Tyler Reddick was having a career day at Darlington Sunday. Until he wasn’t. Reddick led the most laps of the race, 174, the most he’s ever led the previous being 100.
It was also the most laps led for the 23XI Racing team since it began.
Reddick led on a restart with 33 laps to go after the race’s sixth and final caution. Brad Keselowski, however, fought on the inside with the two battling side by side for several laps as Chris Buescher lurked close behind.
With those two fighting it out, Buescher tried to shove his boss to the lead, and failing that dove on the inside of the front stretch on lap 264 and had a clear lead by turn 3.
Both Buescher and Reddick were forced to pit with flat tires from their late race contact. Reddick finished 2 laps down in 32, Buescher who last week lost to Larson in the closest finish in NASCAR history was credited with 30th. Keselowski would go on to win the race.
Buescher confronted Reddick on pit road after the race. Reddick apologized to Buescher admitting to him that he “fu*ked up.”
“I don’t have a winner’s sticker on my car, it means more for me. You need to be better,” Buescher replied.
Buescher later said he was frustrated with the move by Reddick.
“Just getting wiped out.,” Buescher said. “For me, we know it’s gonna be good, hard racing here, but we hit so hard we wheel-hopped into the fence. I don’t get it. We’ve been able to race respectfully for our careers. I try and do that week in and week out and it’s not getting us anywhere right now. To just get wiped out like that with this Fifth Third Bank Mustang, that’s a big shame.
“On the flip side, I’m stoked for Brad and the 6 bunch and RFK to get a win here. That’s huge, but, right now, selfishly I’m mad for my team and our group. We had a great day there and we didn’t get any finish to show for it.”
Reddick explained what had happened, and the confrontation afterwards.
“Honestly, I think it went as probably as good as it could have,” Reddick said. “Everything he said was accurate to be honest. He raced me respectfully, and I got really aggressive.”
He added he completely understood Buescher’s side of things.
“He was running the top, running his own race, running his own line to keep me at bay,” Reddick said. “I made a really aggressive move and was hoping I was going to clear him, when I realized, I wasn’t going to, I tried to check up to not slide up into him, but yeah, I wish I wouldn’t have done that.
“I completely understand why he is that mad. He did nothing wrong. Just trying to win the race, and to take myself out – that’s one thing – I can live with that, but just disappointed it played out the way that it did, and I took him out of the race as well. That was not the goal there. If I was going to go for it, I was hoping I was going to clear him.
“If I hit the wall, pop a tire – I take myself out, I can live with that – it’s tough to walk away knowing I used someone up, and took away their chance of winning the race, that has raced me really cleanly since he came in the Cup Series. Just have to work on that and try to make some better decisions going forward.”
Buescher said he wasn’t sure how it would change the way he races Reddick moving forward.
“It’s got to come back around at some point,” Buescher said. “You try and be decent about it. We had clean racing all day long and to get flat-out fenced like that there’s no excuse. It’s a poor decision and an immature move. I just don’t get it.”
Greg is the author of "The Nuts and Bolts of NASCAR: The Definitive Viewers' Guide to Big-Time Stock Car Auto Racing" and has been published in major publications across the country including the Los Angeles Times, the Cleveland Plain Dealer and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. He was also a contributor to Chicken Soup for the NASCAR Soul, published in 2010, and the Christmas edition in 2016. He wrote as the NASCAR, Formula 1, Auto Reviews and National Veterans Affairs Examiner for Examiner.com and has appeared on Fox News. He holds a BS degree in communications, a Masters degree in psychology and is currently a PhD candidate majoring in psychology. He is currently the weekend Motorsports Editor for Autoweek.