By Sarah Handy, Staff Writer
Rookie Tyler Reddick scored his best career finish in the NASCAR Cup Series on Sunday evening at the track ‘Too Tough to Tame’, Darlington Raceway.
In NASCAR’s return to racing due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Reddick, drove his No. 8 Caterpillar “Thank You” Chevrolet for Richard Childress Racing to a career best seventh place finish.
“Well, we’re officially back to racing, and it felt great,” expressed Reddick. “Our first day back in the No. 8 Caterpillar Chevrolet was a little rough around the edges at times but starting out in the 29th spot and racing our way into the top five in about the first 125 laps was just an outstanding kick off our race.”
Reddick finished Stage 1 in the eighth position and Stage 2 in 17th.
After consistently running towards the front of the pack, he slid back in the running order due to debris on the grill of his No. 8, and a mistake on pit road, but he was able to battle back.
“We had that piece of debris come off the wall and stick our splitter, which slowed one of our stops. We tried to get it all off,” said Reddick. “That caused a slight pit road miscue with a tire, which sent us to the tail of the line and forced us to fight back from 29th one more time.”
Reddick’s seventh place finish is a career best in the Cup Series in seven starts. His previous best was ninth at Kansas Speedway last season.
“It was a wild day for us though. We never gave up, and all in all, it was a great day. A seventh-place finish is a great way to come back, and we’ll look to build momentum from here. Good news is, we get to come back Wednesday night and try to finish seven spots better.”
The NASCAR Cup Series returns to Darlington Raceway this Wednesday for the Toyota 500 at 7:30 PM ET live on FS1 and MRN Radio.