Tyler Reddick got more than a moral victory

DAYTONA BEACH, FL - FEBRUARY 17: Tyler Reddick, driver of the #9 BurgerFi Chevrolet, celebrates in Victory Lane after winning the NASCAR Xfinity Series PowerShares QQQ 300 at Daytona International Speedway on February 17, 2018 in Daytona Beach, Florida. (Photo by Sarah Crabill/Getty Images)
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DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – As Tyler Reddick and Elliott Sadler came off the Turn 4 on the final lap of the PowerShares QQQ 300 NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Daytona International Speedway, reporters watching from the press box knew it was going to be close.

At the finish line, after side-to-side contact between the two Chevrolets, Reddick was less than three inches ahead, and the scoring monitor showed no time difference between the first- and second-place cars.

When NASCAR announced in the a winning margin of .000 seconds, closest in the sanctioning body’s history, Dale Earnhardt Jr. said, “That’s like a tie. Am I right? Either way, fine with me.”

Earnhardt’s JR Motorsports, of course, owns both cars.

But the race didn’t end in a tie. NASCAR timing and scoring doesn’t measure beyond thousandths of a second and couldn’t express the photo finish in numbers smaller than .000.

“Can I protest?” Sadler quipped.

Greg Engle
About Greg Engle 7421 Articles
Greg is a published award winning sportswriter who spent 23 years combined active and active reserve military service, much of that in and around the Special Operations community. 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.