Tyler Reddick Michigan 2016 Recap

The strategy for Tyler Reddick (@TylerReddick) entering Saturday’s Careers For Veterans 200 Presented by The Cooper Standard Foundation and Brad Keselowski’s Checkered Flag Foundation at Michigan International Speedway was simple: win.  Reddick was in position to do just that when contact with another competitor ended those hopes 31 laps from the finish.
 
Reddick’s weekend started well with two strong practice sessions on sunny and warm Friday afternoon (he was first in final practice) and he backed up his practice speed with a solid eighth-place qualifying effort on Saturday morning.
 
A summer afternoon thunderstorm delayed the initial start of the race by two and a half hours.  Once the race started, Reddick was wrestling a loose-handling Ford F-150.  He was 17th in the running order when the Caution Clock expired on lap 32, bringing out the first yellow of the race.  Reddick pitted on lap 33 for four tires and adjustments and restarted in 16th-place when the race went green on lap 36.
 
During the next run, the Cooper Standard Careers For Veterans Ford F-150 was still a bit loose.  Reddick was 13th at the time of the second caution on lap 46. He pitted one lap later for fuel only and a track-bar adjustment and lined up in 11th when the race went green on lap 50.
 
Reddick was up to eighth-place at the time of the third caution on lap 52.  He pitted for four tires and adjustments on lap 53 and topped off his fuel tank on lap 54 with hopes of stretching his mileage to the end of the race, but still needed a few laps – one more yellow – to ensure they could make it.
 
That yellow came on lap 64.  Reddick was up to the eighth position and stayed on the track while most of the leaders pitted, moving him up to second-place when the race went green.
 
On lap 69, Reddick made contact with Johnny Sauter as he aggressively moved to get in line at the exit of Turn 4.  The contact forced Reddick into the outside wall, damaging his race truck. He made multiple pit stops for repairs during the next two cautions, losing a lap in the process, but returned to the lead lap thanks to the free pass during the sixth caution on lap 76.  Reddick was credited with a 19th-place finish and is 11th in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series championship standings, 51 points behind the final Chase cutoff position.     

BKR PR