Tyler Reddick’s tumultuous summer continued just moments after taking the green flag Sunday at Iowa Speedway, crashing at Lap 4 and heading behind the wall with severe front-end damage.
Battling Erik Jones for eighth, Reddick got loose entering Turn 1, washing up the track and nosing into the outside wall. He also collected Legacy Motor Club’s Erik Jones, who suffered right-side and front-end damage on his No. 43 Toyota.
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Reddick led the NASCAR Cup Series points standings through the first 17 races this season, winning five of the first nine races and pacing Denny Hamlin by as many as 129 markers after the Watkins Glen International contest in May. But entering Iowa, Reddick had finished 25th or worse in five of the last eight races, including crashes at Michigan and North Wilkesboro and mechanical gremlins at Sonoma Raceway and Chicagoland Speedway.
Hamlin’s points lead surged to 84 points after Indianapolis Motor Speedway two weeks ago, and the No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing team now looks to capitalize as his 23XI Racing driver Reddick faces yet another summer setback.
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“Just gut-wrenching on a lot of levels,” Reddick told USA Sports. “I thought we kind of figured out what we needed to do for the race today, and I made a killer mistake.
“I hate it for my team, but Erik Jones and everybody at Legacy, they needed a strong day, and it’s just not ideal. Obviously, if I’m going to take myself out, that’s one thing. But I took out a Toyota teammate that needed to have a good day, so 100% it’s on me. Something I normally don’t do, normally don’t make those kind of mistakes, so very disappointed.
Neither Jones nor Reddick continued and will be credited with finishes of 35th and 36th, respectively. Each was evaluated and released from the infield care center. For Jones, it’s a significant hit to his postseason hopes, entering Iowa 18th in points, 44 markers below the Chase cutline.
“I think Tyler just got loose and crashed,” Jones told reporters. “There’s nothing more to say. I know he didn’t mean to do it. He took himself out, too, but it’s frustrating.
“It’s gonna be a long shot from here. I mean, we’re gonna be deep after today … we needed three really good weeks — and it had to start today.”