Reddick Masters Restarts, Kisses the Bricks at Indianapolis

Reddick had arguably the fastest car of the weekend, as demonstrated yesterday when he qualified on pole. That doesn't always translate to the race, but the driver of the No. 8 Chevrolet drove a clean race and was able to execute in the pits and on the track to put himself in position to win his second career Cup race.

"We just know what we’re capable of," Reddick said after leading 38 laps in the race. "We went out and won a race fair and square a couple weeks ago and if we change nothing, we keep working really, really hard, we find a way back to Victory Lane. Just really glad to be able to do it here in Indianapolis. This is one really special place to race, and really excited to kiss the bricks."

Leading the race by more than three seconds with just six laps to go, the Richard Childress Racing team saw the one thing they didn't want to see - the yellow flag. That caution for Christopher Bell's blown right-front tire set up a pair of dramatic restarts that ended up taking out several contenders.

Chaos played itself out during the first restart when William Byron got into Ryan Blaney entering Turn 1. That forced Blaney into the rear of Chase Elliott, who was running in 2nd place at the time. The driver of the No. 9 Chevrolet was in position for his sixth consecutive top-two finish, but that spin ended his hopes and he finished 16th. Six more cars went off course near the area and the race was headed to overtime.

The second restart was ever wilder than the first. Joey Logano dive bombed the entire field in Turn 1, which sent Daniel Suarez into AJ Allmendinger, and Blaney was spun as well. Ross Chastain completely missed Turn 1 and took the access road around and ended up taking the lead from Reddick. Officials eventually ruled Chastain's move was illegal, but no one was quite sure about that in the final two laps, including the drivers. Chastain was credited with a 27th place finish.

“Just trying not to be in the chaos there in Turn 1,” Chastain said. “I thought we were four-wide, and couldn’t go any farther right, and decided to take the access lane out there. Just pure reaction there, for our Worldwide Express Chevy. I took it in practice on exit, overshooting Turn 1. Yeah, just wanted to not get hit, and merged back on where I merged.”

After being hit multiple times, Blaney voiced his frustration after the race. "That was a case of just getting wrecked. That’s all people do at the end of these things. They just dive in there and fucking wreck you. I don’t know who shoved who and I don’t care. We restarted in the top three both times. It’s just a matter of getting through on the restart, but apparently that’s a hard thing to ask because people just run over each other. I’m pissed off about it, and I have every damn right to be."

Austin Cindric ended up finishing the race where he started, in 2nd place. The Team Penske driver wasn't quite sure how he ended up there, but was happy with how the day went.

"There was a few things I was good at but I needed the whole track to do it and I kind of struggled a bit, probably a little lower than my expectations were today, but those restarts, survival, holy crap. All I can say is wow. There’s no other sport, no other form of racing other than NASCAR that you’re going to get that."

Harrison Burton earned the best finish of his young career, as the rookie finished in 3rd for Wood Brothers Racing. "Just a lot of aggression on the last restarts and putting myself in good positions. At the end of the day, we weren’t doing our job at the start of the race. We didn’t execute well. I made a mistake and spun out. Proud of our team to keep persevering through those hard moments. We have to step and get top-tens more often and build."

Another driver with a career-best finish was Todd Gilliland. It was a sensational weekend for the entire Front Row Motorsports organization. In addition to Gilliland's 4th place finish, Michael McDowell brought his Ford Mustang home in 8th, and both drivers qualified inside the top-ten yesterday.

Bubba Wallace rounded out the top-five on Sunday, as he was the only Toyota driver to finish inside the top-ten. The 23XI Racing driver continues to show improvement on the track, and especially on the road courses.

"I've made improvements on road courses, but out there I feel like I'm busting out qualifying laps and it's just good enough to get that position. I got to figure out where to gain speed. I've got a great team behind me. They gave me a decent car to go out and learn with and survive. It was a good day. A good day to come out of Indy with a surprising top-five."

Logano ended up in 6th place with Allmendinger coming home in 7th. Cole Custer and Chris Buescher completed the top-ten, which was occupied by seven Fords. Although Chevrolet only had two cars in the top-ten, they did claim their 10th consecutive road course victory today.

Allmendinger, who won this race last year, was trying to sweep the weekend for Kaulig Racing after winning the Xfinity race yesterday. It was a brutal day behind the wheel for him though, as his cooling shirt was not working and he was out of water inside the car. He collapsed while climbing out of his car after the race, but was quickly taken care of by the medical team.

Kyle Busch recovered from his spin to finish 11th, which was the highest-finishing Joe Gibbs Racing car. He was followed by Bell, who had a great race going until he flat-spotted his tire and saw it explode down the front straightaway. That came after he got bullied on a restart, which was just salt in the wound at that point. Their teammate Denny Hamlin was making his 600th Cup start today, but it did not go as planned.

It was a rough start to the race for Hamlin, as he went into the grass on the opening lap and spun going down Hulman Blvd. His No. 11 Camry just looked off after that, but he still managed to finish 14th. The final member of the team, Martin Truex Jr, did not get any closer to a playoff position by finishing 21st. He has four races remaining to get a win to secure his playoff spot.

As bad as the day seemed for Truex, there were several drivers that had it worse. One of those was Kevin Harvick, who also needs a race win to get into the playoffs. The Stewart-Haas Racing driver got spun by Austin Dillon on the Stage 2 restart and then got tangled with Alex Bowman during the final stage and his day was done, finishing 33rd. Bowman and Byron had another disappointing weekend with finishes of 32nd and 31st but their Hendrick Motorsports teammate Kyle Larson easily had the worst luck today.

Coming in to Turn 1 on Lap 61, Larson had some sort of a mechanical issue with his brake system. His Chevrolet went flying into the turn at nearly 120 mph, hopped the curbing, and slammed into Ty Dillon in an incredibly scary incident. Fortunately, both drivers were okay but Larson went running to check on Dillon after exiting his car. It certainly was not the way Larson wanted to celebrate his 30th birthday.

As teams pack up and leave the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, they will now turn their attention to the 2-mile Michigan International Speedway. Coverage of Sunday's FireKeepers Casino 400 begins at 3 PM ET on USA Network.