The NASCAR Cup Series Playoff Round of 8 continued this weekend at Homestead-Miami Speedway as Tyler Reddick won in a thrilling final-lap shootout with Ryan Blaney to capture the checkered flag and claim a spot in the Championship 4. Additionally, Reddick led 97 laps and also claimed his eighth career Cup Series win, his third victory of the season, and his first at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
After clinching the regular-season championship, Reddick is presently focused on the ultimate goal – the NASCAR Cup Series championship.
Ryan Blaney finished second, followed by Denny Hamlin, Christopher Bell and Chase Elliott, rounding out the top five.
Playoff Driver Quotes
Tyler Reddick, No. 45 23XI Racing Toyota – Winner
“I couldn’t believe it,” Reddick said. “I just knew I needed to get even with him on his right side door, and he raced me clean, and I appreciate it. I’m just really, really excited having a shot at the championship. We did what it took to win this race, and we’re fighting for a championship,” said the 28-year-old Californian, who became only the second driver in 22 years to win at Homestead from the pole position.”
Team owner, Michael Jordan, was ecstatic, saying, “Little kid, (Reddick) drove his ass off, and I’m proud of him. He didn’t let go. He just went for it, and we needed it. We needed it.”
Ryan Blaney, No. 45 Team Penske Ford – Finished 2nd
Blaney led 47 laps and was the highest-finishing Ford but was disappointed with the outcome.
“Yeah, disappointment. I had a good shot to win it and I didn’t have a very good last lap,” Blaney said. He continued, “I thought I got into three hard and the 45 just went in there and it stuck for him, which is really impressive. I hate to give one away there like that. I don’t know if we gave it away. We got the lead back after losing it on the restart and just that last lap didn’t play out for us. I appreciate everybody on the 12 team for bringing a really fast race car. I had a really great shot to go to Phoenix and I still have one more chance, so we still have to look forward to that.
Denny Hamlin, No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota – Finished 3rd
Hamlin led 21 laps during the race but came up short of clinching a spot in the Championship 4. He is currently sixth in the standings.
“Tried to cover all lanes but just couldn’t quite get off the corner as good as I needed to there on that short run. Short run wasn’t my specialty all day, obviously. Either way, controlling the race with two to go, you got to try to find a way to finish it. Just didn’t.
Christopher Bell, No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota – Finished 4th
I guess I’m out of here with a top-five and getting points is really good. You have to win races in the Round of 8, and we haven’t done that yet. We’ll go to Martinsville, and yeah, I feel confident about where we’re at in Martinsville. (It) has been a good track for us in the past and I think we can build on that. Overall, I’m happy, just disappointed that we weren’t a little bit better contending for the win. Just, I don’t know.”
Chase Elliott, No 9 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet – Finished 5th
“I just got tighter and tighter as the day went on. I was just trying to manage that on the front side of a run, and ultimately I just didn’t do a great job of managing it. When the pace got quicker and everyone started pushing, I didn’t really have anything left to push. It was a really solid couple of weeks for the No. 9 NAPA Chevy team, from a pace perspective. That’s encouraging as you move along in the playoffs.”
William Byron, No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet – Finished 6th
“We kind of had what we had today. We weren’t good enough, and we were just trying to get all we could. I feel like a sixth-place finish is good. If it had gone green there, we were going to end up top-five. I don’t know how that changes the points, but we just have to go to Martinsville Speedway and compete for a win.”
Kyle Larson, No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet – Finished 13th
Kyle Larson, who had a blown tire in Stage 1 and spun out in the final stage, is looking ahead to next week’s playoff race at Martinsville.
“I had a little bit of a hole and I was trying to shoot the gap to get in front of the No. 3 and get to the wall quickly to either hopefully stay on the outside of the No. 12 or build a run to have a shot at him in (turns) one and two. But yeah, it just didn’t work out. I was going as hard as I could. The No. 5 Chevy team did a great job rebounding after the flat tire. We’ve been strong at Martinsville (Speedway) at times, so we’ll see. It’s not my best track, but I’ve been a lot better there since I joined Hendrick Motorsports. We just need to qualify well and give it our best shot.”
Joey Logano, No. 22 Team Penske Ford – Finished 28th
After Logano’s win at Las Vegas Motor Speedway last week, the team’s primary goal is preparing for the Phoenix Raceway championship race. In a pre-race interview, he said, “Not that this race (Homestead) doesn’t matter to us but the fact that we earned an advantage by being able to focus on to Phoenix before anyone else, we need to take advantage of that opportunity.”
Cup Series Playoff standings after Homestead:
Reddick-win
Logano-win
Bell +29
Byron +7
Larson -7
Hamlin -18
Blaney -38
Elliott -43
Up Next
Next weekend, the NASCAR Cup Series travels to Martinsville Speedway for the final race in the championship Round of 8.
