Points leader Tyler Reddick was involved in a multicar restart melee in Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series race at Michigan International Speedway, sparked by Carson Hocevar and John Hunter Nemechek.
On a Lap 83 restart, Hocevar, who started fourth in the inside row, contacted Nemechek in front of him, turning the No. 42 Toyota across the track. Nemechek tagged Bubba Wallace, who then hit Ty Gibbs with the No. 54 Toyota, ricocheting into Reddick ahead of him.
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Reddick suffered heavy damage to both ends of his vehicle and went to the garage to incur his first DNF of the season. Reddick had not finished worse than 15th until Sunday, and was credited with a 35th-place result. Austin Dillon also suffered major damage and was knocked from the race. He was credited with 36th.
Immediately after being evaluated and released from the infield care center, Dillon, who entered Sunday 24th in the series ranks, placed blame on Hocevar.
“I’ve seen one replay, but from what I saw, the 77 got into the 42 and turned him,” Dillon told Prime Video. “I hope at some point, [Hocevar] figures it out. I mean, I’m not going to show anything to him for a long time. I’m mad because we had a fast race car. We almost got through it. I saw the 11 coming down, and I gassed up to get by the 11, and the 45 was there. It’s unfortunate.”
WATCH: Dillon rips Hocevar after wreck | How nine cars were involved in wreck
The No. 45 23XI Racing driver entered Sunday’s race with a 97-point advantage over Hamlin and won Stage 1 in the Irish Hills. Reddick has led points after every race this season. He was also evaluated and released from the care center.
“Just all around bummer,” Reddick told Prime Video. “Wanted to come in here and have a really good points day, we had really, really good speed yesterday, and it showed again today … race I feel like we could have won, got away from us. But all year long, we’ve done a good job of staying out of messes like this, so unfortunate it happened.
In total, nine cars were involved: Dillon, Kyle Larson, Denny Hamlin, Joey Logano, Wallace, Nemechek, Reddick, Gibbs and Hocevar. Hamlin ended up winning for the second week in a row, cutting down his deficit to just 51 markers behind Reddick.