Tyler Reddick has been the picture of consistency this NASCAR Cup Series season, but he lost some of his points advantage on Sunday at Michigan International Speedway due to a wreck on a restart.
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Reddick, who leads the Cup Series with five wins, failed to finish a race for the first time since the Brickyard 400 on July 27, 2025, due to an incident out of his control. He had entered the Michigan weekend with a 97-point lead over Denny Hamlin, but he lost 46 of these points after the crash.
"All-in-all, it's a bummer," Reddick said after exiting the infield care center. "It's a race I felt like we could have won, got away from us.
"All year long, we've done a really good job at staying out of messes like this, so it's unfortunate to have it happen. At least we got a couple of stage points."
The crash occurred on Lap 83 of 200. The field took the green flag with Chase Elliott and Kyle Larson on the front row. As the field crossed the start-finish line, Carson Hocevar went to move to the bottom of the track from the fourth row and take the field three-wide.
Another look at the incident on Lap 83. pic.twitter.com/i3R9B1nnBO
— NASCAR (@NASCAR) June 7, 2026
This maneuver did not work. Hocevar hit John Hunter Nemechek from behind and turned him into Bubba Wallace, who then hit Ty Gibbs. This sparked a chain reaction that collected multiple cars.
Reddick and Austin Dillon took the hardest hits as their cars collided at a high rate of speed. Both of their cars sustained massive damage.
Reddick made it back to the garage, where his team attempted to make repairs. They could not get the No. 45 back onto the track. Dillon saw his race come to an immediate end.
"It looked like the No. 77 (Carson Hocevar) got into the No. 42 (John H. Nemechek) and turned him across the field," Dillon said.
"We almost got through it. I saw the No. 11 (Denny Hamlin) coming down. I kind of gassed up to get past him, but the No. 45 (Tyler Reddick) was there. I'm frustrated because we had a fast car."
For Dillon, this crash and the 36th-place finish curbed his team's recent momentum that included a sixth-place finish at Watkins Glen International. It kept him buried more than 60 points below The Chase cutline.
Reddick, for comparison, had finished 15th or better in every race this season while winning five times. He had kicked off the day by winning a stage and locking up 10 points.
The crash and 35th-place finish changed the situation. He will now have to go out at the very beginning of qualifying next weekend at Pocono Raceway, which will likely bury him deep in the field for the start of the race as he tries to make up for the lost points.
"We will just have to grind it out," Reddick added. "It's not going to be great, and going out early next week in qualifying, we will have our work cut out for us starting early in Pocono, but we will see if we can get our Camry fixed and move up a couple of more spots, if possible."
