On the final lap of Sunday’s NASCAR Cup race at Nashville, a multi-car battle was getting intense around the final spot inside the top five.
With two fresh right-sides, Tyler Reddick squeezed between Chase Elliott and Shane van Gisbergen at the exit of Turn 4. He and Elliott slammed doors as they all raced to the line, with just 0.005s between all three cars.
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After reviewing the finish, NASCAR scored Van Gisbergen in fifth, Tyler Reddick sixth, and Chase Elliott in seventh.
Unfortunately, just as they crossed the line, a bump from Ryan Blaney sent Elliott sliding down into Reddick, hooking the No. 45 directly into the outside wall. It was a vicious impact, and while the car was destroyed, Reddick was all right.
Blaney worried after causing incident
“Oh my god, let me know if they’re okay,” radioed Blaney upon seeing the wreck unfold in front of him. “Oh my god, I did not mean to do that.”
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After the race, Blaney took full responsibility, and later went to see Reddick to apologize in-person while also checking on him.
“..My sincere apologies to Tyler,” said Blaney. “I was trying to push the #9 [Elliott] at the top of three (wide) and got Chase sideways, and ended up hooking Tyler, so I hope he’s okay. Gosh, I did not mean to do that. Hope he’s all right, but I’m proud of the fight from my No. 12 guys.”
Elliott was also relieved to hear that Reddick was okay, saying after the race: “I’m glad. I heard Tyler’s okay. I’m glad he’s all right. That had to be a big hit. Ryan was — nothing intentional on my end obviously. Ryan was trying to push me to the line and got super out of shape. The 45 was just kind of in the way unfortunately for me spinning. Hate that.”
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Reddick reacts to huge crash
While Reddick was initially quite heated on the radio, likely due to the shock of the unexpected crash, he held no ill will towards Blaney after emerging from the infield care center.
“Yeah, I’m feeling good,” said Reddick. “Certainly, when you take the checkered flag, you’re expecting to cool down, come down pit road, and head home. But yeah, in the moment, I didn’t necessarily know who clipped me or whatnot, but got to see the replay and it’s just a chain-reaction. It’s what everyone is trying to do — push back to the line, and have the best finish possible.
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“I appreciate Blaney, he came by right away and apologized. But it was just a racing deal. Blaney is trying to push Chase, and it just happens sometimes. It’s a bummer.”
Reddick was more concerned with losing points to race winner Denny Hamlin, who has brought the gap between the two down to 97 points in the battle for the regular season title.
“I guess, technically, we still finished the race, but we tore up a good race car,” continued Reddick. “And that was kind of the theme of the night — just kind of a waste of a potential night. Got a decent finish, but missed on the stage points each time with the the cautions falling the way they did, and unfortunately, just at the end, the strategy didn’t go right.
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“We had a much better car than a sixth-place car, and lost a lot of points to Denny tonight. Can’t keep doing that.”
Upon seeing the replay of the No. 45 car’s wreck while celebrating his race win, 23XI team co-owner Hamlin had the following reaction: “That’s expensive.”
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