Tyler Reddick again flirts with first NASCAR Cup victory

Reddick was running third in the final laps of Sunday’s race at Darlington (S.C.) Raceway when Joey Logano caught leader William Byron with one lap to go.

Logano knocked Byron out of the way and Reddick hoped the incident would collect both cars but Logano held on and edged Reddick by 0.775 seconds for his first win of the 2022 season.

“William did a really good job on the (last) restart to get by Joey. There was a little bit of contact there, so I don’t know if that’s why Joey got back to William,” Reddick, 26, said. “It also kind of looked like Joey was going under and William kind of faded down.

“I was hoping they were going to blow their momentum a little bit more than they did, but it didn’t turn out that way.”

Reddick still ended with his second runner-up finish of the season and third finish of third or better in the first 12 races. He now owns five runner-up finishes in the Cup Series through two-plus fulltime seasons driving for Richard Childress Racing.

He’s had a bumpy ride this season – he’s wrecked out of two races and lost an engine in another but also led 206 laps so far, the most of his career. Reddick is 15th in the series standings.

While Reddick’s No. 8 Chevrolet was fast throughout Sunday’s race, his strong run almost ended early.

On Lap 160 of 293, Reddick was forced to pit under green after reporting a vibration. Following a pit stop for four new tires, he returned to the track a lap down and in the 27th position.

“All-in-all, it was a good rebound for our No. 8 team,” he said. “We pitted for a vibration pretty early in the race that could have derailed our whole day, but we were able to bounce back from it.

“Darlington is fun. It’s a frustrating place. You let your guard down for one second and your whole day can change. It’s one of the most difficult tracks that we go to, especially trying to manage the dirty air; trying to manage your right side and not tearing it off.

“A lot of options when you go into each corner here, so it makes it really fun, but also pretty frustrating until you figure it out.”