After powering past Brad Keselowski with 80 laps to go, Denny Hamlin appeared set to sweep victories in both Kansas races this season until Chris Buescher hit the wall with seven laps remaining and sent the race into a two-lap overtime.
That set up several different pit strategies as Daniel Suarez stayed out and inherited the lead and three drivers took on only two tyres, that grouping headed by Erik Jones. Hamlin’s Joe Gibbs Toyota and Reddick, who had run second to Hamlin prior to the caution, both elected to pit for four new tyres.
Reddick got a big run on the restart and, with Jones on the outside and Joey Logano in the middle, Reddick dived to the inside exiting Turn 4 to grab the lead for the first time in the race.
Reddick then held off his 23XI Racing team owner, Hamlin, by 0.327 seconds to claim the victory which locks him into the second next round of the playoffs regardless of his finish in next week’s race at Bristol.
“Just an outstanding job by this whole 23XI team,” said Reddick, whose victory was his second of 2023. “We had really good pace, but just couldn’t get ahead of Denny there.
“But chaos ensued, people stayed out, some took two tyres, and the bottom lane opened up. It was pretty crazy.”
Hamlin felt he was held up at the restart by Stage 1 winner Kyle Larson “kind of sleeping on the restart, looking in the rear view instead of looking in the front” and was left to rue a caution that “certainly flipped the results”.
“But that’s part of racing, right; our sport is different than others,” he said. “It is a sport of chance at times, and luck does play a factor, and we were unlucky to get that caution.
Brad Keselowski, RFK Racing, BuildSubmarines.com Ford Mustang Denny Hamlin, Joe Gibbs Racing, Yahoo! Toyota Camry
Photo by: Rachel Schuoler / NKP / Motorsport Images
“We knew that there was going to be a handful of cars that was going to do the opposite of what we did. I think the right call was four tyres.”
Jones ended up third, Larson was fourth and Logano rounded out the top five. Completing the top-10 were Chase Elliott, Kyle Busch, Christopher Bell, Stage 2 winner Keselowski and Alex Bowman.
Hendrick Chevrolet team-mates Elliott and Larson had made contact on pitroad before the final restart as 2021 Cup champion Larson sought to avoid a heavier hit with Keselowski.
“I understand why he’s mad or was mad in the moment,” Larson said. “I hope when he sees the replay, he understands that I didn’t have any space or not much.”
With one race remaining in the first round of the playoffs, the four drivers lowest in points without a win and in danger of being eliminated from further title contention are regular series champion Martin Truex Jr., Wallace, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Michael McDowell.
Truex hit the Turn 3 wall within the first five laps after he suffered a puncture in his right-rear tyre, with the JGR Toyota sustaining sufficient damage to retire from the race.
“It blew in the worst place possible,” said a dismayed Truex, who now needs a big result at Bristol – a track where he hasn’t had a top five finish since March 2012.
“I hate it for my guys. We had an awesome (car). We were going to have a great day, just not sure what we need to do to get some luck here.”