LAS VEGAS – Before the NASCAR Cup Series field took to the 1.5-mile track of Las Vegas Motor Speedway on Sunday (Oct. 20), there were eight playoff teams that were hopeful of scoring the jackpot with a win and a ticket into the Championship 4.
However, in a city that demands luck more than anything else when it comes to victory, there was anything but among half of the playoff contenders as three finished many laps down – one of them on his roof.
Perhaps none of them were snakebitten more by the Vegas snake eyes than race favorite and stage one winner Tyler Reddick.
The 23XI Racing driver was running fifth and attempting to charge his way back to the front when he became surrounded by fellow playoff driver Chase Elliott and Martin Truex Jr. The three were three-wide while exiting turn 4 on lap 89 when Truex appeared to drift out of the inside lane and into Elliott. The Hendrick Motorsports driver, with nowhere to go, collided into Reddick and sandwiched him into the outside wall.
The results, while terrifying, ended a day that was going well for the No. 45 in spectacular fashion.
“I saw [Truex] and [Elliott] wiggle,” Reddick said outside of the medical care center. “When I realized I was in trouble, I was already outside. There was nowhere for me to hide at that point.”
The cause of the incident is debatable, but many fingers – and radios – pointed to Truex as the perpetrator.
But Truex disagrees.
“I didn’t know we were three-wide until it was too late,” Truex told Frontstretch post-race.” But I still felt like there was plenty of room, and [Elliott], I think, jumped out of the gas. Not really sure what happened.
“My spotter told me that I didn’t do anything wrong, so I’d have to go look at it.”
Frustration carried with Elliott, who attempted to carry on but lost too much speed from the damage. The team brought the Chevrolet to the garage and was able to continue albeit numerous laps down. He ended his day 33rd, 37 laps down.
The playoff victims don’t end there, either, as the incident also collected Ryan Blaney, whose hard hits started early in the weekend – literally.
Blaney was making his practice run during the series’ only session on Saturday (Oct. 19) afternoon when the car snapped loose due to a flat left-rear tire and sent the Ohio-native hard driver’s-side first into the wall.
The incident forced Blaney and the No. 12 Team Penske crew to work on a backup car, which forfeited their qualifying effort and relegated them to a last-place starting spot.
Sunday wasn’t much better, as Blaney’s Ford was running 17th when the Vegas Big One happened right in front of him. Using the top lane of the tri-oval, the Penske driver tried to stay away from the ensuing chaos, but an uncontrollable Brad Keselowski spun directly into him, damaging the car enough that it warranted multiple trips to pit road for repairs. He eventually finished eight laps down in 32nd.
The playoff woes continued on pit road for other teams, such as Kyle Larson‘s No. 5 and Denny Hamlin‘s No. 11. Both drivers finished inside of the top 11 – far and away better than three of their playoff rivals — but the loss of stage points for the two of them damaged their overall points gain.
As a result, Hamlin joins the aforementioned Elliott, Blaney and Reddick not just below the cutline, but far from it. The Joe Gibbs Racing driver leads the four a whopping 27 points below the cut. Employee Reddick follows close behind in sixth, 30 points below the cut line.
For Elliott and Blaney, however, the situation is more dire.
With two races left, Elliott has fallen 47 points behind teammate Byron. For Blaney, the deficit is 53 points.
“At this point… my intuition is it’s going to be hard to get in on points,” Blaney’s crew chief Jonathan Hassler told Frontstretch. “Barring disaster from other teams, at this instant, I’d say we’d have to win one of the next two [races].”
Some of the other crew chiefs below the cut line likely share Hassler’s intuition.
Dalton Hopkins began writing for Frontstretch in April 2021. Currently, he is the lead writer for the weekly Thinkin' Out Loudcolumn, co-host of the Happy Hour podcast, and one of our lead reporters. Beforehand, he wrote for IMSA shortly after graduating from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in 2019. Simultaneously, he also serves as a Captain in the US Army.
Follow Dalton on Twitter @PitLaneCPT
Denny isn’t worried, he never chokes and it’s his year.
“I didn’t know we were three-wide until it was too late,” Truex told Frontstretch post-race.” But I still felt like there was plenty of room, and [Elliott], I think, jumped out of the gas. Not really sure what happened.
“My spotter told me that I didn’t do anything wrong, so I’d have to go look at it.”
That spotter needs to find a new job if he didn’t tell Truex he was three wide or don’t go up. At least Truex didn’t say he expected Elliott to back off and let him in front.
Totally Truexs fault. Id like to hear their radio, hard to believe the spotter didn’t tell him, and even if he didn’t was truex not paying attention at all.