Tyler Reddick needs OT at Kansas to claim fifth win of NASCAR season
It's still more than a week until May, but Tyler Reddick already has racked up a fistful of wins. The 23XI Racing hotshoe passed Kyle Larson in overtime to win the NASCAR Cup Series' AdventHealth 400 on Sunday afternoon in Kansas City, Kansas, for his fifth victory in nine races. After Cody Ware spun while leader Denny Hamlin and second-place Reddick were coming to the white flag for the race's only caution for cause, the field pitted to set up a green-white-checker finish in overtime at Kansas Speedway.
From third, Larson charged past Hamlin on the restart to claim the lead. But second-place Reddick used his No. 45 Toyota to fly by Larson's No.
5 Chevrolet in Turn 1 after the white flag. He held on to beat the Hendrick Motorsports driver by 0. 118 seconds for his 13th career win and become the first driver since Dale Earnhardt in 1987 to claim five of a season's first nine races.
Reddick also won for the fourth time in a row when being the polesitter — a run that began Feb. 22 in Atlanta and included victories at Circuit of The Americas and Darlington. Reddick appeared doomed with a few laps left when he screamed over the radio that he was out of gas, which allowed Hamlin to make what appeared to be the winning pass for the lead.
However, Ware's spin sent the cars to pit road one last time. "Just really blessed with the late caution," said Reddick, who led only 10 laps and spun a Toyota stablemate in overtime's frantic finish. "Not thrilled that I got Christopher Bell.