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NASCAR: Briscoe wrecks Reddick handing Busch the Bristol Dirt Race

Posted by AR1 staff

Richard Childress Chevy driver Tyler Reddick was headed to victory in the Food City NASCAR Cup Dirt race at Bristol Motor Speedway, Easter Sunday night.

But Chase Briscoe, who won stage 2 in the #14 Stewart Haas Ford, ran down Reddick over the last 28 laps at the front and wrecked him in turns 3 & 4 on the final lap, letting 3rd place Kyle Busch squeeze through for the lucky win.

Tyler Reddick at Bristol Motor Speedway.
Chase Briscoe wrecks leader Tyler Reddick on final lap in final corner

Reddick — who led 99 laps — righted his No. 8 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet from his final-turn spin to finish second, 0.330 seconds behind at the checkered flag, while Briscoe led 59 laps and wound up 22nd in the No. 14 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford.

Leading only one lap, the last lap, it was Busch’s 60th Cup win, putting his 9th on the all-time win list.

An eight-time winner on Bristol’s traditional concrete surface—again, most among active drivers—Busch won the second NASCAR Cup Series dirt race since 1970 and the first featuring the new Next Gen race car.

“Yeah, we got one,” Busch said with a wry smile. “Doesn’t matter how you get ‘em. It’s all about getting ‘em. Can’t say enough. I mean, man, I feel like Dale Earnhardt Sr. right now (as the crowd booed his unexpected victory). This is awesome. I didn’t do anything.”

After the second of two rain delays, Busch restarted second on Lap 227, but he fell back as Briscoe passed him on Lap 232 of 250 and began to chase Reddick for the lead.

“I don’t know why, we couldn’t fire off after it rained, both times,” Busch said. “It just would not fire. Took it about 20 laps to get going.

“Overall, just really pumped to be back. Real pumped to get a win. This one means a lot. I can win on any surface here at Bristol. Bring it on, baby.”

Kyle Busch, driver of the #18 Mars Crunchy Cookie Toyota,  NASCAR Cup Series Food City Dirt Race at Bristol Motor Speedway April, 2022 in Bristol, Tennessee. (Photo by Chris Graythen/Getty Images)

A chagrined Briscoe took full responsibility for the accident that handed Busch the win.

“I was running Tyler down and tried throwing a slider and didn’t expect him to drive in there on me, and I got loose,” Briscoe said. “I was spinning either way. I feel terrible. I didn’t want to wreck him. That was my fault 100 percent. I hate it for Tyler. He’s a good friend of mine.”

Reddick took the disappointment with consummate grace.

“I don’t think I did everything right, to be honest with you,” Reddick said. “Briscoe was able to run me back down there. Just looking at it, I should have done a little bit better job of just… I don’t know. I shouldn’t have let him get that close. He ran me back down. Worked really hard to do that.

 

“I mean, you’re racing on dirt, going for the move on the final corner. It’s everything that, as a driver, you hope to battle for in his situation. Made it really exciting for the fans, so… It does suck, but we were able to finish second still. I’m being honest. I should have done a better job and pulled away so he wasn’t in range to try to make that move. That’s how I look at it.”

Reddick took control of the race after a restart on Lap 151 to begin the final stage. With a ferocious run through Turns 1 and 2, he shot between the cars of Kyle Busch on the top and Joey Logano on the bottom to take the lead for the first time.

He held the top spot for the next 99 laps, through five cautions and the second rain delay. The final lap was the only one Busch led.

Joey Logano was third in the #22 Penske Ford.

The race was delayed twice by rain — once during the Stage 2 break, and then again with Reddick ahead with 28 laps remaining.

Defending Cup champion Kyle Larson, who had the fastest race lap at 19.261s made it up to 4th after charging through the field from the back, while Ryan Blaney rounded out the top-5 in the #12 Penske Ford.

#5 Larson also won Stage 1 in his Hendrick Chevy and if not for some bad luck with pit stops would likely have won it. “We had a good No. 5 HendrickCars.com Chevy all night. We could have been a lot better, but I still feel like we had a car capable of winning if things played out differently. I think the weather kind of had everyone on the fence on what to do. But either way, it was fun. Getting back up there to the top-five was good. I wasn’t sure if we could get it done restarting 20-something to start the final stage. I had a lot of fun and hopefully next year, we can get our car a little better and run towards the front even more.”

Kyle Larson sets up Daniel Suarez for the lead to win Stage 1. Getty Images for NASCAR.

Christopher Bell was 7th in the #20 JGR Toyota behind 6th place Alex Bowman in the #48 Hendrick Chevy.

Winner Quotes

KYLE BUSCH, No. 18 M&M’s Crunchy Cookie Toyota Camry TRD, Joe Gibbs Racing

Finishing Position: 1st

Did you ever think you would win one like you did tonight?
“Yeah, we backed into that one didn’t we. Sure feels good just to get a win. It’s been a little bit of a long time here, but overall, just a great day. Really appreciate – just proud of the guys. They work hard. We all work hard. We all work way too hard. There’s not a lot of rewards in the sport except winning. You could come home with a second-place day and not get everything that you wanted from the day and from what you put into it. It’s always good when you win. I appreciate M&M’s and this Crunchy Cookie Camry TRD. It was awesome to keep pace with those two. I don’t know why our car would not refire after the rain both times. I was leading on the first big rain delay coming back and I fell to eighth and I was able to drive back through on the long run and get back into position. Then on that one again, same thing and I fell off and couldn’t hang. It got me about 20 laps to get going, but overall, just great to get back in victory lane. Thank you to Rowdy Energy, Toyota, Interstate Batteries, Sport Clips, DeWalt, Breathe Right Nasal Strips, everybody that gets us here.”

What does tonight show what you’ve learned about dirt racing and the new car?

“The biggest thing was just trying to stay in contention. Those restarts were really helpful when you had an outside restart. When we come back, we need to somehow figure out how to do a choose rule because you just get burned on the inside. Overall, I think that was the biggest thing we learned. There were definitely some things we could improve on. I think the 14 (Chase Briscoe) was arguably the best car. He ran down the 8 (Tyler Reddick) there at the end. It’s just so hard to pass once you get into that rhythm. That right rear in that sticky up top. It’s hard to out accelerate that off the corner with momentum or anything from the bottom of the racetrack. I knew if there was going to be a move being made it was going to be contact being made with how aggressive I know Reddick is as well. Again, just kept myself in the game. It reminded me of Joey Logano and Denny Hamlin at California. Sometimes the seas part ways and you get one, so I’ll take it.”

Race Results

# DENOTES ROOKIE
(i) NOT ELIGIBLE FOR POINTS
(*) REQUIRED TO QUALIFY ON TIME

Average Speed of Race Winner:  34.973 mph.

Time of Race:  3 Hrs, 34 Mins, 27 Secs. Margin of Victory:  0.330 Seconds.

Caution Flags:  14 for 82 laps.

Lead Changes:  6 among 5 drivers.

Lap Leaders:   C. Custer 0;C. Briscoe 1-48;K. Larson 49-75;D. Suarez 76-139;C. Briscoe 140-150;T. Reddick 151-249;K. Busch 250.

Leaders Summary (Driver, Times Lead, Laps Led):  Tyler Reddick 1 time for 99 laps; Daniel Suarez 1 time for 64 laps; Chase Briscoe 2 times for 59 laps; Kyle Larson 1 time for 27 laps; Kyle Busch 1 time for 1 lap.

Stage #1 Top Ten: 5,42,20,3,18,48,22,8,12,47

Stage #2 Top Ten: 14,20,99,9,18,5,22,34,12,8