"We were really on the loose side all day long" - Tyler Reddick claims he was 'moved around' all day at COTA

The final restart at the Circuit of the Americas gave Tyler Reddick hope for securing his first career win.

The No. 8 driver for Richard Childress Racing took the lead from Ross Chastain, who later emerged as the winner. Reddick was in control of the race at the final restart and the only assignment he had was to maintain his lead.

However, he failed to do so on turn one, giving Ross Chastain a chance to walk over him.

Ross Chastain was not the only driver hungry to take the checkered flag home as Allmendinger and Bowman passed Reddick, dropping him to fifth. Tyler Reddick needed to work harder to hold off Ross Chastain.

On Twitter, Kelly Crandall stated:

"(I) just didn't get a good launch off Turn 1 and just almost had the 1 car cleared but didn't quite."

In a post-race interview, the Richard Childress Racing driver explained what happened in the final lap. Reddick, who faded to a fifth-place finish, said:

“I just didn’t get a good launch off Turn 1 and just almost had the 1 car cleared but didn’t quite We were really on the loose side all day long, and that makes us pretty susceptible to getting aggressive at the end. So, was just easy to get moved around there, and that was kind of a problem I had all day.”

Reddick is one of the drivers who portrayed an imposing performance at the Circuit of the Americas, leading two of the 69 laps. Overtime brought about an extra lap as initially the race was supposed to go for 68 laps.

With over 15 laps remaining, Reddick was not running in top-ten positions, avoiding wrecks by any means. With 12 laps to go, he received a breakthrough restart which pushed him from seventh to third place.

On Twitter, Tyler Reddick stated that:

"We had to fight for it all day. I’ve got to dig deeper and get more out of my mind and body. I will go back to work and use today as motivation to get better."

His fifth-place finish added to his tally of top ten finishes in the 2022 Cup Series season. He collected his first top-ten finish in Phoenix and his second in Las Vegas.

Tyler Reddick's performance in the NASCAR Cup and Xfinity Series

Tyler Reddick is in his second full season in the NASCAR Cup Series, driving the No. 8 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet. He has won the NASCAR Xfinity Series two years in a row (2018-2019).

He won the championship with JR Motorsports in 2018 and Richard Childress Racing in 2019, making him the first driver to win back-to-back championships with two separate teams.

Overall, Reddick has won nine Xfinity Series races in his career. Reddick has previously won three races in the Camping World Truck Series.