Things are absolutely wild out there in Bristol. Goodyear tires really threw Denny Hamlin and his drivers, Tyler Reddick and Bubba Wallace, for a loop today. The concrete track and the Goodyear tires weren’t on the same page, or maybe it’s the other way around – the tires just weren’t cut out for this short track showdown. But you’ve got to admit, it’s been a while since a short-track race kept us on the edge of our seats like this one. Though, it’s tough to ignore that it came at the drivers’ expense.

Tyler Reddick spun to bring out the first caution of the race

After Denny Hamlin snatched the lead from Josh Berry on lap 20, William Byron got a tough break, getting shoved up the track in Turn 3, messing up his right rear bumper. First, when Byron was in 15th place, his toe link gave out, slamming him into the wall. This mess brought out the caution and sent bits of Byron’s car flying, leading him straight to the pits. Then, on Lap 31, another incident followed.

After taking a lead from Josh Berry, Tyler Reddick, who didn’t pit during the caution, leaped ahead as the front runner. But his glory was short-lived when he spun out coming off Turn 4 after he lost control in the middle of a three-wide battle with Bubba Wallace and Josh Berry, causing a chain reaction! It turns out that the tires had a role to play in all the incidents today. Reddick just learned the tough way. The caution lights were flashing again, and just when it seemed Reddick might escape with minor scrapes, Zane Smith came charging in, slamming hard into Reddick’s front.

It turned into a full-on demolition derby, with Daniel Hemric, Corey LaJoie, Zane Smith, Bubba Wallace, Josh Berry, Joey Logano, Todd Gilliland, Austin Cindric, AJ Allmendinger, Ricky Stenhouse Jr, Kaz Grala, and Carson Hocevar all getting caught in the chaos.

On top of that, with all the ruckus and finishing 30th in the race, Tyler Reddick slid down four spots in the driver standings.

#45 falls four positions below because of the tire conundrum at Bristol

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Tyler Reddick was all in for the dirt at Bristol Motor Speedway, but this time around, with the track back to concrete, he and everyone else were on edge, not sure how to handle a race where tires were giving up faster than ice melts in the sun. Until 1992, Bristol had an asphalt vibe, but today’s Food City 500 was all about the concrete crunch. Reddick, known for his dirt track chops, had shone on concrete here before with two second-place finishes and a seventh back in the day.

Heading into Bristol, Reddick was sitting pretty at fifth in the standings, thanks to two top-10s and a stage win in the first four rounds. But a 30th-place finish in the Bristol bustle nudged him down to ninth with 137 points, trailing the front-runner Kyle Larson by 48 points.

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Next up, we’re hitting Circuit of the Americas, and Reddick’s stoked. He told KSAT 12 Sports it’s a blast: “For me, COTA is one of those racetracks that is super enjoyable: just you versus the racetrack all by yourself with the 20 corners… A lot is going on there and every time we come back it’s a little bit different so it’s just a really fun challenge to attack this track lap after lap.” Since road courses became a thing in 2021, Reddick’s been in the top ten every time at COTA, even snagging the win last March. Fingers crossed, Reddick’s aiming to light up COTA again and fight his way back into playoff contention.