Tyler Reddick celebrated a big victory at the Verizon 200 at the Brickyard on July 31 at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Reddick started from the pole, dropped back, then regained the lead on Lap 62 of the race, staying out front from there.
The two-lap overtime session was created when the caution flag flew on Lap 81 of the scheduled 82 laps. On a restart on Lap 80, multiple cars made contact in Turn 4, with the No. 3 BetMGM Chevrolet of Austin Dillon getting beached in the gravel trap.
Tyler Reddick celebrates his victory at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. (Kirk Green)
Reddick, who took the lead for good on Lap 62 when the off-sequence Joey Hand pitted, led the field to the green-white-checkered overtime restart on Lap 85, followed by AJ Allmendinger, Ryan Blaney, Ross Chastain and Daniel Suarez.
The field fanned out four-wide on the final restart heading into Turn 1, with Chastain pinned against the outside wall. Chastain decided to avoid a collision and Turn 1, instead taking the access road that bypassed the corner. He rejoined the circuit next to leader Reddick, taking the lead in Turn 6.
“I was just trying not to be in the carnage there in Turn 1,” Chastain said. “I thought we were four-wide and couldn’t go any farther right, so I decided to take the NASCAR access lane out there. Just pure reaction there.”
Reddick then powered past Chastain to regain the lead in Turn 14 with the white flag in the air, with Chastain, Cindric and Burton never making another challenge for the lead. Reddick crossed the finish line .576 of a second ahead of Chastain before Chastain was demoted by the penalty. The official margin of victory between Reddick and Cindric was 1.065 seconds.
Chase Elliott comes in for a pit stop during the Verizon 200 at the Brickyard. (Kirk Green)