Reddick wins in Phoenix as NASCAR Cup Series championship tightens after miserable day for Larson

AVONDALE, Ariz. — Tyler Reddick had a late surge on Sunday to earn his sixth win of the season in a NASCAR playoff race at Phoenix Raceway, rising up the Cup Series standings to give himself a shot at the championship.

He's not the only one who benefited from Kyle Larson's very, very bad day.

Reddick, Christopher Bell and Chase Briscoe were among the drivers who are leaving the desert in much better position to win a title than when they a rrived. Reddick's No. 45 Toyota overtook Briscoe with 17 laps remaining and held on for the win, shaking up NASCAR's postseason with three races remaining.

"This group never lost motivation, never lost the drive to keep searching and keep trying to find ways to make ourselves better, just be an all-around better team," Reddick said. "Something about today... I had a really good feeling."

Larson — who started Sunday with a 49-point lead in the Cup Series standings — is now just five points ahead of Christopher Bell heading into Talladega next week. Briscoe is in third, 24 points back, while Denny Hamlin (31), Ryan Blaney (40), Joey Logano (44) and Reddick (56) are still in the hunt.

"It's going to be a battle, that's for sure," Bell said. "We're right there in it. Really proud of our team. They've been doing a really good job of bringing fast race cars, executing races. We've been able to qualify well and run up front in stages."

Ryan Blaney finished second on Sunday while Chase Elliott was third and Bell fourth. Briscoe finished eighth after back-to-back wins in Las Vegas and Charlotte and picked up more points in Phoenix.

Reddick and his 23XI team had the hottest car in the sport early in the year, winning four of the season's first six races, but had a big lull over the summer. He was mostly an afterthought entering Sunday's race, but is back in victory lane and now can dream about even bigger accomplishments.

Bubba Wallace led 52 laps in the second half of the race, but a pit road speeding penalty ended the 23XI driver's chance at a win.

Larson's No. 5 Chevrolet struggled all day and then smacked the wall late in the race after his right front tire went flat going into a turn. His day was over and he finished 34th.

Larson had looked nearly unstoppable over the first six races of the playoffs, but had a disappointing qualifying effort on Saturday and started 22nd, well behind most of the other title contenders.

He wasn't any better on Sunday — the Hendrick Motorsports star stayed in the middle to back of the pack most of the afternoon and fell a lap behind the field midway through the second stage. The flat tire made things even worse.

"I was just trying to salvage anything — in the top 20 would have been great," Larson said. "It's a bummer, but it is what it is. It happens."

It was a surprising hiccup after a dominant six-race postseason run that included two wins, two second-place finishes and an average finish of 2.83.

Hamlin — who is still looking for his first Cup Series championship — couldn't take full advantage of Larson's tough day after a flat right rear tire while running fourth on lap 221. The No. 11 Toyota was also penalized for speeding on pit road as he struggled to control the car coming off the track. He finished 28th.

Logano won both the 60-lap first stage and 125-lap second stage, picking up the maximum possible 20 points.

He took four fresh tires during a yellow-flag stop late in the first stage before grabbing the lead from Hamlin, who took just two. Blaney led the first 46 laps but a slow pit stop dropped him back to eighth. He recovered to place fourth in the stage.

Logano — who has won four times in Phoenix and finished sixth on Sunday — breezed to the second stage win, finishing well ahead of Briscoe and Bell.

The Cup Series heads to Talladega Superspeedway in Alabama next weekend for the eighth of 10 postseason races.

___

See AP's full auto racing coverage here

Related topics