Having led most of the laps at Bristol Motor Speedway, Tyler Reddick lost the lead in the final lap due to Chase Briscoe.
Reddick looked certain to get his first career NASCAR victory at Bristol after leading 99 laps out of 100 of the final stage, if not for Briscoe’s car making contact with Reddick’s on the final lap of the race, while Reddick was leading.
Briscoe went inside of Reddick’s No. 8 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet to get ahead but slid up the track and made contact with the No. 8 car. As a result, his No. 14 car spinned out while Reddick managed to stay on track. However, this contact proved costly for Reddick as Kyle Busch passed him and won the race.
Instead of blaming Briscoe, Reddick rather contemplated what he should have done better.
“I shouldn’t have let him get that close. He ran me back down, worked really hard to do that. I mean, you’re racing on dirt, going for the move on the final corner. It’s everything that, as a driver, you hope to battle for in his situation and made it really exciting for the fans.
“So it does suck, but we were able to finish second still. And I’m being honest: I should have done a better job and pulled away so he wasn’t in range to try to make that move. That’s how I look at it.”
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As for Briscoe, he said that it was “100 percent” his fault and felt sorry for Reddick for having lost the race because of him. Here is the conversation between two drivers.
Briscoe: I was going to spin out, I think, either way. I was like, ‘Oh, please don’t hit him with the right rear! Please don’t hit with the right rear.’ And I saw it. But I’m sorry. I just wanted to let you know.
Reddick: You did a hell of a job running me down.
Briscoe: I kept trying. I was driving it so hard. I couldn’t run it any harder.
Reddick: It’s all good.
Briscoe: I’m sorry. I wish you would have won.
Reddick: I needed to drive away. I let you get close, so that’s on me.
Briscoe: That’s all right. I just wanted to apologize.
Reddick: It’s all good.
Briscoe: Anyway, that was fun though.
Reddick: Until next time.
It’s nice to see the two drivers keep calm under such circumstances, especially Reddick who was so close to his first career Cup victory.