BROOKLYN, Mich. – Reigning NASCAR Xfinity Series champion Tyler Reddick continued his strong season with a victory Saturday afternoon in the LTi Printing 250 at Michigan Int’l Speedway.
Reddick and his No. 2 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet team utilized a fuel mileage gamble to earn their third victory of the season.
The California native was called down pit road for his final pit stop for fuel during the final caution period of the day, which came with 49 laps left after Chase Briscoe spun during a restart.
Christopher Bell and Cole Custer stayed on track during the caution period and the restarted on the front row while Reddick restarted in 10th.
The green flag waved for the final time with 44 laps left and Bell held the lead over Custer. Behind them Reddick was quickly moving his way back up through the field, taking over third with 40 laps left.
Once in third Reddick quickly gapped the cars behind him. Once he had a few seconds on his closest pursuers, he began to slow his lap times down in order to save fuel and guarantee he could make it to the finish if the caution flag didn’t wave again.
At the front of the field Custer dispatched Bell to take the lead with 31 laps remaining, but both drivers were still going to have to pit again for fuel. With no caution to aid them, Bell hit the pits with 11 laps left and Custer followed a lap later.
That gave the lead to Reddick, who continued to save fuel and easily crossed the finish line a little more than a second ahead of Noah Gragson to earn his third victory of the season and sixth of his career.
“I just didn’t want to burn a lot of fuel there,” Reddick admitted. “Our KCMG Chevrolet was really good, I just made some mistakes on pit road and we didn’t get the track position until the end there when Randall (Burnett, crew chief) made the call that he did.
“A great team effort. I didn’t do the thing I needed to do out on the race track, but man it was a great car and we just put ourselves in position to win.”
Gragson’s runner-up result was his best finish of the season in the JR Motorsports No. 9 Chevrolet.
Michael Annett finished third, his best finish since winning the season opener at Daytona Int’l Speedway in February. Paul Menard finished fourth after starting from the pole and leading a race-high 47 laps. Justin Allgaier completed the top-five.
Custer and Bell, both of whom pitted late in the race from the top-two positions, finished 12th and 13th respectively.
For complete results, advance to the next page.