Tyler Reddick took home the checkered flag in the LTi Printing 250 on Saturday afternoon at Michigan International Speedway after some late-race drama.
Reddick’s luck came through late in the race after a mix up in communication on the final caution on lap 79 caused leader at the time, Christopher Bell, to stay out on the track. Cole Custer was given the order to follow what Bell did, so he stayed out as well, while most of the rest of the field came in for their final gas up and tires if they had any left.
Bell misunderstood communication over the radio from his crew and stayed out at the last second before he was initially going to head into the pits.
While Custer and Bell drove away from the field to a nearly 8-second gap after the restart, hoping for a caution, Reddick hung back and saved fuel. All the while, Reddick kept a sizeable distance between him and the rest of the field behind him. With 11 laps to go, Bell came into the pits, relinquishing 2nd place to Reddick.
Then with ten laps to go, Custer came in to top off on fuel quickly and went back out. By the time Custer made it to his pit stall, Reddick had taken over the lead. All he needed to do after that was hold onto a 2-second lead for the final ten laps.
Though the lead dwindled, and Noah Gragson in the No. 9 machine pushed as hard as he could, Reddick was able to hold on for a comfortable win. It was his third win of the season and his 12th top ten in just 13 races this season.
After the race, Reddick increased his points lead in the series, now 89 points ahead of Bell in second place, and taking over the official lead after tying Bell with three wins. Now midway through the season, the Xfinity Series turns it’s focus to Iowa Speedway next week in the American Ethanol 250, where last season Justin Algier took home the win in the June race.
Written by Adrian Beecher
