AUSTIN, Texas — Tyler Reddick had the lead and the fastest car on the track when calamity nearly struck.
Caution. Restart. Caution. Restart. Caution. Restart.
Enough slowdowns to make a driver lose his mind.
Or at least his cool.
Reddick handled it nearly to perfection Sunday, earning his first victory with new team 23XI Racing by holding on over multiple late restarts to win in triple overtime Sunday at Circuit of the Americas, the first road course race on this year’s NASCAR schedule.
“Didn’t quite get the restarts perfectly, but we got the one that mattered,” Reddick said. “The last one.”
Reddick’s victory was the first of the year for Toyota and his first since joining the team co-owned by Denny Hamlin and Michael Jordan. It was Reddick’s fourth career Cup Series win, third on a road course. Reddick won a year ago at Road America and on the road course at Indianapolis Motor Speedway in his final season with Richard Childress Racing.
This one might have been the most nerve wracking.
Reddick had to hold the front through the elevated, switchback left hand turn that saw the field bunch up and smash each other time after time on the restarts. The race had eight cautions for 17 laps and went to three overtimes and seven laps past the scheduled distance.
Hamlin said Reddick showed poise to match talent that could lead to a whole lot of victories. He got Reddick to agree to sign with 23XI with a full year remaining on his RCR contract, and then was able to secure Reddick early for 2023 when Kurt Busch was forced to retire because of a concussion.
“I knew he was going to be the most coveted free agent in a very, very, very long time. That’s why I got the jump on it and it cost me a lot of money to do it,” Hamlin said. “You have to have that driver you feel can carry you to championships … I feel like we have that guy.”
Kyle Busch, who pushed Reddick through the final three restarts, finished second in the Chevrolet for RCR that became available to the two-time Cup champion when Reddick jumped to 23XI.
“When we tested here, they were lights out,” Busch said of 23XI. “Tyler obviously is a really good road racer. He proved it driving this car here last year. I’ve been trying to emulate the things he did in order to make this car fast last year, but not quite all the way there.”
Alex Bowman, who had a chance to win on the final lap at COTA last season, was third in a Chevrolet from Hendrick Motorsports.
Ross Chastain, the defending race winner, finished fourth and was confronted post-race inside his car by Trackhouse Racing teammate Daniel Suarez over the aggressive nature of the race. Suarez also exchanged words with Bowman. NASCAR may take action against Suarez for using his car to bump both Bowman and Chastain on pit road.
“He just thought I drove in and tried to drive through him,” Bowman said. “Daniel and I, we’ve been teammates in the past, raced together a long time. I respect the hell out of him. I’m sure he’s still not super happy. Just tried to explain that I wouldn’t race him like that, that I was shoved in there.”