Denny Hamlin: Tyler Reddick pulling off Homestead win was 'pretty incredible'

Denny Hamlin had a front row seat watching Tyler Reddick put the race-winning move on Ryan Blaney on the final lap of Sunday’s Round of 8 playoff race at Homestead-Miami.

Reddick, the 23XI Racing driver, not only drove by his boss on the last lap, but made it stick up top in Turns 3 and 4 to drive past Blaney to take the checkered flag. Hamlin, speaking on Tuesday’s “Actions Detrimental” podcast, called Reddick’s run “pretty incredible,” especially when considering the tire deficit he was facing.

“It’s still pretty incredible,” Hamlin said. “To be at the tire deficit that he was, a lot of it these tires do wear, but most of it is heat. He really got a good advantage in that he really only ran one and a half laps, so his tires didn’t get really hot. When we cooled them back off, even though he had a lap and a half of rubber gone, they weren’t crazy hot compared to the rest of the cars coming down pit road. I talked to him afterwards and he said after the first couple corners and other people’s tires started getting to the same temperature as his, he’s like, ‘I didn’t feel like I was at a disadvantage at all.’

Denny Hamlin: Tyler Reddick ‘shipped it in there and it stuck’

“I think the move for him was making the same move the 12 [Blaney] made on me the previous lap in [Turns] 1 and 2. The 12 ran a line, that’s how he got besides me coming to two to go. With one to go, I’m right behind the 12, we go into [Turn] 1. The 12 wants to hedge lower to keep me from going in there and sliding him or at least getting to his bumper. I know the 12 is gonna go low, so I try to make all the speed I can on top, not very well, I get to the center, I try to crank the wheel and it’s just not working.

“Then the 45 [Reddick] hooks the line. And when he hooks the line, and he did exactly what the 12 did the lap before and made huge ground, huge speed. Cleared me and actually gained on the 12. I think at that point, he was as amazed as any of us that the 12 gave him the very top line. He just shipped it in there and it stuck.”

Tyler Reddick’s heroics earn him spot in Championship 4 at Phoenix

Reddick came into the race 30 points below the cutline facing essentially a must-win situation at either Homestead or Martinsville next Sunday. The regular season champion, however, looked to be in a tough spot after having to hit pit road late in the race while leading.

Suddenly, a win seemed out of reach. That was, until a caution came out just a few laps later for Kyle Larson’s solo spin while battling Blaney for the lead. All of his competitors had to pit, and Reddick started the final restart out in front. But with fresher tires, Hamlin and Blaney quickly passed Reddick and went back and forth for the lead in the closing laps. As Reddick told Hamlin, that tire disadvantage went away shortly after that final restart.

On the last lap, Reddick went for it. And now, he’ll be joining Joey Logano in the Championship 4 at Phoenix on Nov. 10.

“Yeah, going into one, I made the right guess. … I was just blown away that I had that kind of momentum going into turn three. I thought there was no way the 12 was going to leave, Blaney, was going to leave me the outside,” Reddick said. “He must have thought that I was just going to absolutely dive bomb it off in there to try to get around him. Once I saw him kind of shade down, I hit the gas and forgot about everything else. Came out on the other side in the lead. It was just crazy.”