By: Zach Catanzareti, Staff Writer
Tyler Reddick drove to his best career finish in the NASCAR Cup Series Sunday night, when he came home fourth in the Dixie Vodka 400 from Homestead-Miami Speedway.
Following an opening 11 races of his rookie campaign with Richard Childress Racing, Sunday’s run was a culmination of momentum, gained experience and high-side freedom on the 1.5-mile multi-groove facility.
Drawing 24th on the starting lineup for the 267-lap race, Reddick was hot on the move from the green flag. Despite two red flags for nearby lightning, Reddick’s run did not falter, jumping inside the top 15 by the first incidental caution on lap 22 and finishing third by Stage 1 on lap 80.
Reddick knew he had something to work with.
“We had really good speed early on,” Reddick said. “We were able to use that [speed] to our advantage in the first 30 laps getting to the top 10. From there, we fine-tuned it to run the fence. But there were times it was better to run the top seam.”
Finishing second in Stage 2, Reddick, however, realized the speed of his Chevrolet wasn’t quite at the level of Denny Hamlin, who led a race-high 137 laps and won for the third time in 2020.
“It was just a struggle to find what lane was going to be better for me and trying to get the lead and hold it,” he said. “Unfortunately, we got a little too tight there to really get all we could to get through Turn 1 to make the fence work.”
Leading his first laps in the Cup Series (three laps through pit cycle), Reddick wanted more at the end. The 92-lap green-flag run to end the race saw Reddick come and go near the front.
“It was tough. We were just a little bit off those last two runs from where we needed to be perfect,” he said. “For something that I didn’t think was going to be able to run the wall that well today, it showed it right away.”
Fourth was the end result, giving the two-time Xfinity Series champion his first top five in Cup and his third top 10 in 2020.
“All the men and women at RCR did a fantastic job of bringing a great car,” he said. “I just needed to execute a bit better throughout the day. If we could have kept one or two spots, that could’ve made the difference to get that clean air.
“All-in-all, a good solid effort. When we come here — I’ve won the last two times I’ve run here. Granted, it’s in Xfinity cars. But, running up against the fence with three of the best, somehow we kept it out of the wall for the most of the night. It was a good fun battle.”
The night almost ended bad when miscommunication led Reddick to slowing on the race’s final lap. Thinking the race was over, Reddick thanked his team over the radio before spotter Derek Kneeland and crew chief Randall Burnett informed Reddick to accelerate to finish the race. No positions were lost.
P4 from @HomesteadMiami pic.twitter.com/3EeJW9MFZl
— Tyler Reddick (@TylerReddick) June 15, 2020