CHICAGO — Tyler Reddick put on a show during the closing stages of Sunday’s Chicago Street Race for the NASCAR Cup Series.
Racing through the field with fresher tires on his 23XI Racing Toyota than his competition, Reddick made it as far as third at the checkered flag, trailing only Joe Gibbs Racing driver Ty Gibbs and race winner Shane van Gisbergen in his Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet.
“Shane (van Gisbergen) was just a little too far ahead. When we did pit and put those tires on the No. 8 (Kyle Busch) got spun and a couple cars got spun on the restart and we were just in the wrong lane and stacked up and a lot of the cars that run the same strategy as us we got behind,” Reddick explained. “Lost time trying to pass them and then passing those cars on the older tires. Just part of it.
“Chaos on a street course at the end there, but I was really proud of our whole 23XI Racing team. This Jumpman Toyota Camry was really fast, it just – we needed that restart to go a little differently. I definitely think we had the pace to get to Shane. It was hard to say how much he was saving or not, but it felt good to have a shot of it.”
Reddick is fifth in the Cup Series standings, but remains winless this season.
“We’re improving. We’ve always been able to come here and have a lot of pace certainly,” Reddick said. “It’s nice to be able to run that strong, but obviously we’re for sure chasing wins.”
• Despite starting 40th after blowing an engine on the first lap of practice Saturday, Denny Hamlin raced through the field to finish fourth in the Joe Gibbs Racing No. 11.
“Just a good job by the team. I had some pace and really the whole Progressive Toyota team did a great job,” Hamlin said. “I’ve got to thank the whole team for working hard to kind of get us back to where we were running there. Truthfully, that’s where we were at on pace. It wasn’t a crazy strategy or anything like that. Just thought the car was really, really good.
“I would’ve loved to not have to save fuel with the No. 54 (Ty Gibbs) and the No. 88 (Shane van Gisbergen) there just to see how far off I am and how much I stack up. I’m really happy overall with the day.”
• Ryan Preece finished seventh in his RFK Racing Ford and advanced to the third round of the In-Season Challenge tournament.
“I felt like if we could have gotten through the first round, these next two rounds are really good for us,” Preece said. “Our road course program is pretty strong and we keep making it better, so going into Sonoma, I think we’re up against Tyler Reddick, so he’s really good at road courses as well, but I like being the underdog.”
• Kyle Busch ended a roller-coaster ride of a day with a fifth-place finish in his Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet.
“Our day started out pretty good. We got a good jump on the initial start there and was able to roll forward and get to third,” Busch explained. “We tried to go long on that first set of tires, and with those couple of cautions, it didn’t fall into our favor. That put us on old tires and I spun out getting into (turn) seven. We just didn’t have any left-rear grip. That’s something we’ve struggled with on this car, and it just bit me there.
“The No. 8 Slurpee Chevrolet team rallied and we were able to rebound,” Busch continued. “We pitted a couple of times there at the end and had some fresh tires late for some of the melee that was going on in front of us and made up some spots. Our Chevrolet was definitely a top-two or three car, but it’s good to come home with a top-five finish.”
• NASCAR Xfinity Series veteran made a rare Cup Series start on Sunday and finished ninth in the No. 33 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet.
“The Cup Series isn’t easy. To only have five races with the No. 33 team and leave with a top-10 finish is huge for our group,” Hill said. “We started 30th, drove up a little ways and played some strategy to gain even more ground. I feel like I won the race honestly. I was upset with finishing fourth yesterday in the Xfinity Series race, but to finish ninth in a Cup race feels like I won it.”
• Michael McDowell led 31 laps before a broken throttle cable relegated his Spire Motorsports Chevrolet to a 32nd-place finish.
“The throttle cable just broke. I don’t know what caused it or how it got to that spot, but that’s what happened,” McDowell said. “I feel like we had control of the race. I think it would have been a battle, no doubt. I felt like any time I could open a gap on SVG, I could. We were just working on our strategy.”
• Ty Dillon finished 20th in his Kaulig Racing Chevrolet, but still advanced to the next round of the In-Season Challenge.
“We survived and advanced,” Dillon said. “This No. 10 Kaulig Racing Chevrolet team is just a tough team – we never quit. We don’t even know how to. I’m just so proud of Kaulig Racing and our No. 10 team. I knew in a basketball city, going up against Brad in a game of knock-out, I was going to have a good chance. This race was tough on us. I felt like halfway through the race, we were rolling pretty good and we could have had a chance at a top-15. I clipped the wall again and knocked the toe out and kind of bent the ball joint pretty bad.
“I was just kind of hanging on and hoping we could get everything we could there at the end. We’re just going to keep working hard; put pressure on who we’re facing next and see if we can keep it rolling.”
