"By the time I realized I was in trouble": Tyler Reddick's 'aggressive' racing backfired at Las Vegas as HMS driver's contact violently flipped him

Tyler Reddick has reflected on his destroyed Las Vegas Motor Speedway race. The Hendrick Motorsports driver Chase Elliott clipped the former, sending his #45 Toyota wildly drifting on the infield grass and flipping at high speed.

After getting reinstated in the playoffs due to Alex Bowman's disqualification for failing a post-race inspection, the South Point 400 witnessed Joey Logano etch the triumph and punch his Championship 4 race ticket. For Reddick, however, a potentially promising outcome took a U-turn after his aggressive racing backfired on the Lap 89.

The 23XI Racing driver kicked off his run from second place and dominated Stage 1, collecting valuable points to keep his title fight alive. However, a miserable turnaround transpired as Reddick tried to overtake both Elliott and Martin Truex Jr. while exiting Turn 4.

The Joe Gibbs Racing driver moved up the track, prompting the HMS driver to also steer toward the outside. As a result, the offensive #45 Toyota, which tried to take the outside lane, got squeezed and rolled on the frontstretch grass before violently flipping and coming to a standstill. It marked Reddick's final dash and after leading nine laps, he ended his 34th race weekend with a DNF.

“You have to be aggressive on the restart. It is hard to pass after a while. Being myself on a mile and a half, being aggressive — by the time I realized I was in trouble, the 19 (Truex) started sliding and the 9 (Elliott) was coming up, and I was pretty much already on their outside at that point, with nowhere to really go. I needed to make the decision earlier when I saw them sliding to be more conservative to avoid an incident — just not who I am, but it is unfortunate. It took us out of the race," Reddick said of his disappointing race via NASCAR.

Tyler Reddick entered the Round of 8 opener in Las Vegas with a 10-point surplus over the playoff elimination line, but his DNF has pushed him below the cutline, with a 30-point deficit.

---

"Pick up right where we left off": Tyler Reddick comments on redemption at the upcoming Homestead-Miami race

In the Round of 12 finale, Tyler Reddick upset Joey Logano after outperforming the Team Penske driver by four points to advance into the Round of 8. He dominated the first stage and could've kept himself in the playoffs' safe zone had he not made that aggressive move which brutally backfired.

The seven-time Cup Series race winner marked his tenth appearance at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, where he bagged a pole in 2022 and placed his Toyota Camry second, in the 2024 regular season race. But the unwanted turnaround destroyed his race-win bid.

Amid the South Point 400 turmoil, Reddick was asked about his mindset moving forward for the Homestead-Miami race. The 23XI Racing driver replied and said:

"Next week pickup right where we left off, bring that same speed and -17 isn't great but we have options as a team. We can win Homestead, we can win at Martinsville. If we're really good at Homestead, we'll have a shot at it. We'll have to compete well, we'll have to execute well. We have a few ways to do this, it's just got a little bit harder, but it's okay," Tyler Reddick said via Frontstretch (0:32).

Brad Keselowski was collected in the aftermath of Tyler Reddick's wreck and also succumbed to a DNF after running 88 laps.