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Despite two late-race cautions at the Circuit of the Americas (COTA), Tyler Reddick won after holding off Kyle Busch on the restart.
Reddick won his first trophy of the season - and first with his new team, 23XI Racing, with a 1.411-second victory against two-time series champion Kyle Busch at the EchoPark Automotive Grand Prix.
The legendary COTA track featured a field of international champions and NASCAR's best, but for the majority of the race, the outcome appeared to be decided in a good ol' Texas fight between the two fastest cars all weekend, driven by Reddick and Hendrick Motorsports' William Byron. For the majority of the afternoon, the pair traded the lead lap after an exciting lap.
During the two-lap restart, Reddick was able to put his No. 45 23XI Racing Toyota out front, exiting Turn 1 which is a tight left-hander, and power forward to the lead. While Busch and third-place finisher Alex Bowman, a fourth-place finisher and defending race winner Ross Chastain, and fifth-place Byron battled bumpers to bumpers as they chased him.
As is typically the case late in a road race, patience wanes and urgency rises. That was certainly the case on Sunday (March 26), when three separate overtime restarts determined the winner.
Reddick and Byron's No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet led 69 of the race's 75 laps, with Reddick leading 41 of them, the majority of which came after hard-fought challenges and back-and-forth corner after circuit with race polesitter Byron.
Tyler Reddick said during the post-race interview:
“I’ve been wanting to win here in a Cup car for a long time. It means the world."
Tyler Reddick, who now has four NASCAR Cup Series victories, highlighted that this was his first as a Toyota driver and that with his 23XI Racing Team - co-owned by fellow racer Denny Hamlin and NBA legend Michael Jordan - was overjoyed following the race.
Tyler Reddick fights off late restarts, and Jenson Button defeats Kimi Raikkonen in COTA
Tyler Reddick handled it nearly flawlessly Sunday, winning his first race with his new team 23XI Racing by hanging on through two late restarts to win in triple overtime at COTA, the first road course race on the NASCAR calendar this year.
Button finished the race in 18th place in the No. 15 Rick Ware Racing Ford. While Raikkonen ended up in 29th place. Raikkonen ran as high as fourth on a late restart before being pushed back into the pack.
The NASCAR Cup Series returns to action next Sunday (April 3) at Richmond Raceway with the Toyota Owners 400.
