Tyler Reddick took one last shot at Chase Briscoe in the final two corners of the final lap Sunday night in the Southern 500, but came up empty and unscathed.
And unscathed was the keyword because Reddick drove it deep into the corner without the confidence those watching seemed to think he had in making it stick. Reddick did get to the left rear of Briscoe’s car, but couldn’t hold the position and slid back into second place. The two finished first and second in the first round of the Cup Series postseason.
“Oh, I had zero faith, and it didn’t stick,” Reddick said with a laugh about the move. “Well, last year in the spring, I gave it my best effort, and it didn’t stick, and (this) time it didn’t stick either.”
Reddick compared it to the move he made in the spring Darlington race of 2024 when he slid underneath Chris Buescher, got loose, and collided with Buescher. The contact ended the race for both drivers when they were battling for the lead inside the final 15 laps.
“But this time, I remembered what happened in the spring, and I was able to get ahead of it a little sooner and not wipe out Chase [Briscoe],” Reddick said. “I know he’s wiped me out before, but we needed the points. So I was trying to think about that, I guess.”
Briscoe wiped out Reddick on the final lap of the 2022 dirt event at Bristol. It was on the final lap going into Turn 3 when Briscoe tried to execute a slide job, but slid Reddick and took them both out. Kyle Busch drove by for the victory.
The reverse chase Sunday night saw Reddick trying to steal a win from the night’s most dominant driver. Reddick had a car that was the best of the rest as he finished second in the race to Briscoe and in both stages.
“The balance had kind of gone away,” Reddick said of the run to the finish. “It was a long run, for sure, but all night long our strength was the long run. Unfortunately, we weren’t tight enough at the end to do something with the [No.] 19.
“It makes me sick. I feel like late in this race, especially in the Southern 500, I found myself second or third on the last green flag run, trying to pass the leader, and couldn’t get it done.”
Reddick did acknowledge that he was fortunate not to have his race end on the opening lap. On the outside of the second row for the start, having qualified fourth, Reddick was hit in the driver’s door when Josh Berry got loose in Turn 2 and slid into him. The right rear of Reddick’s car also bounced off the wall, but it wasn’t severe enough to pit and lose his track position, and he soldiered on.
“I kind of heard it, and I saw the right front tire turn up, and he clipped me,” Reddick said. “I don’t know if my smoking it in the wall in the spring helped me save it in that moment, but I just got very fortunate to not end our day on lap 1.”
One of the last two drivers to make the postseason on points in the regular-season finale a week ago, Reddick opened the postseason with his first top-five finish since early July. And he made a big gain on the playoff grid by going from in the red when the points were reseeded to 35 points above with two weeks left in the round.
“I think Monday morning I’ll wake up and be thinking playoffs, but right now I’m thinking about this race,” Reddick said. “Yes, those things are great for us, but man, I’ve done everything but win at this place. It’s really starting to drive me nuts.”