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Playoff Contender Tyler Reddick Flips on Las Vegas Fronstretch

The 2024 NASCAR Cup Series regular-season champion was involved in an odd accident at Las Vegas, getting air on the frontstretch and flipping upside down in his No. 45.

Joseph Srigley

Tyler Reddick went for a wild ride during the second stage of Sunday's South Point 400 at Las Vegas, tumbling in his No. 45 Jordan Brand Toyota Camry XSE.
Tyler Reddick went for a wild ride during the second stage of Sunday's South Point 400 at Las Vegas, tumbling in his No. 45 Jordan Brand Toyota Camry XSE. / Photo Credit: Brian Smith, TobyChristie.com

There's been no shortage of strange wrecks in the NASCAR Cup Series this season, the latest of which occurred in Sunday's South Point 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, with NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs driver Tyler Reddick going upside down.

Reddick, the regular-season champion and third seed in the semi-final round of the NASCAR Playoffs, was running in the outside lane when the two drivers in front of him -- Chase Elliott and Martin Truex, Jr. -- slid up the track, squishing the No. 45 into the wall.

Elliott and Reddick were the first two drivers to make substantial contact in the incident, which sent both the No. 9 Chevrolet and No. 45 Toyota spinning down the racetrack and into the path of Brad Keselowski, causing all three drivers to spin to the infield.

The wreck initially looked to be harmless, but turned nasty quickly. Reddick's Toyota Camry XSE spun through the grass and over the paved section of the quarter-mile track on the frontstretch, which lifted the wheel off the ground, and eventually tipped the No. 45 over, and upside down.

Possibly the most surprising part of that incident, though, was that Reddick somehow managed to drive his No. 45 Toyota back to his pit stall for his crew to evaluate the damage, which was -- obviously -- extensive and race-ending.

The Corning, California-native was forced to retire from the South Point 400 after just 89 circuits around Las Vegas, and will be credited with a 35th-place finish (barring any post-race inspection failures).

"You just have to be aggressive on restarts," said Reddick. "It's how the NextGen racing has been from the beginning. I kind of saw them both have a moment, and I just had a split-second to make a decision. You have to be aggressive on the restart. It is hard to pass after a while. Being myself on a mile and a half, being aggressive – by the time I realized I was in trouble, the 19 (Martin Truex Jr.) started sliding and the 9 (Chase Elliott) was coming up and I was pretty much already on their outside at that point, with nowhere to really go."

“Yeah, you just have to be aggressive on restarts. It’s how the Next Gen racing has been from the beginning. I kind of saw them both have a moment, and I just had to split second make a decision. YI needed to make the decision earlier when I saw them sliding to be more conservative to avoid an incident – just not who I am, but it is unfortunate. It took us out of the race. We had a really, really fast Jordan Brand Toyota Camry, probably would have been in the mix all race long, but we will go to Homestead – a place where I have had to get it done before and go for it there.”

"I needed to make the decision earlier when I saw them sliding to be more conservative to avoid an incident – just not who I am, but it is unfortunate," Reddick added. It took us out of the race. We had a really, really fast Jordan Brand Toyota Camry, probably would have been in the mix all race long, but we will go to Homestead – a place where I have had to get it done before and go for it there.”

Chase Elliott, the second post-season driver involved in the accident, was initially able to return to the racetrack, but after clearing the Damaged Vehicle Policy (DVP) clock, went to the garage area to make more substantial repairs.

While all of this chaos was happening at the front of the field, Ryan Blaney was having issues back in the middle of the pack. Blaney got into the outside wall in an attempt to avoid the accident ahead, which broke the right-rear toe link on the No. 12 Ford Mustang Dark Horse.

After starting at the rear of the field in a backup car, following a wreck early in practice, Blaney was able to continue overcoming adversity, with his team fixing the toe link within the allotted time and returning to the racetrack only a couple of laps behind the leaders.

This one intense moment in the second stage of Sunday's NASCAR Cup Series event at Las Vegas will ultimately play a major role in who advances to the Championship 4 in the NASCAR Cup Series this season, with Tyler Reddick and Chase Elliott needing to make time in the final two races of the round.

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Joseph Srigley
JOSEPH SRIGLEY

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