September 25, 2022 | By Lee Spencer

Fires and tires overshadow competition at Texas Motor Speedway on Sunday

What was expected to be the most anticlimactic race in the Round of 12 was anything but on Sunday at Texas Motor Speedway.

Following a four-hour, 24-minute contest—which was slowed by a 56-minute red-flag period due to weather and a record 16 cautions due mostly to tire failures—Tyler Reddick became the fourth non-Playoff driver to win in the postseason.

Although Reddick was eliminated from Playoff contention last weekend, winning the AutoTrader EchoPark Automotive 500 proved to be a delightful consolation gift for the driver.

“Well, it was tough. I mean, two points,” Reddick said. “Every spot matters in this deal. We just had two tough races. We brought a really fast car at Darlington. We were leading at Kansas when we broke and fell out early. It's tough.

“This will make that, the pain of not making it through, a little bit easier. Even though, yes, it would have locked us into the Round of 8. We're winning races. That's what we'll keep trying to do.”

Logano finished second, 1.190-seconds behind the No. 8 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet, and left the Lone Star State 30 points above the cutline.

“The tires, if they aren’t blowing out then they are square,” Logano said. “They were shaking like crazy. That is what happened there on the last run. The last couple of runs really, just shaking the car. We got tight a couple runs and last time I got one that was off in the rear and we got loose. I think Reddick was fighting the same thing from what I heard there.

“You get that close to the win and you just know that if you just had that it might have been good enough to win the race. At the same time we should be happy that we scored a bunch of points today. It is bittersweet I guess.”

Justin Haley, Ryan Blaney and Chase Briscoe, who posted his first top-five result since the Coca-Cola 600 in May, completed the top five.

Chase Elliott held a 15-point advantage entering Texas. However, while leading his 44th lap, the right front tire blew on the No. 9 Chevy, sending Elliott into the Turn 4 wall where his car burst into flames.

“Yeah, something came apart,” Elliott said after leaving the infield care center. “I could hear it flapping in the right rear fender well. I don’t know, but if it wasn’t down, it was certainly coming apart. One of the two.

“It’s not a great position to be in for sure, but it is what it is now. I hate it for our No. 9 NAPA Auto Parts Chevrolet team. We were actually decent here for once, so that was nice while it lasted. We’ll go to Talladega (Superspeedway) try to get a win and go on down the road.”

Elliott fell four points below the cutline. When asked if he was worried about the remaining contenders, he replied, “I just hope nobody gets hurt, outside of that, I really don’t care.”

Elliott wasn’t the first former champion to experience a tire failure throughout the course of the race. Martin Truex Jr. was the first victim on Lap 40—and then again while leading on Lap 268. The latter accident off of Turn 3 ended his night.

Kyle Busch backed into the Turn 4 wall on Lap 49. His wrecked proved terminal. He finished 36th—his third DNF in the last four races and sixth overall. Kevin Harvick was the fourth champion to trigger a caution—the third while leading—while coming into Turn 4 on Lap 254. When he arrived in the pits, both right-side tires were destroyed. Although he was surprised his car could continue, Harvick soldiered on to a 19th-place result and remained on the lead lap.

Playoff contenders Christopher Bell and Alex Bowman, both blew tires within 20 laps of each other during the first stage, but were able to continue. Defending race winner Kyle Larson won Stage 1 on Lap 105. Twenty-six laps into Stage 2, Bell spun off of Turn 4 after another tire failed. The driver who accumulated the most points in the Round of 12, completed 136 laps before finishing 34th.

“To have two right rears go in the first half of the race is very strange,” said Bell, who dropped 29 points below the cutline. “I don’t know. It’s a very disappointing day. We are probably going to be in a deep hole now.”

Two of the most frightening moments occurred during the second stage. Harrison Burton was leading the race at the time of Bell's crash. When he came to the pits during the seventh caution, his car exploded into flames in the Wood Brothers Racing’s pit on Lap 139. After the No. 21 team extinguished the fire, they were able to complete the stop, but Burton dropped to 32nd, one lap down.

Elliott took the lead on Lap140 and was at the point when Cody Ware blew a tire in Turn 4 and slingshot into the pit wall. Ware collapsed out of the No. 51 and was taken to the infield care center.

Elliott ignited the next caution on Lap 184, followed by last week’s winner Chris Buescher, who spun on the fronstretch on Lap 198. Blaney won the second stage on Lap 211. NASCAR extended the 11th caution and red-flagged the race for rain and a lightning hold. After nearly an hour, the race resumed with Erik Jones at the point. Buescher wrecked again in Turn 4 on lap 243.

Two laps after the race restarted following Harvick's vicious crash on Lap 259, Denny Hamlin and William Byron collided while battling for third. Byron retaliated under the next caution. With 62 laps remaining, he punted Hamlin coming off of Turn 4 and sent the No. 11 Toyota spinning through the grass.

“I’m not going to take his bullshit, that's all there is,” Byron told his team.

“I haven't seen a replay, but the 24 dumped us under caution,” said Hamlin’s crew chief Chris Gabehart over the radio. “Good grief. The man wrecks you under caution and he gets no penalty? What are they doing?”

The No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing team seemed shocked that NASCAR took no action with Byron. Both drivers pitted with Byron lining up 10th for the Lap 277 restart. Hamlin, who was third prior to the incident, restarted 19th.

Reddick remained on the track and seized the lead four laps later. The race was slowed by the 15th yellow on Lap 300 when Ricky Stenhouse Jr. spun on the backstretch—along with Austin Cindric, who went sideways trying to avoid the No. 47 Chevy.

Although Logano led a lap following the record-16th caution on Lap 310 following Aric Almirola’s spin in Turn 2, Reddick quickly regained the point and held on for a career-best third win in 2022.

“I was extremely worried; I'm not going to lie,” Reddick said of the tires. “Unfortunately, just about every time we've had fast cars, we've had some tire problems. That last run, the right sides were vibrating really, really hard there. I was just trying to maximize and use the gap that I built over Joey (Logano) just in case. I mean, every time we've had a strong car, we've been bit by something, man.

“Just really proud to be able to get this Lenovo Chevy to Victory Lane. They were at Auto Club earlier this year. They deserve to go to get to Victory Lane. We got them there.”

Jones, Byron, pole-winner Brad Keselowski, Larson and Hamlin rounded out the top 10. Hamlin, the only driver over 35 remaining in the Playoffs, did not hold back in his post-race interview.

“I guess we can just wreck each other under caution,” Hamlin said. “I tried to wreck him back. I don't think we touched. I got to look. I don't think we touched. Obviously, he sent us into the infield under caution.

I'll just add it to the list of guys when I get a chance. They're going to get it. It all just works itself out. We'll be racing each other at some point. He'll lose a lot of spots because he's racing me. This is hard racing, obviously. I'm fine with hard racing.”