“It was right there”: Tyler Reddick distraught over mistake in chasing Alex Bowman at Chicago

Tyler Reddick has shared his unpleasant feeling about missing the potential victory at the Chicago Street Race. After Alex Bowman went wide on the final lap, the 23XI Racing driver had an opportunity to etch his second Cup Series win this season.

However, Reddick also missed Turn 5, but unlike Bowman, he collided with the inside wall. This resulted in the Hendrick Motorsports driver grabbing a lead of over three seconds.

Tyler Reddick set the fourth-fastest qualifying time in his #45 Toyota Camry but plummeted to a ninth-place finish in Stage 1. His performance fell further during the second stage as he settled in 17th place. But the final stage of the rain-shortened Grant Park 165 witnessed a surge in the Californian's run.

A few laps after the final restart, Tyler Reddick overtook Stage 2 winner Joey Hand and chased Alex Bowman for the win as the #45 Toyota became bigger in the #48 Chevy's rear view. However, the Turn 5 mishap shattered all the tactics of the 23XI Racing driver to turn his back-of-the-pack run into a race win.

Distraught by getting robbed of another Cup win because of the final lap mistake, Reddick reminisced about being "right there" for the win.

"Still glad that we were able to at least finish the race and not crash in Turn 6, or any of the other corners. Still got a second place out of it, but it was right there and I made a pretty awful mistake at the worst time. It's a tough Monday, that's for sure," he said via Sirius XM NASCAR Radio on X (0.10).

"I knew I was going to get to him"- Tyler Reddick on chasing Alex Bowman for the Chicago win

After nabbing the lead from Joey Hand for the final time on Lap 51, Alex Bowman gunned to inch closer to his first road course victory. Meanwhile, Tyler Reddick was running in 13th place and scrounged for room on the challenging wet track to climb track positions.

During the closing laps, the #45 Toyota driver surged through the pack, and on Lap 57, just before the white flag lap, he made his final overtake against Hand placing his ride in second. From there, he tried to swerve past Bowman and even came close to the HMS driver. But the contact with the wall didn't let his second win come to fruition, and Reddick settled for a second consecutive podium finish after coming third at the Nashville Superspeedway.

Speaking on his odds of sealing the win, Tyler Reddick believed he could've got Bowman but revealed how he "screwed up."

“Yeah, I’m upset. I was catching Alex (Bowman) by a large margin there. I don’t know. That puzzles me. I clearly just screwed up. Trying to stay in the dry groove and I had more than enough room of dry groove. Yeah, I cut the wheel a little too hard — just not focused enough, I guess. I knew I was going to get to him and the earlier I could get to him the more options I would have," the 23XI Racing driver said via NBC Sports.

Alex Bowman is 11th in the regular season standings after his victory in Chicago, bagging 553 points. Tyler Reddick moved to third after his runner-up finish with 648 points to his name, 23 behind top-ranked Kyle Larson.