Reddick’s ‘really bad mistake’ nearly cost him postseason opportunity

Tyler Reddick secured his spot in the NASCAR Cup Series postseason before the end of the first stage Saturday night in Daytona, but it wasn’t as straightforward as that sounds.

Reddick entered the night in a points battle with Alex Bowman over who would fall to the final spot on the playoff grid. It was a danger zone for both drivers, as the last one on the grid would have been eliminated if there was a new winner at the end of the night. The gap between Reddick and Bowman was 29 points.

It was nearly thrown away by Reddick off Turn 4 on lap 18. Reddick moved to the right coming off the corner while on the inside of Todd Gilliland, and the two collided. Both drivers spun to the inside of the racetrack, with Reddick hitting the inside wall near the entrance to pit road nose-first.

The car was “pretty destroyed” from the crash, Reddick said, but he stayed on the lead lap and on the racetrack.

“It was just a really bad mistake way too early in the race,” Reddick said. “I was not too happy with myself, honestly, and I’m still not. We didn’t even really get a chance to race with a car that seemed like it was pretty good. It was fortunate that we caught the breaks that made our path tonight a little bit less stressful, but same story, different week – another opportunity that we didn’t capitalize on.”

It was lap 27 when Reddick caught the break he needed.

Bowman was collected in a multicar crash on the frontstretch that ended his race. With Bowman out of the race, it clinched Reddick’s spot in the postseason as he would be guaranteed to finish ahead of Bowman on the playoff grid. Bowman had to watch the rest of the race and hope there was no new winner who would eliminate him from the postseason. Reddick and his team, meanwhile, went to work on what they could control for the rest of the night.

“I’d say pretty much from the time that we knew we were good on the [No.] 48, we were just trying to figure out how we could stay ahead of the [No.] 19 in the regular season standings,” Reddick said. “If we can’t win a race, get playoff points somehow, and that’s one extra one. So, the mindset shifted pretty quickly once the [No.] 48 was out. It became, ‘OK, how can we cover the [No.] 19 and try to keep him behind us in the standings?’”

It was a fortuitous turn of events, and fortuitous that happened quickly for Reddick’s emotions.

“It all happened pretty quickly, thankfully,” Reddick said. “Yeah, still obviously frustrated that it happened in the first place, but I guess I was fortunate from the time that I made my mistake to the time that they wrecked again that it was pretty quick, so I didn’t completely rip myself apart.

“But nonetheless, it’s frustrating to come to a place like Daytona, I feel like our Toyota Camrys are really solid, and not really have a shot or chance to battle for the win.”

Reddick did finish ahead of the No. 19 team of Chase Briscoe in the regular season points standings. The position was worth one more point for Reddick as NASCAR awards the drivers in the top 10 in the standings with additional playoff points before they are reseeded for the postseason. Being seventh in the standings was worth four additional playoff points versus three for finishing eighth in the standings.

Reddick, who has six playoff points to begin the postseason, knows he needs all the help he can get. A year ago, he won the regular season title and had plenty of points to fall back on during a tough race. It won’t be as easy a path this year.

“We’ve got to go run like we’ve been able to do at Darlington year in and year out,” Reddick said. “We’ve got to go in there and perform strong. If we do that, that’ll be a big help. That’s pretty much where I’m at.

“I’m going to take it one race at a time. I don’t even know where we go after Darlington. So, one race at a time.”