Tyler Reddick survives massive last lap wreck at Talladega to win GEICO 500

This race didn’t give us a lot of action in the middle, but it sure did give us a show at the end with Tyler Reddick stealing it at the line. Michael McDowell made the biggest mistake in NASCAR, blocking more than once.

A huge win for 23XI Racing. This is the first win for Tyler Reddick this season. Michael McDowell was pushed by Brad Keselowski. Keselowski went for the win, but McDowell blocked him twice, and was spun around.

Reddick in his Jordan Brand No. 45 Toyota Camry was right there and drag-raced Keselowski to the finish line.

TYLER REDDICK WINS AT TALLADEGA https://t.co/6dIqLzXhqq pic.twitter.com/R0pg9qmwei

— FOX: NASCAR (@NASCARONFOX) April 21, 2024

The emotion in Tyler Reddick’s voice after the win, his celebration, all of it was amazing. He stood on his car before running up to the fence and climbing nearly to the top of it. Reddick gets his first superspeedway win and first Talladega win in his Cup Series career.

Six career wins now for Reddick. This race had a great end but it took us a long time to get there, folks. With the win, Reddick reminds everyone that he is a championship contender. The best part? Michael Jordan was there to celebrate all of it.

Stage 1 was stale

Talk about the worst of superspeedway racing. The new fuel-saving strategy has been something for sure. At Daytona, fans were not happy about the strategy and I think they were even more unhappy to see it used again at Talladega.

The way the field was forming, they could race three-wide but were only going 170 MPH or so. That means drivers could move up whenever they wanted to but were unable to pull away from the field. When the pace did pick up, things went double-file again, and passing was all but gone.

Tyler Reddick was mostly a non-factor. He blended into the field and was just fine with hanging around and waiting for the right moment.

By the end of this stage, the cars started to move. Following the green flag pit stops, drivers were more willing to race. Especially for those precious stage points. Austin Cindric took Chase Elliott to the line in a photo finish and plucked that stage win and the playoff point that comes with it, from the Hendrick driver.

Stage 2 went caution-free to make history

For the first time since stage racing was introduced, Talladega went through the first two stages without a caution flag. It didn’t make for the most exciting racing at Talladega. People often complain there are too many wrecks at tracks like this. Well, there honestly weren’t enough today.

The fuel-saving strategy was still dominating the field. No one wanted to push the pace and no one could without other teams willing to go with them. We did see the race start to form into a Toyota and Ford battle, which isn’t surprising.

In this stage, things just played out more or less the same as Stage 1. Austin Cindric was there with a chance to sweep the stages, but it would be Joey Logano taking the Stage 2 win.

Thankfully, the final stage gave us a little action and drama. Tyler Reddick made sure of it.

Tyler Reddick gets it done for Michael Jordan, Denny Hamlin

The final stage was detrimental to Toyota as a whole. Well, it appeared that way at first. Christopher Bell was wrecked while the double-file lines were bumping and shoving around. A small stack-up had consequences for the 20 team.

So, Bell was the first DNF. Then we had a few more, and they were all Toyotas. Just when the manufacturer was going to put the rest of the field behind the ball with a clever pit strategy, a nightmare broke out. Another stack-up would take out Bubba Wallace, Denny Hamlin, and Erik Jones.

All Toyota needed was Tyler Reddick, Martin Truex Jr., and Ty Gibbs, really. Nemechek wasn’t a factor late. But those three worked so well together and were able to get the job done in the end.

For how well Michael McDowell raced today, it’s awful he didn’t get the win. Then there is the 107-race winless streak for Brad Keselowski. Going for the win at Talladega, you have to put it all out there and do what you can.

Once the 34 car was out of the way, it was just Tyler Reddick and Keselowski drag racing for the finish line. This time, luck dealt the best hand to Reddick and he was able to speed his way to the checkered flag and steal a win from those Ford drivers.