Definitely, the FireKeepers On line casino 400 at Michigan Worldwide Speedway was not missing in motion or drama. 23XI Racing’s Tyler Reddick claimed his second victory of the season — seventh of his profession — whereas the 2024 NASCAR Cup Collection playoff standings shifted dramatically but once more in Monday’s weather-delayed double-overtime end to the race.
Reddick’s No. 45 Toyota pulled away from William Byron’s No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet on the second extra time restart — holding off Byron and Joe Gibbs Racing’s Ty Gibbs to assert the win by a slight 0.168s and break a nine-race profitable streak on the historic two-mile observe for Ford.
“Simply nice teammate and a implausible push from Ty Gibbs, the Toyota racing household tries to care for one another,” mentioned Reddick, who instantly devoted his win to longtime household good friend and late mannequin racing legend Scott Bloomquist, who was killed in a airplane accident this week.
“The final couple days have been powerful, however this actually helps. This win goes to him [Bloomquist] and his household and mates, and all that meant lots to him. It’s at all times powerful when somebody you care about passes away.
“We did a very good job right now,” he mentioned of the win. “I feel we have been the final automotive on the lead lap beginning stage three right now so good effort for us.”
Byron, a three-race winner and the 2024 Daytona 500 champion, second-guessed the choice to begin his Chevrolet alongside Reddick on the high-side of the entrance row on that ultimate restart after beginning on the underside lane beforehand.
“I’ll re-live that restart and what lane to decide on in a single day for positive,” Byron mentioned. “It looks like at all times because the chief you wish to take the highest, however I’ve gotten beat twice right here by the underside and I had the lead on the underside barely over him.
“However he had a greater automotive than us — he was a bit of bit sooner. Second sucks, however actually happy with the hassle. I really feel like we’ve been making an attempt to place weeks collectively like this and it is a actually good step.”
Richard Childress Racing’s Kyle Busch completed fourth and led 24 laps within the race, one in every of his higher showings of the season. The 2-time collection champion nonetheless sits greater than 100 factors out of the playoff standings and is making an attempt to increase a file 19-year profitable streak within the collection however Monday’s exhibiting marks his second consecutive top-five end – answering a fourth-place at Richmond final week.
Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing teammates, owner-driver Brad Keselowski and Chris Buescher have been fifth and sixth place — the highest ending Fords. Keselowski hoped to win at his home-state observe for the primary time in 28 begins there. For Buescher that sixth-place end could have felt a bit of like a win after two days of dramatic ups and downs.
It improved his place within the championship standings to fifteenth out of the 16-drivers at present playoff eligible — now 16 factors up on the cutoff line. Trackhouse Racing’s Ross Chastain moved into the sixteenth and ultimate place — solely a single level forward of Reddick’s 23XI Racing’s Bubba Wallace.
Chastain, who introduced out a warning flag within the first extra time, had been 12 factors to the great contained in the Playoff standings taking the primary extra time inexperienced flag.
It was indicative of the continuous motion from Sunday’s inexperienced flag and crimson flags to Monday’s checkers. The race resumed Monday on lap 52 and so did the aggression with 16 totally different race leaders and 26 lead modifications in all.
On Sunday, polesitter, Joe Gibbs Racing’s Denny Hamlin spun out whereas making an attempt to cross Wallace for the lead early. His No. 11 JGR Toyota was largely undamaged regardless of a slide by means of the infield grass and he finally battled his manner again up by means of the sphere Monday to safe a powerful ninth-place end.
Hendrick Motorsports’ Kyle Larson, who led the NASCAR Cup Collection championship factors standings coming into the race, was sidelined early after triggering a seven-car accident on lap 116 after misjudging a cross on Wallace as effectively.
The defending Michigan winner Buescher, Chase Briscoe, Christopher Bell, Joey Logano and Todd Gilliland have been all concerned within the incident in various levels. Though Larson, Bell, Logano and Gilliland’s automobiles have been sidelined, Buescher’s Mustang was in a position to proceed with an assortment of challenges. His group referred to as him in for 2 new tires on the ultimate warning interval and he was in a position to race again to that sixth-place end.
Larson’s miscue had a serious impact on the common season championship with race winner Reddick now taking the lead by 10 factors over Chase Elliott, who led laps however completed fifteenth.
Hamlin’s race restoration strikes him into third place, 28 factors again and Larson has dropped to fourth place, 32 factors behind Reddick with solely two races remaining to resolve who will earn the common season title and obtain that all-important 15-point playoff bonus.
“Had a particularly quick automotive so hate I screwed that up for our group as effectively the others on the market that received collected in it,” mentioned Larson, driver of the No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet. “Simply making an attempt to get what I may, get some stage factors and simply misplaced it.”
Rookie Zane Smith completed seventh, adopted by Daniel Suarez, Hamlin and rookie Carson Hocevar.
The NASCAR Cup Collection returns to competitors in Saturday night time’s Coke Zero Sugar 400 at Daytona Worldwide Speedway (7:30pm ET, NBC, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). Buescher is the defending race winner.
