CONCORD, N.C. – Tyler Reddick knows there’s limited crown-jewel races on the Cup Series schedule. And seemingly every year since joining the big leagues in 2020, he’s been in the mix at the Coca-Cola 600.
But for a variety of reasons, Reddick has come up empty each time. Add Sunday’s race at Charlotte Motor Speedway to the list of daggers.
“I’ve twice now been in this spot where I felt like we had a car that could have won the race,” Reddick told a few reporters following a fourth-place effort in a race that got cut 27 laps short due to heavy rain. “A couple of years ago, it was just passed halfway and started [raining]. This year, it was a much more clean race.”
From pole position, Reddick led a race-high 119 laps at Charlotte (the second most laps he’s led in a single race – Darlington Raceway, April 2024). Through the opening three stages, he banked 20 points and never ran outside the top 10 aside from green-flag pit stops. He appeared to be on his way to winning Stage 3, but had to limp around for the final 14 laps of the stage with an issue with the right-rear tire.
For the majority of the race, Reddick traded the lead back and forth with quasi-Toyota teammates. Combined, Reddick, Christopher Bell, Denny Hamlin, Ty Gibbs and Chase Briscoe led 289 of the 373 laps completed. But when the rainstorm that hovered around the 1.5-mile circuit throughout the evening finally hit, it was Daniel Suárez that was scored as the leader, holding off the Toyotas on a pair of restarts with only two fresh tires.
Reddick was scored in fourth position when the race was deemed official, matching his best finish in seven Coca-Cola 600 starts. He has an average finish of 8.9 in those events.
“I didn’t have a couple of good restarts there at the end,” Reddick added. “I want to win this race so bad for this team. It’s one of the biggest races we’ve had on our schedule. I really want to win it. Yes, it’s a good points day, but there’s a couple on the schedule where it’s not about points, it’s about winning crown jewels. We just didn’t get to see the race end.”
Hamlin chipped seven points off of Reddick’s monstrous points lead, now sitting at 122 markers at the halfway point of the regular season. In those 13 events, Reddick has nine top-five finishes, including a handful of victories.
“All in all, just unfortunate that this one was rain shortened. But it’s done. We’ll move on to Nashville.”
After the race, though, Kyle Busch and his family were on Reddick’s mind. He was among the several drivers that honored Busch in an emotional pre-race tribute with Kyle’s wife Samantha and children Brexton and Lennix, along with his parents Tom and Gaye and brother Kurt in attendance as they made their first public appearance since Kyle’s sudden passing on Thursday.
“My thoughts and prayers are with the Busch family,” he stated. “I hope today and this weekend they got to see how much we stand behind them and we’re going to be there to support them as they go through this.”