A disastrous day on pit road left Tyler Reddick frustrated with a second-place finish Sunday at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
The No. 45 car for 23XI Racing had the speed to win the race, and he was the top threat to eventual winner Kyle Larson the whole contest. But Reddick finished second in both stages before ultimately finishing second at the end of the race.
Even with the pit road issues, Reddick still had a chance to win the race, as he ran down Larson's No. 5 car at the end. Reddick got to the bumper of Larson with three laps to go but could not get the pass done.
"Kyle did a really good job, pretty much taking away every option I had to close the gap."
Tyler Reddick was RIGHT THERE at the end, but just couldn't get by Larson. pic.twitter.com/LzfPYsedpA
— FOX: NASCAR (@NASCARONFOX) March 4, 2024
"Yeah, Kyle did a really good job there taking away pretty much every option I had there to close the gap," Reddick said after the race. "He seemed pretty good in the middle [lane] and I was obviously really good on the bottom, and he just never let me have it, right?
"I kept trying to run higher and higher and, you know, he's kind of running in the middle of the race track, which is pretty efficient to block both lanes," Reddick said. "Every time I got close, I mean, we're running just wide open enough in (Turns) 1 and 2, you can kind of defend pretty well."
Before the last cycle of green-flag pit stops, Reddick was within a second of Larson. Reddick entered the pits a lap before Larson. This should have put Reddick ahead of Larson, as pitting early earns a net gain of just about 1.5 seconds a lap. That did not happen for Reddick, as a 13-second pit stop put Reddick over three seconds behind Larson. A caution with 32 laps to go gave Reddick another chance, but he still had to restart behind Larson, giving Larson the advantage to control the race at the end.
The No. 45 team also had issues on pit road last year, and Reddick's patience is starting to wear out.
"Just stupid mistakes on pit road. Same shit, different year, right? Like it's kind of frustrating. We'll continue to work on it, but a good rebound for our team today."
On the bright side for Reddick, his Toyota may have been the fastest car at the first downforce track of the season. The Toyotas are bound to only improve as they get adjusted with their new body throughout the year.
