at Road America in early July, became the 137th different competitor to achieve multiple victories in NASCAR’s premier series and the 17th overall to win a NASCAR Cup Series event at the Brickyard. He also became the sixth competitor to achieve multiple Cup victories this season, thus placing himself in a comfortable position to contend in this year’s NASCAR postseason battle for the title, and he recorded the fourth Cup win for Richard Childress Racing.
The victory also eased the off-track tensions surrounding Reddick and Richard Childress Racing amid Reddick’s move in early July that he will be joining 23XI Racing in 2024.
“I was like, ‘Uh-oh’ [about Chastain],” Reddick, who celebrated with his son Beau on the frontstretch, said on NBC. “That was the scenario that had been talked about if [you] get bottled up. What do you do? You take the access road. I couldn’t believe he got ahead of me. I was kind of waiting to see if he was gonna have a penalty because I didn’t want to move him out of the way and make his race worse than what it was. I was really surprised by that, but hey, we made it work. Hats off to Ross for trying to do that, but really glad that it didn’t end up working out because I would’ve been pretty pissed off.”
“We know what we’re capable of,” Reddick added. “We did that at Road America. Certainly, it was a little bump in the road, but hey, we’ve gone out and won a race fair and square couple weeks ago. If we change nothing, we just keep working very, very hard. We find a way back to Victory Lane. Just really glad to be able to do it here at Indianapolis. This is one really special place to race and really excited to kiss the bricks here in a little bit. Really excited that we got 3CHI their win in their hometown.”
Following the event, Chastain, who initially finished second, was given a 30-second time penalty from NASCAR for cutting the first turn and using the access road along with Austin Dillon. As a result, Chastain was demoted to 27th place in front of teammate Daniel Suarez, who lost pace with the field after cutting a tire.
“[I was] Just trying not to be in the carnage there in Turn 1,” Chastain said. “I thought we were four wide. [I] couldn’t go any farther right and decided to take the NASCAR access lane. Just pure reaction there.”
With Chastain’s demotion, Cindric was promoted into the runner-up spot followed by his fellow rookie rivals Harrison Burton and Todd Gilliland, both of whom notched their career-best results in the Cup Series. Bubba Wallace rounded out the top five in fifth place for this third top-five result of the season.
“It’s easy on paper, right?” Cindric said. “Oh, my gosh. I feel like we probably deserved 10th at best today. There were a few things I was good at, but I needed the whole track to do it and I kind of struggled a bit, probably a little lower than my expectations were today, but those restarts, survival, holy crap. All I can say is ‘wow.’ There’s no other sport, no other form of racing other than NASCAR that you’re going to get that. ”
“We’ll take it,” Burton said. “[I] Wouldn’t have picked this weekend to get my best career finish so far. Just a lot of aggression on the last restarts and putting myself in good positions. Honestly, we weren’t doing our job at the start of the race. We didn’t execute well. I made a mistake, spun out, got into Custer there. Was kind of pretty upset midway through the race, and then just got our heads down, came in, got tires and started picking guys off and restarted in a good spot to kind of go get some more. It’s just exciting. Proud of our team to keep persevering through those hard moments. Cool to get DEX Imaging a podium here in the Wood Brothers No. 21 [Ford]. It’s really neat to drive this car. Just proud to carry those colors every time we get out on the racetrack. It’s just a step, right? We’re not going to go blast off a podium every weekend. That doesn’t mean we’re not going to try to. We have to step and get top 10s more often and top fives and build. In the beginning of the year, that was our plan from the start. Just building to get up and race at this level with a new team is really fun.”
Completing the top 10 were Logano, Allmendinger, McDowell, Cole Custer and Chris Buescher. Notably, Kyle Busch finished 11th in front of teammate Bell, Hamlin settled in 14th in his 600th Cup career start, Elliott ended up 16th in front of Ty Gibbs, Truex came home in 21st and Blaney fell all the way back to 26th. In addition, newcomer Daniil Kvyat ended up 36th in his Cup debut.
There were nine lead changes for seven different leaders. The race featured five cautions for 15 laps.
With four regular season races remaining this season, Chase Elliott continues to lead the regular season standings by 125 points over Ryan Blaney and 129 over Ross Chastain.
Chase Elliott, Ross Chastain, William Byron, Joey Logano, Tyler Reddick, Denny Hamlin, Kyle Larson, Chase Briscoe, Daniel Suarez, Kurt Busch, Christopher Bell, Kyle Busch, Alex Bowman and rookie Austin Cindric are currently guaranteed spots for the 2022 Cup Series Playoffs based on winning once throughout the regular-season stretch while Ryan Blaney and Martin Truex Jr. are above the top-16 cutline based on points. Kevin Harvick trails the top-16 cutline by 96 points, Aric Almirola trails by 156, Erik Jones trails by 175, Bubba Wallace trails by 213, Austin Dillon trails by 216, Justin Haley trails by 246, Chris Buescher trails by 256, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. trails by 280, Cole Custer trails by 287, Michael McDowell trails by 295 and rookie Harrison Burton trails by 302.
Results.
1. Tyler Reddick, 38 laps led
2. Austin Cindric
3. Harrison Burton
4. Todd Gilliland, four laps led
5. Bubba Wallace
6. Joey Logano
7. AJ Allmendinger, three laps led
8. Michael McDowell
9. Cole Custer
10. Chris Buescher
11. Kyle Busch
12. Christopher Bell, 17 laps led, Stage 2 winner
13. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
14. Denny Hamlin
15. Erik Jones
16. Chase Elliott
17. Ty Gibbs
18. Corey LaJoie
19. Justin Haley
20. Brad Keselowski
21. Martin Truex Jr.
22. Josh Bilicki
23. Chase Briscoe, five laps led, Stage 1 winner
24. Cody Ware
25. Josh Williams
26. Ryan Blaney, 17 laps led
27. Ross Chastain
28. Daniel Suarez
29. Joey Hand, one lap down, two laps led
30. Austin Dillon, one lap down
31. William Byron – OUT, Accident
32. Alex Bowman – OUT, Dvp
33. Kevin Harvick – OUT, Accident
34. Ty Dillon – OUT, Accident
35. Kyle Larson – OUT, Accident
36. Daniil Kvyat – OUT, Suspension
37. Loris Hezemans – OUT, Drivetrain
38. Aric Almirola – OUT, Accident
Next on the 2022 NASCAR Cup Series schedule is the series’ lone annual visit of the season to Michigan International Speedway. The event is scheduled to occur on Sunday, August 7, at 3 p.m. ET on USA Network.
