Tyler Reddick nips Elliott Sadler in photo finish at Xfinity opener at Daytona
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — Tyler Reddick blocked with the skill of an offensive lineman over the closing laps and held on to win the closest race in NASCAR National Series history in Saturday’s PowerShares QQQ 300 at Daytona International Speedway.
In a two-lap dash that ended a race that reached new levels of ridiculousness, Reddick edged series veteran Elliott Sadler by a few feet in a photo finish during the fifth overtime of the Xfinity Series opener. Video clearly showed Reddick slightly ahead at the line, however.
The side-by-side finish was so close that NASCAR’s scoring system, didn’t register a margin of victory for Reddick over Sadler. NASCAR said the 0.000 margin was the closest since electronic scoring debuted in 1993.
The race opened a new year for Reddick at JR Motorsports, Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s team.
"Honestly I wish I could say I knew I timed it exactly how I wanted it," Reddick said after celebrating with his team. "It just came down to the side draft. And it's funny, we were talking about it in practice, and a little bit today how much more effective side-drafting was.
"It was just situational that I felt I had to get down on his door as hard as I could right when I did, or he was going to win the race. Maybe that's one time out of 10 it's going to work and the other nine times it doesn't. But it worked out in our favor that time."
Sadler also drives for JR Motorsports, which had Earnhardt declaring the race a tie.
For Sadler, who also finished runner-up in last summer's Daytona Xfinity race, the ending was a bit of a bitter pill, though he praised his young teammate.
“It was a tough finish,” Sadler said. “Tyler did a great job on the restarts, keeping his momentum going and blocking good. He did a really good job of stalling my momentum coming to the finish.”
The race was littered with cautions, a record 12 to be exact. An 18-car crash produced the ninth caution and sent the race past its regulation distance of 120 laps.
Crash after crash followed on the first lap of scheduled green-white-checkered runs, extending the race overtime period to five overtimes and 23 laps, the longest such stretch in NASCAR history. There were fuel concerns for most of the lead cars.
“I was surprised by the amount of overtimes," Earnhardt said. "The fans want to see a green flag finish and NASCAR tries everything they can to give them that opportunity. It was a really. interesting race.
"It looked incredible, really fun to watch — especially the Cup guys up there mixing it up. They were very aggressive in making (Reddick) take the lead. Having Joey (Logano), and (Kyle) Larson, and Chase (Elliott) up there, it really was a fun mix. All of them feel like they’re the greatest plate racer that’s ever lived, and that’s the way they drive."
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Following Reddick and Sadler at the finish were Ryan Reed, Kaz Grala and Garrett Smithley. Xfinity Series regulars took the first seven positions, a rarity with several Cup Series regulars in the field.
Elliott, also driving for JR Motorsports, was a challenger at the front, but his shot at the win ended late in the day when he had to pit to replace the right-side window on his Chevrolet. The incident injected a bit of humor into a long race as the pit crew waited while a team member ran to the garage area to pick up a replacement window and return at sprinter speed to the team’s pit.
POWERSHARES QQQ 300 RESULTS
Saturday from the 2.5-mile Daytona International Speedway (starting position in parentheses):
1. (9) Tyler Reddick, Chevrolet, 143 laps, 0 rating, 50 points.
2. (11) Elliott Sadler, Chevrolet, 143, 0, 41.
3. (15) Ryan Reed, Ford, 143, 0, 34.
4. (27) Kaz Grala, Ford, 143, 0, 33.
5. (25) Garrett Smithley, Chevrolet, 143, 0, 32.
6. (4) Spencer Gallagher, Chevrolet, 143, 0, 39.
7. (6) Ryan Truex, Chevrolet, 143, 0, 35.
8. (17) Daniel Suarez, Toyota, 143, 0, 0.
9. (23) Ross Chastain, Chevrolet, 143, 0, 28.
10. (18) Brandon Jones, Toyota, 143, 0, 27.
11. (31) Jeff Green, Chevrolet, 143, 0, 26.
12. (8) Chase Elliott, Chevrolet, 143, 0, 0.
13. (30) Caesar Bacarella, Chevrolet, 143, 0, 24.
14. (14) Cole Custer, Ford, 143, 0, 24.
15. (35) Stephen Leicht, Toyota, 143, 0, 22.
16. (24) Jeremy Clements, Chevrolet, 143, 0, 21.
17. (32) David Starr, Chevrolet, 143, 0, 20.
18. (37) JJ Yeley, Chevrolet, 143, 0, 19.
19. (39) Matt Tifft, Chevrolet, 143, 0, 18.
20. (26) Vinnie Miller, Chevrolet, 143, 0, 17.
21. (21) Ryan Sieg, Chevrolet, 143, 0, 16.
22. (40) Josh Williams, Chevrolet, 143, 0, 15.
23. (16) Joe Nemechek, Chevrolet, 143, 0, 0.
24. (22) Alex Labbe, Chevrolet, 142, 0, 13.
25. (34) Spencer Boyd, Chevrolet, 142, 0, 12.
26. (1) Daniel Hemric, Chevrolet, 140, 0, 18.
27. (20) Dylan Lupton, Ford, accident, 137, 0, 10.
28. (36) Chad Finchum, Chevrolet, 136, 0, 9.
29. (2) Kyle Larson, Chevrolet, accident, 134, 0, 0.
30. (29) Ryan Ellis, Chevrolet, accident, 133, 0, 7.
31. (5) Justin Allgaier, Chevrolet, accident, 124, 0, 15.
32. (38) Austin Dillon, Chevrolet, accident, 122, 0, 0.
33. (19) Joey Gase, Chevrolet, accident, 122, 0, 4.
34. (3) Joey Logano, Ford, accident, 121, 0, 0.
35. (12) Aric Almirola, Ford, accident, 121, 0, 0.
36. (28) Brandon Brown, Chevrolet, accident, 121, 0, 1.
37. (7) Michael Annett, Chevrolet, accident, 106, 0, 5.
38. (33) Gray Gaulding, Toyota, accident, 82, 0, 0.
39. (13) Christopher Bell, Toyota, accident, 11, 0, 1.
40. (10) Austin Cindric, Ford, accident, 10, 0, 1.
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Race Statistics
Average Speed of Race Winner: 119.107 mph.
Time of Race: 3 hours, 0 minutes, 6 seconds.
Margin of Victory: 0.000 seconds.
Caution Flags: 12 for 49 laps.
Lead Changes: 19 among 11 drivers.
Lap Leaders: D.Hemric 1-2; K.Larson 3; D.Hemric 4-8; K.Larson 9-32; G.Smithley 33; E.Sadler 34-35; K.Larson 36-46; C.Elliott 47-63; G.Smithley 64; A.Almirola 65-68; J.Logano 69-74; K.Larson 75; J.Logano 76-96; K.Larson 97-103; J.Logano 104; K.Larson 105-121; D.Suarez 122-126; R.Reed 127-129; R.Truex 130-132; T.Reddick 133-143
Leaders Summary (Driver, Times Led, Laps Led): K.Larson, 6 times for 55 laps; J.Logano, 3 times for 25 laps; C.Elliott, 1 time for 16 laps; T.Reddick, 1 time for 10 laps; D.Hemric, 2 times for 5 laps; D.Suarez, 1 time for 4 laps; A.Almirola, 1 time for 3 laps; R.Reed, 1 time for 2 laps; R.Truex, 1 time for 2 laps; E.Sadler, 1 time for 1 lap; G.Smithley, 2 times for 0 laps.
Wins: T.Reddick, 1.
Top 10 in Points: 1. T.Reddick, 50; 2. E.Sadler, 41; 3. S.Gallagher, 39; 4. R.Truex, 35; 5. R.Reed, 34; 6. K.Grala, 33; 7. G.Smithley, 32; 8. R.Chastain, 28; 9. B.Jones, 27; 10. J.Green, 26.