After starting last, Tyler Reddick won Friday night’s Food City 300 at Bristol Motor Speedway, leading the final 11 laps after Justin Allgaier made contact with the wall and had a tire go flat.
Reddick started 38th after his car failed pre-qualifying inspection four times. He had to serve a pass through penalty at the start of the race, putting him a lap down. He quickly returned to the lead lap after a caution on Lap 14.
The Richard Childress Racing driver raced through the field and found himself battling with Allgaier for the lead with four laps to go in the first stage. He got loose and spun while trying to make a pass, was undamaged, and drove back to the front to contend.
The defending series champion, it is Reddick’s fourth win of the season.
“I don’t know (how I won),” Reddick told NBCSN. “I thought I made the wrong adjustment there on the last (pit) stop, we have a really fast Tame the Beast Chevrolet. We had fresher tires than Justin Allgaier there. We came down pit road and it just got too tight. I thought we were done for. I don’t know what happened, everything just happened in the right spot. … As you can see, I’m speechless. I just couldn’t believe it was happening.”
The top five was Reddick, Chase Briscoe, John Hunter Nemechek, Jeremy Clements and Austin Cindric.
Allgaier, who led 131 of 300 laps, finished in eighth. He had been trying to outlast Reddick and other drivers on older tires over the final 72 laps before he made contact with the wall. He remains winless since last September’s race at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
“I don’t know how you process it, I’ll be honest with you,” Allgaier told NBCSN. “Just the story of the year. … Typical Bristol. Come out here and a have a great car. I don’t know if we could have beat (Kyle Busch) apples to apples, but when he fell out I thought especially there at the end we had the best car.”
STAGE 1 WINNER: Brandon Jones
STAGE 2 WINNER: Kyle Busch managed to get to the end of the stage as his engine expired, ending his night.
More: race results, point standings
WHO HAD A GOOD NIGHT: Chase Briscoe finished second after bouncing back from a Lap 38 crash, a speeding penalty and a too many crew members over the wall penalty … John Hunter Nemechek placed third after he experienced a tire problem on Lap 49 … Jeremy Clement earned his third top five in 321 Xfinity starts … Gray Gaulding, sixth, earned his third top 10 in 30 Xfinity starts.
WHO HAD A BAD RACE: Cole Custer, Erik Jones, Joey Logano, Chase Briscoe and Christopher Bell were all involved in a crash on Lap 38. Jones and Logano were eliminated. Custer finished 22nd, nine laps down. Bell placed 14th, three laps down … Justin Haley’s engine expired with six laps left in Stage 1. He finished 34th … Jeb Burton placed 32nd after brake issues in Stage 2 ended his night … Brandon Jones placed 11th after he hit the wall moments after taking second place with 12 laps to go
WHAT’S NEXT: CTECH Manufacturing 180 at Road America at 3 p.m. ET Aug. 24 on NBCSN
