DARLINGTON, S.C. — It’s almost impossible to keep a good man down — when you’re on the kind roll Tyler Reddick is enjoying, that is.
Overcoming a succession of issues inside his No. 45 23XI Racing Toyota, Reddick delivered a convincing victory in Sunday’s Goodyear 400 at Darlington Raceway, beating runner-up Brad Keselowski to the finish line by 5.847 seconds.
RELATED: Race results | At-track photos: Darlington
The win was Reddick’s fourth of the season in six NASCAR Cup Series events, following his record-setting sweep of the first three races of the year. That four-victory total puts Reddick in the company of two pillars of the sport.
Only twice before has a Cup Series driver won four of the first six races in a given season: Dale Earnhardt in 1987 and Bill Elliott in 1992.
Nor did circumstances make it easy on the 30-year-old driver from Corning, California. With a malfunctioning alternator from the outset, Reddick had to conserve power by eliminating unnecessary electrical drains.
That meant no cool suit to keep him refreshed on a warm day in the South Carolina Sandhills. It also meant a change to a more robust battery on pit road, a move that relegated the No. 45 Camry to the back of the field.
Trouble on the right-front tire on the team’s first green-flag pit stop compounded the issues, resulting in a 16.3-second pit stop that cost Reddick six positions in the running order.
An untimely final-stage collision with Chris Buescher, who made a late signal to come to pit road on Lap 242 of 293, also cost Reddick valuable time.
Ultimately, though, Reddick overcame all the obstacles thrown at the No. 45 team on Sunday. After pitting for the final time on Lap 246, Reddick charged forward, erasing a seven-second deficit to Keselowski, who led a race-high 142 laps.
On Lap 266, Reddick passed Keselowski for the lead and pulled away to the decisive victory.
“I’m pretty sure it’s frustrating for him (Reddick) because he had an unbelievable car,” said NBA Hall of Famer Michael Jordan, who co-owns 23XI Racing with Cup driver Denny Hamlin. “You know, you never know what’s going to happen, especially at Darlington. I think that the key to him winning was just keeping his head.
“I think Billy (Scott, crew chief) did a good job of trying to keep him calm. We knew we had a fast car. We knew on a 30-lap run we were real good, on a short-lap run we were real good. We just had to get the car right. And he kept his composure, and he did an unbelievable job.”
Reddick, who started from the pole and led 77 laps, thought a trial by fire was appropriate at the track “Too Tough to Tame.”
“I know never to give up,” said Reddick, who won for the 12th time in his career. “I think it’s very fitting that when we finally get our first win here at Darlington that the ‘Lady in Black’ would test us like that. We’ve been so close so many times. I mean, Lap 1 we had the charging problem where the battery wasn’t charging at all.
“All day long, just not running fans. Sweat my tail off inside the race car, and we knew it was going to be physical. Really worn out, but I guess I don’t need as much of that cooling stuff as I normally have.”
Keselowski was running a paint scheme to honor the late Greg Biffle, a former RFK Racing driver who lost his life in a plane crash last December.
“We didn’t have the best car today,” Keselowski acknowledged. “Not compared to Tyler. Tyler drove a hell of a race, and he’s driving a rocket, and he’s making it count right now.
“I think we got the most out of the day we were getting to get, honestly, but we scored a lot of stage points, second place, first-place loser, but that’s OK. We’re doing the things we need to do and making the most of the days we have.
“It’s really cool to have the great group of (RFK) cars running up front. I put a nice right-sided stripe on the car. I think that would make Greg proud. If you know Greg, you’ll understand that one.”
Ryan Blaney finished third, overcoming a penalty for pitting in a teammate’s stall to tighten a loose wheel.
Carson Hocevar showed blazing speed in the final stage in finishing fourth after starting from the rear of the field because of an unapproved adjustment to his No. 77 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet — the repair of an upper control arm.
Austin Cindric ran fifth, followed by Ty Gibbs, Daniel Suárez, William Byron, Buescher and Erik Jones.
Kyle Larson was running 11th with 10 laps remaining but suffered a late issue, falling to a 32nd-place finish.
The Cup Series races next at Martinsville Speedway in the Cook Out 400 on March 29 (3:30 p.m. ET, FS1, HBO Max, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
Stage 2 recap: Keselowski sweeps the stages
Brad Keselowski held off a fierce charge from RFK Racing teammate Chris Buescher to win Stage 2 in Sunday’s race.
Keselowski, the 2012 NASCAR Cup Series champion, earned a sweep of the stages at the track “Too Tough to Tame” with Buescher just 0.364 seconds behind when the green-checkered flag waved. Kyle Larson, Chase Briscoe and Tyler Reddick completed the top five while Ryan Preece, William Byron, Austin Cindric, Ty Gibbs and Daniel Suárez filled out the top 10.
Denny Hamlin, a five-time winner at Darlington, was running fourth when he feared he might have a tire going flat. He wheeled his No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota to an 11th-place finish at the end of the stage before pitting while pit road was closed. Crew chief Chris Gayle told Hamlin nothing was broken underneath the car, but there were signs the left-rear wheel was loose, leading to what Hamlin felt behind the wheel.
Stage 2 began with multiple issues for contenders. After trouble on pit road during the stage break cost Bubba Wallace 12 positions, Wallace was collected in a three-car crash at Lap 111 shortly after Stage 2 took the green flag. Hamlin, co-owner of Wallace’s 23XI Racing team, contacted Erik Jones entering Turn 3, sending Jones into a long, smoky slid. Hamlin was on his brakes, slowing to avoid further contact when Wallace was unable to avoid from behind, hitting both Hamlin’s back bumper and the outside wall.
“That what we [expletive] get,” Wallace radioed, referencing the slow pit stop that forced him to reverse back to his pit stall and dropped from fourth to 16th place.
MORE: In-car video of Stage 2 crash | Stage 2 results
Pit road also wreaked havoc for Ryan Blaney. The 2023 NASCAR Cup Series champion finished third in Stage 1, but his pit crew did not tighten all of its left-side tires, forcing Blaney to stop in the pit box of teammate Austin Cindric to secure the wheels before returning to action. Receiving service outside of his pit box dropped Blaney to the tail of the field for the ensuing restart.
“We cannot do this,” radioed Blaney, who overcame two pit-road errors at Phoenix Raceway to score the win. “We cannot afford to do this. We have got to clean this up.”
Tyler Reddick, the polesitter for Sunday’s race, also reported a brake issue early in the stage before rallying back to the top five.
RFK teammates Brad Keselowski, Chris Buescher and Ryan Preece charged to the front and ran first through third, respectively, during the start of Stage 2.
Stage 1 recap: Keselowski wins Stage 1 at Darlington over Tyler Reddick
Brad Keselowski scored his first stage win of the season by claiming Stage 1 at Darlington.
Keselowski cycled to the lead after green-flag pit stops for the field from Laps 37 through 45, with Ryan Blaney, Bubba Wallace, Kyle Larson and Chris Buescher in tow.
At his pit stop at Lap 44, Tyler Reddick’s team had an issue on its right-front tire change, slowing the stop to over 16 seconds. Reddick had led the opening 45 laps of the race before hitting pit road, returning to action in seventh place, nearly 15 seconds behind race-leader Keselowski.
Reddick rallied to second place, just 0.283 seconds shy of the stage win. Blaney, Wallace and Larson completed the top five when Stage 1 ended at Lap 90. Buescher, Chase Elliott, Austin Cindric, Daniel Suárez and William Byron rounded out the top 10.
Reddick also reported voltage issues on his No. 45 Toyota on Lap 2 after he speculates he hit a bump too hard off Turn 2. The team instructed Reddick to manage the alternator and driver cooling aids to maintain power to his engine.
Reddick pitted before pit road opened to allow the team to change a battery and check the alternator belt. Crew chief Billy Scott reported the issue is an “internal problem in the alternator.” As a penalty for pitting before pit road opened, Reddick restarted Stage 2 at the tail of the field.
Note: Post-race technical inspection concluded without issue, confirming Reddick as the race winner. The Nos. 2 and 77 cars will return to the NASCAR R&D Center in Concord, North Carolina for further inspection.
Contributing: Staff report
Statistically speaking, no one has been better at Martinsville Speedway over the last two years than Justin Bonsignore.
