Tyler Reddick won the NASCAR Cup Series race at Phoenix Raceway on Sunday, and the championship tightened behind him. Kyle Larson, who came in leading the Chase, the series' 16-driver championship playoff, by 49 points, crashed with 29 laps left and finished 34th. He still leads, but Christopher Bell is five points back, and six drivers are within 56 points of Larson with three races left.
Reddick, 30, drives the No. 45 Toyota for 23XI Racing. It was his sixth win of the season, the most in the series, and the 14th of his Cup career, his first at Phoenix. He said it was his first win in six months.
Larson, in the No. 5 Chevrolet for Hendrick Motorsports, started 22nd and was not in the top 10 at the end of either stage, the segments that pay bonus points before the finish. He crashed in Turn 1 and was out after 281 laps; NASCAR's race recap said a tire blew and he hit the outside wall. He scored three points. Reddick scored 61.
Bell, in the No. 20 Toyota for Joe Gibbs Racing, led 85 laps, more than anyone, finished fourth and cut his deficit from 51 points to five. "We're right there in it," he said.
Larson's crash also set up the finish. During the caution that followed, the yellow-flag period when cars slow behind the pace car, Reddick's crew chief, Billy Scott, brought him in for two right-side tires. Chase Briscoe, in the No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota, led when racing resumed with 19 laps left. Reddick said his restart "wasn't a good launch on my part," but the cars ahead drifted wide and he drove through the gap in the middle. He passed Briscoe for the lead a lap later and beat Ryan Blaney, in the No. 12 Ford for Team Penske, by 0.801 seconds.
Reddick said an earlier two-tire call "really backfired on us," but "Billy stuck to what he knew was best, and we executed that at the end."
Where the other contenders stand:
- Briscoe, who won the two races before Phoenix, led 13 laps late and faded to eighth. He is third, 24 back.
- Denny Hamlin, in the No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota, was second coming in. He said he was running with Briscoe for third when a tire blew. He was also penalized for speeding on pit road on lap 220, finished 28th, a lap behind the winner, and is fourth, 31 back. "We just haven't finished," Hamlin said.
- Blaney started on the pole, the first starting spot, finished second and is fifth, 40 back.
- Joey Logano, in Penske's No. 22 Ford, won both stages and led 84 laps but finished sixth. He is sixth, 44 back.
- Reddick is seventh, 56 back. He was 114 back when the day began.
The full standings are here.
Bubba Wallace, Reddick's 23XI teammate, led 52 laps and was in front when Larson crashed, then was penalized for speeding on pit road during the caution and finished 17th. Chase Elliott, in the No. 9 Hendrick Chevrolet, was one of three drivers who stayed on the track during that caution, according to his team, and held on for third.
Asked how to race Talladega and Martinsville with so many drivers in range, Scott said, "I think you have to stay aggressive."
Next is the YellaWood 500 at Talladega Superspeedway on Sunday, Oct. 25, at 2 p.m. ET on NBC, then Martinsville on Nov. 1 and the finale at Homestead-Miami on Nov. 8.
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