One week ago at Bristol, Tyler Reddick's chances at the 2022 Cup Series championship came to an end when he was collected in a crash that eliminated him from the NASCAR Playoffs by two points. But while Reddick's championship hopes have gone by the wayside, Driver No. 8 himself certainly hasn't.
After an eventful, dramatic race that saw a track record 16 cautions and a pattern of tire failures, Reddick was able to survive and drive away at the end to win the Autotrader EchoPark Automotive 500 at Texas Motor Speedway. It was Reddick's third victory of the season, and it continues a streak of now four straight non-playoff drivers to win in the 2022 NASCAR Playoffs.
Autotrader EchoPark Automotive 500 unofficial results
- #8 - Tyler Reddick
- #22 - Joey Logano
- #31 - Justin Haley
- #12 - Ryan Blaney
- #14 - Chase Briscoe
- #43 - Erik Jones
- #24 - William Byron
- #6 - Brad Keselowski
- #5 - Kyle Larson
- #11 - Denny Hamlin
Reddick's win was a bittersweet one, as it was somewhat of a reminder of what might have been for him and his No. 8 team had it not been for misfortune in the Round of 16. After finishing third at Darlington, Reddick cut a tire and crashed while leading at Kansas and then was collected in a crash at Bristol.
Had Reddick been able to advance to the Round of 12, Sunday's win at Texas would have advanced him to the next round. But on a positive note, Reddick's victory served as a resounding message that he and his race team will be a force the rest of the year.
"Every spot matters in this deal, and we just had two tough races," Reddick told NBC Sports. "... It's tough, but this will make the pain of not making it through a little bit easier. Even though, yes, it would have locked us into the Round of 8. But hey, we're winning races, that's what we'll keep trying to do."
Tire Terrors
Entering Sunday's race, there was an implicit understanding that the high side would be a trouble spot, as that area of the track has been a no man's land lacking in grip ever since Texas Motor Speedway overused traction compound in the upper lanes attempting to artificially create a second groove. What wasn't anticipated, however, was the sheer level of impact that attrition would have on this race.
Texas' 500-miler was marred by a high level of right rear tire failures, many of which occurred in Turns 3 and 4 and many of which occurred at the front of the field. Kyle Busch, Christopher Bell and Alex Bowman all came to grief within the first stage of the race, and things only got worse from there.
As the race wore on, the lead car's right rear effectively became a ticking time bomb. Chase Elliott blew a right rear tire while leading on Lap 184, sending him hard into the wall off Turn 4 and out of the race. Kevin Harvick and Martin Truex Jr. would later suffer the same fate while leading in Turn 3, and other cars to have tire failures near the front of the field included Chris Buescher and Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
Speaking to reporters, Goodyear's Greg Stucker said that the tire failures were not dissimilar to right rear tire failures seen at Atlanta earlier this year. The tire company believed the air pressures that teams were running played a factor, as did the traction compound laid down as well as changing track conditions late in the race.
"We're running considerably faster than what we were before," Stucker said. "... The resin I think has kept the racetrack extremely fast. There's very little tire falloff. When the bottom's not working, the guys can move up. All those factors, I think, play into it. No excuses, we're just trying to find the facts and figure out what exactly is going on."
The high amount of tire failures led to 16 cautions in total, a mark which broke the Texas Motor Speedway record for cautions in a single race (The previous high had been 13 in the fall of 2014). There was also a red flag of just under an hour due to a popup rain and lightning storm.
Byron vs. Hamlin
The only thing more dramatic than beef between drivers is beef between playoff drivers, which is exactly what exists now between William Byron and Denny Hamlin after the two had a run-in with each other late in Sunday's race.
While battling for second spot following a restart with 76 laps to go, Hamlin ran Byron wide up the racetrack on the exit of Turn 2, which led to Byron hitting the outside wall and losing his position. Byron took exception to the way he was raced by Hamlin, and he made sure to repay the favor: As the field slowed after Martin Truex Jr. crashed out of the lead, Byron hit Hamlin from behind and spun his No. 11 Toyota through the infield grass.
Hamlin and his team were irate -- Hamlin's crew wanted a penalty to be assessed to Byron, to which Hamlin responded that he would "give him the penalty" if he was able to catch Byron again. However, they would recover to finish 10th while Byron finished seventh, with both drivers expressing their difference of opinion in post-race.
"He ran me out of room and bent the toe link. We're lucky we finished," Byron told NBC Sports. "... I didn't mean to obviously spin him out over there, but I'm obviously pissed off and just not gonna get run like that. We've always raced so well together, so I don't know what it was all about.
"The No. 19 took his air away and he ran out of racetrack, so he chose to run me out of racetrack completely. ... There's really no reason. We're running second and third I think and had a shot to win, and killed our car for sure."
"I'll just add it to the list of guys, when I get a chance, they're gonna get it," Hamlin told NBC Sports. "It all just works itself out. We'll be racing each other at some point, and he'll lose a lot of spots because he's racing me.
"This is hard racing, obviously. I'm fine with hard racing. But wrecking me under caution is not what we were bargained for."
The feud between Byron and Hamlin will be worth monitoring over the rest of the Round of 12, as well as the Round of 8 if both drivers can advance. Byron and Hamlin leave Texas 17 and eight points above the cutoff line, respectively.
Cody Ware
The most harrowing moment of the race occurred on Lap 168, when Cody Ware was involved in a vicious crash in Turn 4. Ware overcorrected after getting sideways mid-corner, sending him head-on into the outside wall and then down the racetrack toward pit road with no control over his car. Ware narrowly missed hitting the opening in the pit wall leading to the garage area -- saving what could have been a much worse collision -- before hitting the pit wall itself and coming to rest in front of B.J. McLeod's pit stall.
Ware was able to climb out of his car, but he did so gingerly before stumbling to the ground. Ware was put on a stretcher and transported by ambulance to the infield care center, where he spent an extensive amount of time receiving X-Rays before being released.
According to Rick Ware Racing, Ware was suffering from some ankle discomfort but had neither a concussion nor any broken bones. Team president Robby Benton told reporters that Ware should be okay to race next weekend, but he will need NASCAR's approval before doing so. Ware was able to travel home with his team.
Race Results Rundown
- With a third-place finish, Justin Haley matched his season-best finish from Darlington in May while scoring his second top-five and third top-10 finish of the season. Haley's mark of three top 10s is a new single-season high for Haley, who scored two top 10s while running all but five races in 2021.
- A fifth-place finish was much needed for Chase Briscoe, as it marked his first top-five finish since the Coca-Cola 600 in May and his best finish overall since then. Briscoe was the second-highest finishing playoff driver, which has brought him just four points below the cut line for the Round of 8.
- After his chances of winning were foiled by a cut tire at Bristol, Brad Keselowski won the pole on Saturday and then overcame an early pit road speeding penalty to finish eighth. It marked Keselowski's fifth top-10 finish of the season, two of which have come since the playoffs began at Darlington.
- Michael McDowell used strategy to get out in front when the race was red flagged, and he would ultimately lead 12 laps before finishing 11th. It marked the sixth race that McDowell has led this season, three of which have seen him lead a double-digit amount of laps. McDowell previously led 34 laps at Gateway and 14 laps at Watkins Glen.
- Get the penny counter out: Corey LaJoie avoided trouble all day and finished 14th to score his second top-15 finish in a row. It's the first time LaJoie has had consecutive finishes inside the top 15 in his Cup career.
- Harrison Burton had an interesting day, taking the lead under green and leading 15 laps before having to battle back from a slow stop and fire on pit road to finish 18th. Burton's laps led mark breaks his previous career high set at Atlanta in July.
Next Race
Next week begins a pair of wild card races in the Round of 12, beginning with the YellaWood 500 next Sunday at 2 p.m. ET on NBC.
