Tyler Reddick Wins Phoenix: How the Final Restart Decided It

Tyler Reddick won at Phoenix Raceway on Sunday, his first NASCAR Cup Series victory since Kansas Speedway in April. The winless run lasted almost exactly six months.

The race turned on the final restart with 19 laps to go. Reddick lined up fourth and went through the middle off Turn 2, passing Chase Elliott, Ty Gibbs and Ryan Blaney in a single move. One lap later he was past race leader Chase Briscoe and clear.

What Reddick said about the restart

Reddick gave the credit to crew chief Billy Scott.

“Good strategy,” Reddick said. “I think Billy had a really good idea of what we needed to do there, going off what our balance was. I got really fortunate. I did not have a good launch, but there was a hole, and I was able to get through it.”

“I thought Briscoe was going to be able to cover the move into Turn 3, but I got him loose and was able to check out.”

Why the move worked at Phoenix

Phoenix Raceway is a one-mile oval, which puts it in the short track bracket. Laps are short, cars run close together, and track position is hard to win back once it is lost.

That combination is what makes a restart worth so much here. A driver who gets a run through the middle can pass three or four cars in a corner, because the field is packed and the corner speeds are low enough to hold a line. On a two-and-a-half-mile superspeedway the same move depends on the draft rather than on a gap opening up. Our guide to short tracks and superspeedways explains the difference.

A clean race at last

RACER described the Phoenix afternoon as the first quiet, clean race Reddick and his 23XI Racing crew had put together in a long stretch. Nothing went wrong on the pit wall, and the car was still there for the final restart.

That is how the win arrived. Reddick did not dominate the afternoon. He was fourth when the last caution came out, and he had enough car left to do something with the restart. On a track this short, that is usually enough.

Toyota takes the manufacturers’ title

Reddick’s win also settled the Cup Series manufacturers’ championship. Toyota clinched its first title since 2019 and the fourth in its history, after adding 2016, 2017 and 2019.

Five Toyota drivers finished in the top 10 at Phoenix, and the win was the marque’s 18th of the season. The manufacturer standings are calculated from the highest-finishing driver for each brand in every race. Toyota now leads Chevrolet by 218 points.

Denny Hamlin has scored the most points for Toyota this season. The wins break down like this:

• Tyler Reddick: 6 wins
• Denny Hamlin: 4
• Chase Briscoe: 3
• Corey Heim: 2
• Ty Gibbs: 2
• Christopher Bell: 1

Toyota is one win away from matching its own single-season record of 19, set in 2019.

What comes next

The Cup Series moves on with the playoff picture still open. Reddick’s six wins make him the most successful Toyota driver of the year, but the drivers’ championship is decided on points, not on wins. Our track guide covers how the ovals on the run-in change the racing.

Sources: RACER.

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