Rain Delay Reddick

FireKeepers Casino 400:

Tyler Reddick secured his second win of the 2024 campaign on Monday afternoon at Michigan International Speedway. Rain suspended the FireKeepers Casino 400 on Sunday right after the conclusion of Stage 1. Business picked up on track Monday morning under sunny conditions and blue skies. Reddick, while not the class of the field, was a strong contender all race and came to life late in the going Monday. Reddick did have to earn the win by charging by a fierce defender of the lead, Kyle Busch, and hold off overtime restart challenges from William Byron, Ty Gibbs, Brad Keselowski and others. But Reddick did all he had to do and finally snagged his second win of the year after an impressive stretch of close calls this summer.

This was one of the most enjoyable Michigan races I can remember in awhile. There was plenty of action on track, several drivers who were legitimate threats to win, attrition, pit strategy, and a late race restart. I was on edge from the drop of the green flag from Sunday and Monday. Of course, Michigan being a big, fast, multi-groove track it does not shock me that Michigan delivers excellent racing with the brief history of the NextGen car. Either way, Michigan proves that it can continue to deliver exceptional racing with this car and the aging surface. Drivers were on edge, too. Windy conditions with gusts up to 30mph increased the effort drivers had to exert to keep control of their cars especially in turns 3 and 4. Hamlin's solo spin, Larson falling flat on his face and taking out half a dozen cars, and Lajoie's flip proved that drivers were on it and having difficulty maintaining the stability of their car. But it all made for an exciting race over the last two days.

The only caution I was confused about was MTJ's wall slap that set up the first OT restart. His incident looked identical to Cindric's from earlier in the race and Cindric did not get a caution. But as they say: anything to get a caution to set up a late race restart is good for the entertainment value. While I am of the opinion that both warranted a caution, to not call one but call the other seems fishy. Regardless, it did set up for an entertaining finish although, as I said before, I found the race compelling enough without the late race restarts. But late race restarts are what we got on Monday afternoon and it did add some drama and playoff picture shakeups with Chastain's wreck. That incident did allow Bubba Wallace, who had lost significant points because of Larson running out of talent, to reduce that gap to only being out of the playoffs by one point headed into Daytona. Late race restarts or not, the deserving driver did get the W on Monday. Reddick had been strong all day and was the best car over the last fuel run. He did have some help with some of the stronger cars (Bubba, Elliott, Hamlin, Larson) ran into issues. Busch's two tire strategy did not pay off for the win, and Reddick was able to stall out Byron from winning the race.

Now we look forward to the Sunshine State and the Badger State this weekend. The Xfinity Series kicks off the weekend Friday evening on USA at 7:30 p.m. ET with the Wawa 250 Powered by Coca-Cola. The Cup Series take the second slot of the weekend with the action packed Coke Zero Sugar 400 on Saturday evening at 7:30 p.m. ET on NBC. And the Craftsman Truck Series caps off the weekend at the Milwaukee Mile on Sunday afternoon at 4 p.m. ET with the Liuna! 175.

Daytona/Milwaukee Picks:

Cup = Bubba Wallace

Xfinity = Jesse Love

Trucks = Christian Eckes

Header Pic: Jonathan Bachman/Getty Images