Tyler Reddick outdueled Ryan Blaney on the final lap, winning at Homestead-Miami Speedway to earn a spot in the NASCAR Cup Series championship race.
It’ll be the first appearance in the Championship 4 for 23XI Racing, the team co-owned by Denny Hamlin and basketball legend Michael Jordan. The six-time NBA champion watched Reddick’s win from the pits.
“Little kid drove his ass off,” Jordan told NBC Sports’ Dave Burns. “I’m proud of him. Oh man, he just let go. He just went for it, and I’m glad. We needed it. We needed it.”
Jordan gave Reddick a big hug as he exited the No. 45 Toyota, telling him, “Yeah, baby! Good job, kid! Man, good job.”
Reddick, who started from the pole position and led a race-high 97 of 267 laps, finished 0.241 seconds ahead of Blaney and joined Joey Logano in the championship round. It was a major turnaround from Reddick’s flip a week earlier at Las Vegas Motor Speedway that put him in a must-win situation.
He appeared out of contention for a victory Sunday when he pitted for fuel with 15 laps remaining and handed the lead to Blaney.
But the caution flew four laps later when Kyle Larson spun while racing Blaney for the lead. Reddick stayed out to inherit first when the rest of the lead-lap cars pitted.
Reddick lost the lead on the Lap 262 restart to Hamlin, who then was passed by Blaney for first with a lap remaining.
On the final lap, Reddick went from third to first, passing Hamlin and then Reddick with a power move to the outside in Turn 3 to take the lead for good.
“We were backed in a corner, man, and we had no other choice,” Reddick told NBC Sports’ Marty Snider. “We did what it took to win this race. We’re fighting for a championship.
“I couldn’t believe (the winning pass). I just knew I needed to get on his right-side door. (Blaney) raced me clean, I appreciate it. Just really, really excited that we’re going to get to have a shot at this championship.”
Reddick joined Las Vegas winner Joey Logano in locking up half of the spots in the four-driver championship field for the Nov. 10 season finale at Phoenix Raceway.
Seeking to defend his 2023 Cup championship, Blaney came up one spot of returning to the Championship 4 for the second consecutive season.
“It’s obvious disappointment,” Blaney told NBC Sports’ Kim Coon. “I had a great shot to win, and I didn’t have a very good last lap. Man, I thought I got into (Turn) 3 hard.
“And Reddick just blitzed off in there, and it stuck for him, which is pretty impressive. Yeah, I hate to give one away like that. I don’t know if we gave it away. We got the lead back after losing it on the restart. Just the last lap didn’t play out for us. Definitely stinks.
“I appreciate everyone on the 12 team for bringing a really fast race car. Had a great shot to go to Phoenix. Still got one more chance to look forward to that.
“I’ll be thinking through it all night what I should have done different, probably. Overall, really proud of the effort. Hopefully we can bring it to them next week. It will suck for the night, then we’ll look forward to Martinsville (Monday) morning. We try to forget things quick. I’ve tried to do that more and more as I’ve gotten older. This team will do it. I can’t say how proud I am of them coming in and understanding what we needed to do. Just a shame it didn’t work out.”
The remaining two spots will be determined in the Nov. 3 race at Martinsville Speedway between Blaney, Hamlin, Christopher Bell, Chase Elliott, William Byron and Kyle Larson.
In a 400-mile race that featured a track-record 33 lead changes, every remaining playoff driver but Byron and Logano led Sunday.
Hamlin finished third Sunday, followed by Christopher Bell, Chase Elliott and William Byron as playoff drivers took the top six spots at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
Larson finished 13th after causing the final caution with a Turn 4 spin on Lap 256, setting up a final seven-lap shootout for the victory.
Larson started second and ran inside the top five until his right-rear tire went flat on Lap 48. His No. 5 Chevrolet already was beside the wall before impact, but the incident still affected his handling through the end of Stage 2.
After falling as deep as 35th, the 2021 Cup Series champion was trying to pass Blaney for the lead when he lost control of his No. 5 Chevrolet.
Stage 1 winner: Reddick
Stage 2 winner: Hamlin
Next: The Round of 8 will continue Sunday, Nov. 3 at Martinsville Speedway (2 p.m. ET on NBC)
