Tyler Reddick made a two-tire stop on the final pit stop, completed a bold, four-wide move on a restart, and returned to Victory Lane by winning Sunday afternoon’s Freeway Insurance 500 at Phoenix Raceway in Avondale, Arizona.
In notching his NASCAR Cup Series-high sixth win, the No. 45 23XI Racing driver passed Chase Briscoe with 18 to go and pulled away by 0.801 seconds over polesitter Ryan Blaney to win for his first time in the desert and 14th time in his career.
Blaney, Chase Elliott, Christopher Bell and Corey Heim rounded out the top-5 finishers.
Points leader Kyle Larson had an accident late and was 34th, while Denny Hamlin had a flat tire and a penalty and was 28th.
Larson leads Bell by five points with Briscoe (-24), Hamlin (-31) and Blaney (-40) making up the top-five in points.
Running at the back end of the top 20 on the 1-mile flat oval, Riley Herbst and Michael McDowell wrecked for the first caution. The pit stops ended with Hamlin getting two tires and leading Hendrick Motorsports’ William Byron and Elliott off pit road.
Joey Logano easily won the segment, while Hamlin, Bell, Blaney and Briscoe collected the descending bonus points. After taking two tires and restarting fifth, Larson’s No. 5 crossed the line in 22nd.
Hamlin slightly edged his way forward just outside the top 10, while the 2-time Cup winner Larson continued to slide during Stage 2’s 125 circuits. He lost a lap and ran 28th as the event neared the midpoint.
Logano won the race off pit road after Austin Dillon’s wreck, and he held a solid lead over Briscoe in their 1-2 finish in Stage 2. Bell, Josh Berry and Bubba Wallace were next in stage points, but Larson ran 27th and managed to stay in front of Logano on the lead lap.
The 3-time series champion led as the final stretch started but soon complained of a vibration as Wallace cut into his advantage.
Slotting fourth, Hamlin’s No. 11 cut a right rear tire on Lap 221, had to pit under green and was caught speeding. Cody Ware immediately wrecked following a tire problem to put Hamlin a lap down.
Wallace was first off pit road and led by 1.3 seconds when he pitted with 43 to go, turning the lead over to Briscoe.
Larson had a flat and smacked the wall with about 30 laps left for the final caution, while Wallace was penalized for speeding.
–Field Level Media
