Tyler Reddick edged past his own 23XI Racing teammate Bubba Wallace to claim the pole by 0.124 seconds, laying down a marker before the green flag even waved. The No. 45 driver stood alone in the 169 mph club at the 1.366-mile Darlington Raceway, clocking 169.152 mph, while Wallace guided his Toyota to 168.434 mph, close but not close enough to outpace Reddick.
And although the #45 driver ultimately succeeded, the race did not start clean. From the outset, Reddick wrestled with a failing alternator, a power issue that forced him to trim power usage and cut every drain he could. The cool suit went dark on a day that asked questions of both man and machine.
On pit road, the team switched to a stronger battery. Although the move sent the No. 45 Camry to the back, it left them to climb the ladder the hard way. On the first green-flag stop, the right-front tire caused a hold-up that turned into a 16.3-second service, dropping Reddick six spots and putting him on the back foot once more.
He kept his nose clean through Stage 1 to finish P2, then slipped to P5 by the end of Stage 2 as the race took on a rhythm of its own. The next setback arrived on Lap 241. Running in traffic, Reddick closed on Chris Buescher’s No. 17 Ford just as the RFK Racing driver slowed to peel off toward pit road. With no signal in sight, Reddick ran into the back of the No. 17, sending Buescher around and into the wall.
The contact forced Buescher into a stop that cost him time, while Reddick gathered it up and stayed in the hunt. Buescher, for his part, let it pass after the race, chalking it up to the give-and-take that comes with racing.
Up front, Brad Keselowski had put together a day that would stack points and keep the books balanced, winning both stages and keeping track position when it mattered. But the final show turned on the pit strategy. Keselowski hit pit road four laps before Reddick, while the No. 45 driver took fresh rubber on Lap 246.
That pit stop gap helped Reddick chase down a seven-second difference and lined up beside Keselowski. On Lap 266, Reddick made the pass and slammed the door, turning the last stretch into a march to the flag. In the end, he led 77 laps and cashed in at the Goodyear 400.
During his post-race interview, Reddick said, “I know never to give up. I think it’s very fitting that when we finally get our first win here at Darlington that the ‘Lady in Black’ would test us like that. We’ve been so close so many times. I mean, Lap 1, we had the charging problem where the battery wasn’t charging at all.
“All day long, just not running fans. Sweat my tail off inside the race car, and we knew it was going to be physical. Really worn out, but I guess I don’t need as much of that cooling stuff as I normally have.”
Which drivers cracked the top 10 at Darlington?
Meanwhile, Keselowski also credited Reddick’s car’s pace and accepted his defeat gracefully, without trying to dress it up. Even while working his way back from a femur injury, he called it as he saw it. “We were not that close to him. I think he was in another category for sure.” On pit road, he stayed on the same line. “We were not that close to him. I think he was in another category for sure.”
“We didn’t have the best car, not compared to Tyler. Tyler drove the hell of a race, and he is driving a rocket, and he is making it count right now. So, I think we got most out of the day. We scored a lot of stage points, got to second place,” he said.
“First place loser, but that’s okay. We are doing the things we need to do to make the most of the days we have. So, it’s cool to have the great Biff car run up.”
Keselowski also spoke about the toll on his leg, noting that he feels at his best in the car with adrenaline taking the edge off, while the pain shows when he climbs out or stands, not when he is strapped in and turning laps.
Besides, within RFK Racing, the shop is humming. Execution has held firm, and all three cars brought home results. Buescher crossed the line in P9, while Ryan Preece climbed to P13 after starting from P17, keeping the team in the mix across the board.
Behind the front two, Ryan Blaney came home third after serving a penalty for pitting in a teammate’s stall to tighten a loose wheel, a setback that could have sunk his day but did not. Spire Motorsports driver, Carson Hocevar, showed pace late and drove to fourth after starting from the rear due to an unapproved adjustment to his No. 77 Chevrolet Camry. Austin Cindric rounded out the top five.
Meanwhile, Ty Gibbs, Daniel Suárez, William Byron, Buescher, and Erik Jones round off the top 10. Kyle Larson ran 11th with 10 laps to go before a late issue sent him down the order to P32.