One to remember… Reddick’s first win at Bristol will be hard to forget
Published 6:00 am Tuesday, August 20, 2019
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Star Photo/Ivan Sanders
John Hunter Nemechek has his car break free going into turn two during Friday night's Food City 300 Xfinity race at BMS. Nemechek regrouped to drive his #23 Midnight Moon Moonshine Chevrolet to a third place finish.
Star Photo/Ivan Sanders
Justin Allgaier had his #7 BRANDT Professional Agriculture Chevrolet out front most of the night until making contact with the wall with 11 laps remaining.
Star Photo/Ivan Sanders
Kyle Busch (18) and Justin Allgaier (7) were dominating for 170 laps of Friday night's Food City 300 Xfinity race at Bristol Motor Speedway before Busch blew an engine and Allgaier bumped the wall with 11 laps remaining.
Star Photo/Ivan Sanders
Cole Custer's #00 Haas Automation Ford shows damage resulting in a wreck that brought out an early caution in Friday's Food City 300 at BMS.
Star Photo/Ivan Sanders
Kyle Busch (18) leads Justin Allgaier (7) through turn one of the Food City 300 at Bristol Motor Speedway.
Star Photo/Ivan Sanders
Food City 300 race winner Tyler Reddick (2) battles from the back of the pack in the early going passing JJ Yeley (93) while Shane Lee (28) chases Reddick from behind.
BY IVAN SANDERS
STAR SPORTS EDITOR
BRISTOL- When Tyler Reddick sits down in the future with his grandchildren and begins to tell about stories of his racing days, one of the race wins that will have to stand out will be the one where Reddick was racing in the Food City 300 Xfinity race at Bristol Motor Speedway and won despite all odds.
He would obviously start by sharing how that even before the race began that his team was penalized for two infractions and sent to the back of the pack for the start and then had to do a pass-through the pits before he could even start driving toward the front.
Reddick would have then had to tell about how one of the Bristol greats, Kyle Busch, was dominating until the end of stage two when he lost an engine and would have to go to the garage and not return.
Then he would have to relay how that he was chasing down Justin Allgaier that had the lead up until 11 laps remained before pushing his car up into the wall and allowing Reddick the opportunity to take the official lead and then hold off all challengers to win the trophy and a sword representative of winning a race at the Last Great Colosseum.
What a story that’s going to be.
Reddick was asked if he had ever been involved in a race that turned out the way that the Food City 300 did.
“There have been a few,” Reddick said in addressing the media after the race. “Talladega this year was like that. I wouldn’t say that I was feeling not so much kind of down and out but just kept working to get back to the lead and everything happened the way it did. It was kind of crazy.
“I feel like we almost took ourselves out of it. We didn’t have a lot of time to make any adjustments when the caution came out. So (Crew Chief) Randall (Burnett) told me to be ready you have to be quick and communicate to the best of my ability what we needed to work on and that we needed to do,” continued Reddick.
“After we got tires, the car just got too tight and I worried that I might have cost us the race. When the race came back to us, it was nice and probably made me look better than it really should have.”
For car owner Richard Childress, the work that Reddick and Burnett did to turn an adverse situation around into a victory for the #2 Tame the Beast Chevrolet shows just what kind of team he has in the pair.
“I am always impressed with Randall and Tyler here,” Childress said about Reddick and Burnett. “No matter what, they are always on a high note.
“Tonight, we had a couple of hiccups and nobody ever panicked and I think that’s a sign of a championship team.”
When asked if there were any drivers from the Monster Energy circuit that he wished was still in the race when he made his move, Reddick said, “For most of it, I could not really see what was going on. But it seemed like the No. 7 (Allgaier) was battling the #18 (Busch) very well until he (Busch) had the issue there.
“We could have been starting up further and competing to get some of those points. I was happy that we were able to redeem ourselves and close out the night with a win.”
The win was a welcomed relief especially after the problems to start the race especially when it came to Childress as Burnett said, ” I feel like we were trying to get a ‘Get out of jail free’ card from Richard.”
Burnett went on to talk about the close relationship the team has and how they persevered to fight through their early plight in the race.
“I think a lot of that feeds off the fact of everybody’s relationship on the team with Tyler,” Burnett stated. “There is a lot of high-pressure situations and the best thing to do is laugh at it and handle it the best you can.
“That’s what we did. We obviously buried ourselves early for the race and being a short-track passer that’s a pretty big deal. We felt fortunate all night long.
“The breaks just kept coming our way. For us to get back up there and challenge for the win is a big testament about this team.”
