Tyler Reddick 'never lost motivation' ahead of Freeway Insurance 500 win
Jeffrey Hrunka - INDYCAR Contributor
Avondale, AZ- All about opportunity.
Tyler Reddick takes advantage of Kyle Larson’s bad day to vault himself back into contention for the 2026 NASCAR Cup Series Championship. Reddick surged from fourth to first on the last restart of the Freeway Insurance 500 to take his sixth win of the season on Sunday.
"This group never lost motivation, never lost the drive to keep searching and keep trying to find ways to make ourselves better,” Reddick said. “Just be an all-around better team.”
Although Reddick ran inside the Top-10 for the majority of the race, he never found his way to the front until his winning pass on Chase Briscoe on Lap 295. His teammate Bubba Wallace was the dominant car late, leading 52 laps before a pit road penalty on the final set of stops took him out of contention.
"I think everyone knew coming into this one, to close this year out, whether it’s 23XI’s opportunities in the Chase or winning races at 23XI, we all understood to close this year out, we really need to get it done," Reddick said.
"To be able to have the speed and be up there in the mix like Bubba and I were today was a really big deal. Even more so to clinch the manufacturer’s championship today, even more reason to get the job done."
Ultimately it was a two-tire call by crew chief Billy Scott that allowed Reddick to line up fourth on the final restart that set him for the race win.
"We knew we were putting scuffs on there regardless. Thought it was a good opportunity to try to grab the lead, kind of keep things in our control,” Scott said. “We debated about the four. If we came out with four and were behind others, we would ultimately have to pass more cars. Thankfully it paid off.”
With the win, Reddick gained 50 points on championship leader Larson, who was mired mid-pack. Larson’s race only got worse as a tire issue on Lap 284 sent him into the wall and out of the race in 34th. Reddick was one of many drivers who capitalized on the incident.
Team Penske dominated the day, as teammates Joey Logano and Ryan Blaney traded the top spot multiple times through the first two stages. Both drivers combined for 135 laps led, with Logano sweeping both stages.
Ultimately, their pit crews undid that dominance.
Blaney struggled to recover from a bad pit stop in Stage 2, stuck in eighth for the majority of the final stage. A two-tire gamble on the final set of stops allowed him to rebound for second. As for Logano, a slow stop on Lap 224 saw him drop from the lead to fifth. He ended the race sixth.
Fortunately, Larson’s late race wreck allowed Blaney and Logano to still make positive gains on the points lead, only sitting 40 and 44 points back, respectively. Reddick cut his deficit to Larson nearly in half, going from 106 points back to 56.
"I think for us, week to week primarily still just focus on trying to win races," Reddick said." If we can have a calm ‘Dega, get stage points, finish with a car in one piece, I think we’ll have another good points day. Then it will fall to Martinsville."
Freeway Insurance 500 Results:
Tyler Reddick #45 - (WINNER)
Ryan Blaney #12 -0.801s
Chase Elliott #9 -2.924s
Christopher Bell #20 -3.707s
Corey Heim #67 -4.193s
Joey Logano #22 -5.076s
Daniel Suarez #7 -5.549s
Chase Briscoe #19 -7.083s
Ross Chastain #1 -7.151s
Ty Gibbs #54 -7.258s
Josh Berry #21 -7.445s
Carson Hocevar #77 -8.145s
Noah Gragson #4 -8.578s
Todd Gilliand #34 -8.799s
Zane Smith #38 -9.328s
Brad Keselowski #6 -10.096s
Bubba Wallace #23 -10.113s
Ryan Preece #60 -11.281s
Austin Cindric #2 -11.602s
Connor Zilisch #88 -11.745s
William Bryon #24 -12.031s
Chris Buescher #17 -13.106s
AJ Allmendinger #16 -13.113s
Austin Hill #33 -13.687s
Erik Jones #43 -15.094s
Shane Van Gisbergen #97 -15.3s
Cole Custer #41 -15.445s
Denny Hamlin #11 -1 lap down
Alex Bowman #48 -1 lap down
Ricky Stenhouse Jr. #47 -1 lap down
Ty Dillon #10 -2 laps down
Riley Herbst #35 -4 laps down
John H. Nemecheck #42 -5 laps down
Kyle Larson #5 -31 laps down
Cody Ware #51 -92 laps down
Michael McDowell #71 -111 laps down
Austin Dillon #3 -157 laps down
The NASCAR Cup Series heads to Talladega Superspeedway for the eighth race of The Chase. Fans can tune in to the Yellawood 500 on Sunday, Oct. 15, on NBC at 2:00 pm EST.
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