Denny Hamlin explains how Tyler Reddick could’ve passed Alex Bowman at Chicago

Tyler Reddick received some pointers from his boss, Denny Hamlin, on how he might have maneuvered past Alex Bowman at the Chicago Street race. Although the #45 has been showing strong performance on the track, Reddick has struggled to turn these opportunities into victories recently. In Chicago, following a failed attempt to overtake Bowman, the 23XI driver was left frustrated with himself.

The Chicago Street Race marked the second consecutive event after Nashville where Reddick almost clinched a win but fell short. At Nashville Superspeedway, amidst the chaos of quintuple overtime, Reddick made a push through the field during the final laps. He managed to reach Joey Logano’s rear bumper as they entered turn 3 on the last lap, yet he couldn’t find a way to get past the #22 Team Penske driver.

Then in Chicago, Tyler Reddick was making a strong comeback despite being at a disadvantage with slick tires compared to Alex Bowman, who was still on wet weather tires. As the race neared its end, Reddick had closed the gap on Bowman and was poised to overtake. He had the pace to pass Bowman on the final lap. However, as he took turn 5 for the last time, he misjudged the corner, hit the inside wall, and lost his momentum, allowing Bowman to pull away.

Denny Hamlin offered some insights on his Actions Detrimental podcast about how Tyler Reddick could have managed those final laps better, saying:

"He's got two more legit passing opportunities, right? He wasn't gonna be close enough. Off of turn five where he hit the wall to get him into turn six. So there was two more options- likely two options- is one was going to be in to turn seven over the bridge and into turn seven."

"And the one other one was going to be the very last corner. Because you would think, well, there's another one in turn 11 there. But the bottom was wet and he was on slick tires and that part probably wasn't going to work unless he was willing to just clean Alex out."

According to Denny Hamlin, Reddick likely panicked as he counted down the passing opportunities left in the final lap, realizing he was down to just two.

---

Kevin Harvick criticizes Tyler Reddick for not being able to win the races after coming so close

Although it seemed for a while that Tyler Reddick might clinch the race, a critical error between turns 4 and 5 dashed those hopes. Kevin Harvick expressed his disappointment during Harvick's Happy Hour on NASCAR on Fox, saying:

"Tyler Reddick was going to catch Alex Bowman, and we’ve seen this out of Tyler in several races now where he’s had a chance to win and doesn’t win." [at 28:33]

Tyler Reddick will next take his shot at victory at Pocono, a track where he has shown strong performance. He boasts an average finish of 14.6 on the track, with two top-5s and four top-10s in six starts. Last year, Reddick finished in second place at Pocono Raceway.