BRISTOL, Tenn: California’s Tyler Reddick was less than a quarter mile of collecting his first NASCAR Cup Series victory in Sunday night’s Food City Dirt Race, but a gutsy move by second-place runner Chase Briscoe entering Turns 3 and 4 on the last lap spun both cars out exiting Turn 4 and allowed Kyle Busch to edge the Richard Childress Racing driver by 0.330-seconds at the checkered flag.
Reddick’s No. 8 3CHI Chevrolet Camaro ZLE 1LE dominated Stage 3 and appeared towards ending a 62-race winless streak for the Welcome, North Carolina team – but Reddick will try and redeem himself on April 24th at Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway.
Reddick led a race-high total of 99 laps, swiping the lead away from Kyle Busch at the start of Stage 3 with an impressive three-wide pass and withstood two short rain delays over the final 100 laps to be in contention for his first Cup Series trophy.
Following a 16 minute, 51 second red flag for rain, the race resumed in Stage 3 with 23 laps to go and despite an impressive launch on the restart and being able to extend his lead on Busch, Briscoe charging from behind was able to pass Busch on Lap 232 and set his sights on Reddick.
It took until the final three laps of the race for Briscoe to find himself on the bumper of Reddick as the two drivers caught the tail of the field. With Reddick taking a defensive line to keep his competitor at bay, Reddick knew that Briscoe would likely take one more shot at him on the last lap.
As the car exited the backstretch, Briscoe threw his No. 14 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford Mustang deep into Turn 3, while trying to attempt a slide job on Reddick, Briscoe’s car spun and tagged Reddick’s left-rear quarter panel.
Reddick was able to quickly get back on the gas, but with a head of steam exiting Turn 4, Busch was in the right place at the right time and edged ahead forcing the two-time Xfinity Series champion to settle for a career-best second-place finish for the fourth time in his career.
Understandably, many expected Reddick to be upset and frustrated of the last lap contact, but Reddick was the complete opposite taking responsibility himself for allowing Briscoe to catch him and be able to make a Hail Mary pass coming to the checkered flag.
“I don’t think I did everything right, to be honest with you,” said Reddick after the race. “Briscoe was able to run me back down there. Just looking at it, I should have done a little bit better job of just — I don’t know. I shouldn’t have let him get that close. He ran me back down. (He) Worked really hard to do that.”
When it comes to racing for a win at the pinnacle level of Stock Car racing, Reddick said you could hope for a race to the finish like he and Briscoe showcased on Sunday afternoon with or without a spin.
“I mean, you’re racing on dirt, going for the move on the final corner,” added Reddick. “It’s everything that as a driver you hope to battle for in his situation. Made it really exciting for the fans, so…”
Much like his Chevrolet counterpart Carson Hocevar who lost the lead in the closing laps of Saturday night’s Truck Series race at Bristol, second-place is still a tough pill to swallow.
“It does suck, but we were able to finish second still,” sounded Reddick. “I’m being honest. I should have done a better job and pulled away so he wasn’t in range to try to make that move. That’s how I look at it.”
Once Reddick finished his television responsibilities on pit road, Briscoe who said climbing from his race car, “That was my fault, 100 percent. I’ll go down there and apologize and deserve what I get.” had made his way from his 22nd place to pit road to personally apologize to Reddick for his actions.
“I was going to spin out I think either way,” Briscoe explained to Reddick. “I was like, Please don’t hit with the right rear. Please don’t hit with the right rear. I saw it.
“I’m sorry. I just wanted to let you know. I wish you would have won.”
Reddick responded, “I needed to drive away. I let you get close. It’s all good. Next time.”
Follow Chris Knight on Twitter @Knighter01.
