Reddick wins a caution-filled Cup race in the Texas heat

Tyler Reddick survived a busy and long day at Texas Motor Speedway to win the Autotrader EchoPark Automotive 500.

Reddick, who was eliminated from championship contention in the round of 16, led a race-high 77 laps en route to the victory — his first at an oval in the NASCAR Cup Series but his third of the season.

Taking the checkered flag, Richard Childress Racing driver radioed that the team had responded to a win after a tough week. He continued by saying that it shows everyone that they are not done yet and that there are more races to be won.

“I was really nervous, I’m not going to lie,” Reddick said of his tires. “Unfortunately, almost every time we had fast cars, we had problems with the tires and in the last race the left sides vibrated really, really hard. I was just trying to maximize and just use the advantage, the gap I created over Joey, just in case. Every time we had a strong car, something bit us, man.

“I’m very proud to be able to take this Chevy to victory lane. In the auto club [Speedway] earlier in the year we were so quick with this car and they deserve to get to victory lane and we got them.”

Reddick was leading in California when he had a flat tire and was hit by William Byron. He also had a flat tire while leading at Kansas Speedway in the first round of the playoffs.

Number 8 beat Joey Logano to the finish line. Logano was the highest finisher of the playoffs to finish second.

Justin Haley finished third, Ryan Blaney fourth and Chase Briscoe fifth. Eric Jones finished sixth, William Byron seventh and Brad Keselowski, who started from the pole, eighth.

Kyle Larson finished ninth and Denny Hamlin rounded out the top 10.

Six playoff drivers finished outside the top 10.

Daniel Suarez finished 12th, with Trackhouse Racing teammate Ross Chastain in 13th. Austin Cindric was 15th.

Cindric might have finished a little better if he hadn’t lost his track position when he spun on the backstretch, avoiding Ricky Stenhouse Jr. The No. 47 suffered a flat tire, causing a spin in Turn 2 where he hit the wall and slid back down the track. Cindrik narrowly missed being cut by Stenhouse, but spun himself in the process.

Alex Bowman finished 29th. He was five laps down at the finish after spending most of the day in the pits after falling from eighth place on lap 97.

“How are we going to get to the end of this race?” – @DaleJr

Martin Truex Jr. flies out of the lead. #NASCAR pic.twitter.com/vzvBGYPPRl

— NASCAR on NBC (@NASCARonNBC) September 26, 2022

Chase Elliott and Christopher Bell did not complete the race. Elliott led 44 laps, but fell out of the race lead when a tire blew on lap 184. Bell had two tire failures, with the second taking him out of the race on lap 136.

It was a day of survival for the teams. Numerous tire problems led to crashes and a total of 16 cautions. Elliott, Kevin Harvick and Martin Truex Jr. dropped out of the lead in the race due to tire problems.

There were 36 changes among 19 pilots.

Full results will follow.