Reddick: “It’s a bummer” to lose after leading during lengthy rain delay

Reddick stayed out at the end of the second stage and inherited the race lead. The driver of the No. 45 23XI Racing Toyota then held the position on the several restarts that followed, fighting off attacks from Kyle Larson, Denny Hamlin, and Ryan Blaney.

With rain threatening, the racing was fierce and the cautions many while Reddick tried to hang on, despite his tire disadvantage.

After 30 laps, the skies finally opened up and the race was halted. It appeared that Reddick had made the winning move and would emerge victorious in a rain-shortened race, 82 laps shy of the scheduled finish.

Speaking to SiriusXM NASCAR Radio on Monday, Reddick said of the lengthy delay: “I wasn’t sure (if the race would end). Just kind of depending on what that cell was gonna do. There was a couple hot spots in it with a lot of rain, a lot of lightning. We saw further south of us … there were Tornado Warnings and things of that nature. There was a lot of severe weather in the area. We were just monitoring and seeing (if) that severe weather was gonna hit us.”

Tyler Reddick, 23XI Racing, SiriusXM Toyota Camry

Photo by: Matthew T. Thacker / NKP / Motorsport Images

However, it didn’t quite go Reddick’s way in the end. With the summer sun making for longer days, NASCAR waited through the storm. And after a red flag that lasted two hours and 14 minutes, the race finally resumed on a damp track with wet weather tires.

Reddick lost the lead to Christopher Bell on a Lap 242 restart and never regained it. He finished a respectable sixth, but after leading 53 laps and sitting in P1 during a two-hour red flag, it was a bitter defeat.

“Yeah, it’s a bummer, but overall, a good finish for our Toyota Camry,” he said post-race. “I don’t know if we were going to crack the top-ten straight up today for whatever reason, so we’ll take the opportunity. It didn’t shake it out, obviously, but we still got a sixth place out of it and I think that is better than we were gonna run, had it stayed dry.”

Reddick, who already has a win this year (Talladega), leaves New Hampshire fifth in the regular season standings.