HOMESTEAD, Fla. (AP) — Michael Jordan won a championship in Phoenix in 1993. Tyler Reddick ensured that his car owner will have a chance to win another title there this year.
Reddick went high and overtook Ryan Blaney on the final turn to win at Homestead-Miami on Sunday to secure a spot in NASCAR’s winner-take-all finale in Arizona in two weeks. Reddick led 98 of the 267 laps, the last of them the one that mattered most.
“The little kid drove his ass off,” said Jordan, whose 1993 title — the third of six NBA titles with the Chicago Bulls — came in Phoenix against the Suns. “I’m proud of him. … He just let go and he just went for it. I’m glad. I’m glad. We needed it.”
Blaney was second and Denny Hamlin — a part-owner of Reddick’s car was third. Playoff drivers took the top six spots, with Christopher Bell fourth, Chase Elliott fifth and William Byron said.
Reddick and Joey Logano now are assured two of the four spots in NASCAR’s final four at Phoenix.
Reddick became Homestead’s ninth different winner in the last nine years, joining Jimmie Johnson in 2016, Martin Truex Jr. in 2017, Logano in 2018, Kyle Busch in 2019, Hamlin in 2020, Byron in 2021, Kyle Larson in 2022 and Bell last year.
Logano was the only of the eight playoff drivers who came to Homestead assured of a berth in the season finale. He spent much of the day in the middle of the pack.
The other seven playoff drivers all jousted toward the front for the majority of the 267 laps. Hamlin led with two laps to go, Larson with one lap left, and then Reddick at the end.
Lap 1 drama
The first incident happened just about 25 seconds into the race, when Justin Haley steered down into the front end of Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and got spun out.
No harm, no foul. Even though virtually the entire field was crammed closely together at that point since the green flag just dropped, nobody dealt with any real damage.
Haley spun out again in Lap 186, bringing another caution flag.
See you soon
Since it first was part of the NASCAR circuit in 1999 Homestead-Miami has almost always played host to a fall race — and many times, the season finale. The only exceptions were 2020 (June) and 2021 (February). But NASCAR will be back on March 23 next year, and Homestead won’t be a playoff track for at least one season.
Up next
NASCAR moves to Martinsville next Sunday for the next-to-last race of the season, one where the remaining spots in the winner-take-all final four at Phoenix will be decided. Blaney won the fall race at Martinsville last season and Byron won when NASCAR made its first of two visits in 2024 there in April.
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AP auto racing: https://apnews.com/hub/auto-racing
