FORT WORTH, Texas – A wreck-free first stage in the NASCAR SRS Distribution 250 was deceiving, as car debris continuously filled the track, keeping fans in their seats a bit longer than expected.
There were 11 cautions for 62 laps Saturday afternoon, the second-most at Texas Motor Speedway for XFinity races, and Cup regular Tyler Reddick worked his way to Victory Lane for the first time at TMS. He had two prior top-10 finishes in six races at the Texas track.
Reddick, who notched his 10th career Xfinity Series victory, said he expected lots of collisions after Friday’s practice.
“In practice, right before we qualified, I was joking with William [Byron],” Reddick said. “He pretty much let me go in on turn three yesterday in practice, and I all but wrecked us both. I was like, ‘Oh man, this is going to be a pretty tough race.’”
In the end, Byron, who hasn’t raced in the Xfinity Series since 2017, trailed the 2018 and 2019 series champ by 1.8 seconds.
JR Motorsports Racing suffered the worst from the incidents, as the group had a shot to fill the top-five of the standings. Pole-sitter and first stage winner Noah Gragson led the first 22 laps and 33 overall, but collided with the wall on the eighth restart of the day following teammate Josh Berry getting sideways in the front of the field.
Gragson failed to finish the race while Berry managed a top-10 success. Sam Mayer and Justin Allgaier pulled in at the three and four spots to join Byron’s runner-up conquest.
“I’m really proud of JR Motorsports to have three of our Camaro’s [in the] top five,” Allgaier said. “I really thought throughout the course of this race with the speed we all had, we could have easily had all five of our cars up there battling for the win.
“I hate it for Josh and Noah that they didn’t get to compete for that opportunity.”
Reddick, 26, benefitted from the expected chaotic day to snap a three-race streak where JR Motorsports drivers snagged the checkered flag. The Corning, CA. native also gave second-year team Big Machine Racing its first victory.
“It was no surprise to see there was some chaos around us,” Reddick said. “But yeah, there were a few big moments right in front of me that I don’t know how we got through, but thankfully we did.”
After Saturday’s race and amid the challenges AJ Allmendinger, Ty Gibbs and Gragson faced, Allmendinger will take a 44-point lead over Gragson into next week’s race at Charlotte Motor Speedway, the Alsco Uniforms 300 (1 p.m. ET on FS1, PRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). Gibbs, the defending Charlotte race winner, trails by 52 points to Allmendinger.
