2024 GEICO 500: Tyler Reddick Redeems Handicapped Toyota’s Sinking Ship Amidst Final Lap Talladega Mayhem

It is no secret that races at Talladega Superspeedway tend to get chaotic. Unsurprisingly, the same was the case come Sunday when the Cup Series witnessed its 10th race of the season. With plenty of chaos in the final lap, Tyler Reddick came out victorious. While it was a smart victory for the #45 driver, there was plenty at disposal in Alabama. On a day when Toyota looked to struggle immensely, the 23XI Racing star turned into a savior for the Japanese manufacturer.

Tyler Reddick ends Hendrick Motorsports and Joe Gibbs Racing’s dominance with a sneaky victory at Talladega

It has been a dominating start so far for Chevrolet in the 2024 Cup Series campaign. With six wins to its name, the American manufacturer has had plenty of reasons to rejoice. While Toyota had three wins to show for themselves, they looked positively ahead of the race at Talladega on Sunday.

Ford’s Michael McDowell led the teams after his impressive run in qualifying. While he enjoyed a good time there, the same could not be said for Kyle Larson. The #5 driver did not get a lap in qualifying due to unapproved adjustments to the roof rails. Therefore, Larson pitted after the first lap to serve his penalty.

With seven different winners in the last seven races at Talladega Superspeedway, Sunday’s race was bound to provide several surprises. One of them came in the form of Ross Chastain early on. In just seven laps, the #1 driver reached P2 despite starting P32.

It looked like the high lane provided a lot of momentum to the drivers, quickly helping them gain positions. Another example of that was witnessed when BJ McLeod took the lead in the 10th lap despite starting in the 37th position. While the lead did not last for a long time, the early phases of the Talladega race looked very promising.

Surprisingly, the race on Sunday had nine different leaders in the first 17 laps. While the race continued providing surprises, McLeod had to pit in the 40th lap after getting into the wall. Luckily, no caution came out, keeping the flow of the race intact.

More drama continued on pit road as Denny Hamlin spun at its entry. After the 46th lap, all cars completed the pit cycle, leaving an exciting finish in the final 14 laps in Stage 1. In the first 48 laps, the race witnessed lead changes for an incredible 24 times.

Having said that, the first Stage finally came to an end with a surprising winner in the form of Austin Cindric. With Cindric starting P2, it was a well-deserved reward for his Stage 1 performance. Chase Elliott, William Byron, Ryan Blaney, and Kyle Busch followed him to form the top five after the first stage.

Interestingly, Cindric was 0.020 seconds quicker than Elliott to grab the stage win there. While the common theme in the first stage was to save fuel, the second stage came with a similar approach. Many drivers opted to run five seconds slower than their best lap in Stage 2.

However, the overall pace picked up near the 99th lap. Chris Buescher led the pack with five Ford cars in a single file line at the front. What was more astonishing was that there were 44 lead changes in those 99 laps. Keeping in mind that 70 was the all-time high record for Talladega.

Coming to Stage 2, Chris Buescher continued his impressive run on Sunday as he took the lead in the 113th lap. Eventually, it was Joey Logano who ended up as the Stage 2 winner after some smart driving in the dying laps. This meant the stage win was the #22 driver’s first stage win of the 2024 campaign.

Austin Cindric, Kyle Larson, Austin Dillon, and Ross Chastain joined Logano to make it to the top five after Stage 2. After 120 laps, 51 lead changes were observed.

In the early stages of the final stage, on came the race’s first caution. Justin Haley and Christopher Bell got into each other and spun into the field. This not only caused severe damage to Bell’s car but also ended the race for him. Unfortunately, this was the fourth finish of 33rd or worse for the Joe Gibbs Racing driver in the 10 races this campaign.

While Bell had a day to forget, the same could not be said for all parties involved. With the number of lead changes at Talladega, it took the total count to above 300 for NASCAR this season. Interestingly, this is just the third time that it has happened in the history of NASCAR that 300 lead changes have taken place in the first 10 races.

With records getting broken, the race looked nicely poised for an emphatic finish. However, it turned all chaotic in the 157th lap when Bubba Wallace came in contact with Erik Jones. This not only turned the #43 driver into the wall but also saw Denny Hamlin and John Hunter Nemechek get caught in the mess.

Unfortunately, this ended the race for Wallace, Jones, and Hamlin. Luckily, none of them were severely injured. Having said that, it was a major loss for Toyota seeing three of their drivers knocked out with one incident. While it was unfortunate, there was plenty of exciting stuff happening on the track.

With 12 laps left in the race, Michael McDowell led the race. Interestingly, come lap 180, we have had 71 lead changes, making it only the eighth NASCAR race to have 70 or more lead changes.

While the race got more interesting with time, the actual entertainment came in the final lap. With Michael McDowell narrowly leading the race, both Tyler Reddick and Brad Keselowski raced him hard to take the lead. In the process, Keselowski attempted to go low.

Naturally, McDowell tried to defend it as he threw a block. Unfortunately for him, his block saw him get turned and in the process, collect most of the field. However, Tyler Reddick saw the opportunity and cruised to a sneaky win under caution.

Reddick not only registered his first win of the campaign but ended a dominating run from the Hendrick Motorsports and Joe Gibbs Racing drivers. In fact, he gave plenty of reason for the 23XI Racing and Toyota camp to be happy about his sneaky victory.

Michael Jordan and Denny Hamlin feel elated after Tyler Reddick steals the show at the Dega

Clearly, fuel saving was the top priority of teams on Sunday at Talladega Superspeedway. While it didn’t turn out to be that entertaining, it almost backfired for the Toyota camp. With less than 40 laps to go, Toyota teams pitted under green without losing a plan.

While they were on track to make up for the time lost during pitting, Bubba Wallace crashed out with Erik Jones. The incident severely hampered the two drivers, Denny Hamlin and John Hunter Nemechek. This came after Christopher Bell was already knocked out of the race.

With so many Toyota drivers out of the race, Tyler Reddick fought alone and marched to victory in style. While fortune did play a role, it wouldn’t have been possible had Reddick not taken his chances. No wonder, both his boss Denny Hamlin and Michael Jordan looked delighted after the win.

Despite a miserable day for him, Hamlin looked quite pleased with the outcome. He said, “Every 23XI Racing win is like watching your kid win. It always means a little bit more when they do it than when you do it.” At the same time, Michael Jordan looked equally happy with the victory.

He said, “Well, Denny [Hamlin] keeps saying I was bad luck when I come to the track and today they proved me wrong. I think Tyler did a good job, unfortunately, Bubba couldn’t finish. The whole team did a good job. I’m very happy to be here to see it.”

Indeed, it is celebration time in the 23XI Racing camp. After all, a win of this stature certainly sets the right tone for the upcoming races.