“I clearly just screwed up”: Tyler Reddick left distraught with himself with the end of the Chicago Street Course race

Tyler Reddick crossed the finish line in second place at the Grant Park 165 Race at the Chicago Street Course but was frustrated with himself. In his post-race interview, he shouldered the blame for what happened during the final laps. Although he had nearly surpassed the distance between his and Alex Bowman's car, a small error on turns 4 and 5 caused him to lose ground.

Reddick's track record showed an average finish of 28.0 entering the race, stemming from last year when he started in P2 but ended up in P28. This year, starting from P4, the 28-year-old managed to work his way up to P2, improving from his positions of P9 in Stage 1 and P17 in Stage 2.

After taking up the second spot from Joey Hand, Tyler Reddick had a 3.6-second deficit to close on Alex Bowman. As the track dried and the slick tires started to work to his advantage, Reddick closed the gap. However, a mishap, as he brushed the wall through turns 4 and 5, cost him all the time he had gained. Reflecting on this in his post-race interview, Reddick explained (via NASCAR on TSN's X handle):

"We were catching Alex by a large margin there and I don't know that puzzles me. I clearly just screwed up. Trying to stay the dry groove and I had more than enough room of dry groove as I'm seeing right behind you. Yeah, I cut the wheel a little too hard, just not focused enough."

"[...] I knew that the earlier I get to him the more options gonna have is gonna get a little bit more slick offline beyond turn 8. Just didn't even give ourselves a shot to race and unfortunately with that. So, hate it," he added.

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"I think I would have gotten there," says Tyler Reddick at the end of Chicago race

When the race restarted for the final stretch, Reddick was in 13th place. Over the last five laps, he surged ahead, gaining 11 spots to finish second. Tyler Reddick's chase for the win hit a block in Turn 5 when he collided with the inside wall, which killed his momentum. Meanwhile, Bowman clinched the victory, breaking an 80-race winless drought. Reddick said [via Speedway Digest]:

“I would have gotten there. What would have happened once I got there, who knows? The plaza turn, Turn 8 to Turn 12, that part of the race track hadn’t been my best part of the race track all weekend. Certainly, we would have gotten really close. It seemed like, even on the dries, the driest lane, there was more braking potential, more grip potential at the very end even if you were in some of the damp track."

The strong performance secured back-to-back top-five finishes for the #45 team. Since the Coca-Cola 600 in May, Tyler Reddick has racked up six top-eight finishes in the last seven races, with the only exception being a 22nd place at the Cup Series' first race at Iowa Speedway.

After racking up 37 points in Chicago, Tyler Reddick climbed to third place in the regular season standings, now trailing the championship leader Kyle Larson by just 23 points.