Tyler Reddick overcomes adversity to win at Talladega Superspeedway

It was a beautiful day for a race at Talladega Superspeedway for the MoneyLion 300, as you could feel the excitement start to build during pre-race ceremonies. Although, for several drivers and crewmembers, their hearts were heavy after the news that Brenda Jackson, the Mother of Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Kelley Earnhardt Miller, had passed away earlier this week.

Four drivers were a little more anxious as they were eligible for the Dash 4 Cash, which gives the highest finishing driver of the four an extra $100,000. The eligible drivers were Tyler Reddick, Cole Custer, Justin Allgaier, and Austin Cindric.

One driver overcame a speeding penalty, running over a jack stand, and being involved in an accident that did significant damage to the right side of his car. Reddick, driving his No.2 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet, would overcome all that adversity and still get his first win at Talladega for himself and for car owner Richard Childress in an Xfinity Series Race. To top that off he also won the Dash 4 Cash money.

“Hell of a job for all our guys at RCR Chevrolet,” Reddick commented. “I tried to take us out of the race so many times and somehow we got back in the mix, and back to the lead.” With a big smile, Reddick added, “We had a good day.”

Stage 1 started with Michael Annett and Reddick on the front row. There was some great side by side racing at the start with everyone jockeying for position. The only caution was for the spinning car of Brandon Jones. Reddick would easily win the stage after leading 21 of the 25 laps.

Stage 2 when the drivers hit pit road before the start Reddick got a little too much of a push from Ross Chastain and both drivers were busted for speeding. When the stage started they were pretty much running single file. There were no cautions in this stage, however, Reddick got loose and tagged the wall causing pretty significant damage to the right side of the car. Noah Gragson went on to win the stage.

The final stage of the race is where patience and probably some tempers wore off. Talladega being known for its “Big One” meant pretty much the only safe drivers were the ones in the front. Reddick once again brushed the wall but didn’t bring out the caution flag. There were several cautions in this stage. One of them took out two of the four Dash 4 Cash drivers, Allgaier and Custer; it also involved Cindric, Stephen Leicht, and Ryan Sieg.

The final caution with only four laps left brought out the red flag for cleanup of the track. Jeffrey Earnhardt got loose and collected Allgaier, Timmy Hill, David Starr, Jeremy Clements, and Alex Labbe. Until this point, Earnhardt was having another great run driving the No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota. The race restarted with two laps to go and Reddick was able to keep his top spot to win the race.

I want to give a great shout out to Gray Gaulding, driving his No. 08 SS Green Light Racing Chevrolet brought his car home in second place. What a great run he had going today.

Bringing his car home in third place was Christopher Bell in his No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota.

Chase Briscoe and Cindric would round out the top five. John Hunter Nemechek, Justin Haley, Josh Williams, Landon Cassill, and Chris Cockrum finished sixth through 10th, respectively.

Reddick leads the Xfinity Series Standings with 413 points, Bell is second with 381 points, Cindric is third with 339 points, Custer is in fourth with 338 points, and rounding out the top five is Allgaier with 298 points.

The Xfinity Series heads next to Dover International Speedway on Saturday, May 4th.

Xfinity Series Race Number 9
Race Results for the 28th Annual MoneyLion 300 – Saturday, April 27, 2019
Talladega Superspeedway – Talladega, AL – 2.66 – Mile Paved
Total Race Length – 113 Laps – 300.58 Miles