Reddick: ‘I Got Us Back Into That Mess’

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer

FORT WORTH, Texas — Pole sitter Tyler Reddick’s wild O’Reilly Auto Parts 300 at Texas Motor Speedway Saturday ended behind a tow truck after crashing out with 39 laps remaining.

Heading down the backstretch, Chase Briscoe bounced the wall which caused Reddick running into him and lost control of his No. 2 Alsco Chevrolet Camaro.

"Tyler Reddick came into this race plenty safe."

That cushion is gone as he crashes out of @TXMotorSpeedway. #NASCARPlayoffs pic.twitter.com/2fqOsNNG9W

— NASCAR on NBC (@NASCARonNBC) November 3, 2019

He slammed the inside wall as his car lifted from the ground, plummeting him down to 29th in the final running order. This marked only his third DNF and second race all season finishing outside the top-20.

“It just sucks honestly. There’s really no better way to describe it,” a disappointing Reddick commented. “We had a really fast Chevrolet and we got nothing to show for it.

“I saw that from a mile away and drove myself right into (Briscoe’s) quarter panel. That was just stupid in my part.”

Earlier in the race, Reddick was chasing down Christopher Bell for the race lead until he slapped the wall heading into Turn 4. The incident proved to be a momentum killer as the defending champion felt he was better than everyone else, but openly faulted himself for getting himself into that awful situation.

“I got sucked back there behind them,” Reddick said. “I was not having the best restarts and doing the best job as a driver on-and-off pit road. I got us back into that mess and if I can get back up front, I guess I deserved to be wrecked.”

Reddick wasn’t the only Round of 8 competitor who had issues as Noah Gragson, who finished one spot behind Reddick, slid into the grass after contact from Harrison Burton. Gragson’s Camaro was destroyed as the incident brought out the red flag.

https://twitter.com/TylerReddick/status/1190847304590385152

The other playoff driver who was snake bitten was 22nd-place finisher of Briscoe, who had tire problems that forced him to pit in the closing laps and finished three laps behind race winner Bell.

Although fairly comfortable inside the top-four with a 36-point cushion heading into the cutoff race at ISM Raceway in Phoenix Saturday Nov. 9, the man third in points had a cut and dry mindset.

“Just don’t be stupid,” Reddick replied. “It’s the only mindset I need to have right now.”