Tyler Reddick became the fourth consecutive non-Championship driver to win a Playoff race.
- Tyler Reddick, in getting his third 2022 (and career) NASCAR Cup victory for owner Richard Childress, led three times for 70 laps, including the final 24.
- The 334-lap, 501-mile race at Fort Worth was slowed by a record 19 cautions and stopped for almost an hour by a renegade hit-and-run rain shower that brought lightning
- With his third victory of the season, Reddick became the fourth consecutive non-Championship driver to win a Playoff race.
NASCAR’s championship standings took a Texas-sized shuffle during Sunday afternoon/night’s ugly, caution-filled, unpredictable AutoTrader 500 at Texas Motor Speedway. If this race is remembered by anyone other than winner Tyler Reddick, it’ll be for all the wrong reasons.
Chase Elliott, for example, started the race No. 1 among drivers still eligible for the Cup Series title. He crashed and his car burned, leaving him 34th at the finish. Midway through the Round of 12, he’s tied with Daniel Suarez for eighth among the championship hopefuls.
Christopher Bell, another championship hopeful, crashed from tire issues that left him 34th at the finish. He dropped from seventh in championship points to ninth, one position and four points below the eight-driver transfer spot in the Round of 12.
Playoff hopefuls Alex Bowman and Austin Cindric also had tire problems and crashed out. Add to that unfortunate list of DNFs non-Championship drivers Kevin Harvick, Kyle Busch, Cole Custer, Martin Truex Jr., and Ricky Stenhouse. At the finish, it was hard to find anyone among the top-15 who had escaped some degree of trouble.
Runner-up Joey Logano called the race “bittersweet,” happy with his points jump to No. 1 but unhappy—as so many others were—by the tire problems he and others suffered all afternoon.
“It was a successful day for points,” Logano said. “We got stage points in both stages and were able to get a bunch by finishing second, but it was a sloppy race for everyone. We were able to position ourselves really good at the end. (Crew chief) Paul Wolfe did a good job calling the race. He put four tires on when we needed to and two tires on when we needed to cycle forward. If the tires weren’t blowing out, then they were square. They were shaking like crazy.”
Tyler Reddick became the fourth non-Playoff driver in succession to win a NASCAR Cup Playoff race.
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Reddick, in getting his third 2022 (and career) victory for owner Richard Childress, led three times for 70 laps, including the final 24. But he never felt confident, not after seeing so many of his competitors blowing tires and crashing or spinning.
“I was extremely worried, I’m not going to lie,” he said. “Unfortunately, just about every time we’ve had fast cars, we’ve had some tire problems. Yeah, that last run the right sides were vibrating really, really hard. Just in case, I was trying to maximize and use the gap I had built over Joey. I mean, every time we’ve had a strong car, we’ve been bit by something.”
The 334-lap, 501-mile race at Fort Worth was slowed by a record 19 cautions and stopped for almost an hour by a renegade hit-and-run rain shower that brought lightning to the area. After starting shortly after 3:30 ET under clear skies, it shut down for 50 minutes, thus the merciful checkered flag at 9:15.
With his third victory of the season, Reddick became the fourth consecutive non-Championship driver to win a Playoff race. Erik Jones won at Darlington, Bubba Wallace at Kansas City, and Chris Buescher last weekend at Bristol. Former champions Harvick and Busch, plus Reddick and Dillon were eliminated after those three races. The field will be trimmed from the current 12 to eight after Talladega next weekend and the Charlotte Roval on Oct. 8-9.
Logano was 1.190 seconds behind Reddick at the end. Justin Haley was third, Ryan Blaney (still a championship contender despite being 0-for-30) was fourth, then Briscoe, Erik Jones, William Byron, pole-winner Brad Keselowski, Kyle Larson, and Denny Hamlin.
Joey Logano leads the NASCAR Cup Playoff standings.
Sean GardnerGetty Images
Playoff Standings
The current standings going to Talladega Superspeedway next weekend: Logano, Ross Chastain (-12), Byron (-13), Larson (-14), Blaney (-15), Hamlin (-22), Suarez and Elliott (-26).
Below the Line
Chase Briscoe is four points below the line, Austin Cindric is 37 under, Bell is 55 behind, and Alex Bowman is 56 below the line.
Keyword: Texas NASCAR Cup Results: Reddick's Win at Texas Shakes Up Standings