LONG POND, Pa. – Tyler Reddick, the most entertaining driver in the NASCAR Xfinity Series put on another thrilling performance Saturday afternoon at Pocono (Pa.) Raceway.
After swapping a transmission following final practice yesterday, Reddick started the 38-car starting field last – but found himself inside the top-10 less than 10 laps into the race. His presence was quickly felt inside the top-five during the end of the first two stages and even an outside tire violation late in the Pocono Green 250 threatened to ruin his race – but in typical Reddick fashion, he found himself back in the front when it counted most.
In NASCAR overtime, the Richard Childress Racing driver made a gutsy move on the restart that nearly made him look like a hero in Turn 1 swiping the lead away from Cole Custer – but while trying to protect his lead in Turn 3 on the last lap, Reddick’s handling bit him at the worst possible moment and denied him the opportunity to win back-to-back Xfinity Series races.
As the two cars screamed out of the Tunnel Turn towards Turn 3, Custer drove his No. 00 FIMS Manufacturing Ford Mustang hard into the entry of the turn – causing him to slightly lift and complete the turn, however, as Custer was recovering, Reddick’s car battling a tight condition shoved up the race track heading down the frontstretch allowing Custer’s momentum to carry him past the No. 2 Tame the Beast Chevrolet and onto his third Xfinity Series win of the season.
Reddick finished second, his ninth top-four finish since ISM (Ariz.) Raceway in March.
“I heard that he (Custer) kinda drove it in a little deep there, so I tried to really get it stopped and made sure I covered the bottom,” offered Reddick. “We really fought a tight-handling the last half race of this race in our Tame the Beast Camaro. We were so good at the beginning of this race, I just don’t know what changed, the car went away from us there.”
Reddick said he was worried about how the drastic change in his car’s handling would turn out, even in the lead – knowing he couldn’t keep his car on the bottom of the race track like he wanted.
“We had a really good restart to get by Cole and I was just so tight out front, even out front in clear air, I was just way too tight to hold the bottom that well, I probably could have hold the bottom better, I’m not going to lie to ya, but I thought I was going to be really tight going in (Turn) 3, so I put some rear brake in it and I got loose in 3 and pretty much gave it back to him there.”
Gunning for his third win of 2019, Reddick knew that the racing was phenomenal and enjoyed the fierce competition – but was irritated at the final results.
“It was fun to battle with him. I hope the fans enjoyed it, because I didn’t, getting passed in the last corner, but that’s racing.”
After 12 races, Reddick maintains the points lead, 76 ahead of Christopher Bell heading into Michigan International Speedway on June 8. In two previous starts at the Brooklyn, Mich. track, he earned a track best of seventh last June driving for JR Motorsports.
Follow Chris Knight on Twitter @Knighter01.
