Tyler Reddick is out of Sunday's Cup Series playoff race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway after an incident that sent his No. 45 Toyota flipping.
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The incident occurred during a frantic restart in stage 2. Reddick moved to the outside while trying to pass Chase Elliott and Martin Truex Jr. The drivers went three wide and then a chain reaction occurred. Truex and Elliott made contact, which sent Elliott into Reddick.
The 23XI Racing driver hit the outside wall and then rebounded into Elliott. Both drivers spun into the infield grass. Elliott's No. 9 Chevrolet spun in circles while Reddick's No. 45 Toyota bounced sideways. Once it hit the second stretch of grass, it flipped once before landing on all four tires.
Reddick drove back to his pit stall after the stunning incident, but he was unable to continue in the race. His car sustained too much damage. Reddick had one of the fastest cars in the field, but he finished 35th.
"You just have to be aggressive on restarts," Reddick said after exiting the infield care center. "It's how the Next Gen racing has been from the beginning. I kind of saw them both have a moment, and I just had to split second to make a decision. You have to be aggressive on the restart.
"It is hard to pass after a while. Being myself on a mile and a half, being aggressive — by the time I realized I was in trouble, the 19 started sliding and the 9 was coming up and I was pretty much already on their outside at that point, with nowhere to really go."
Elliott's team made repairs to the No. 9 and got the Chevrolet back onto the track. Once they met the minimum speed and cleared the DVP (Damaged Vehicle Policy) clock, they took the car to the garage.
The incident involved three other drivers.
Keselowski spun through the grass after Reddick slammed into his No. 6 Ford. He could not continue in the race. Ryan Blaney slammed into the outside wall while trying to avoid the incident. He broke the toe link and caused other issues.
The No. 12 team made repairs and got Blaney back onto the track. He kept racing but fell multiple laps behind the leaders.
Austin Cindric also sustained race-ending damage in the crash. He said that he thought the No. 6 Ford hit him as it slid up the track. This contact sent Cindric's No. 2 into the outside wall.
Reddick entered the playoff weekend 10 points above the Championship 4 elimination line. The crash dropped him below and ensured that he will have to deliver strong performances at Homestead-Miami Speedway and Martinsville Speedway.
Elliott entered the weekend nine points below the cutline while Blaney entered four points below the cutline. Both drivers lost more points after being involved in the crash.
