Tyler Reddick overcomes problems to establish himself at Darlington

Starting from pole position and therefore winning the race, Tyler Reddick (23XI Racing) had by far the best car this Sunday at Darlington Raceway. So, the circuit nicknamed "too hard to tame" decided to play a bit of a trick and confront the driver of Denny Hamlin and Michael Jordan's team with several challenges, all of which he overcame brilliantly.

From the outset, Reddick had to deal with alternator problems, which did not sufficiently recharge his car's battery. Toyota Camry #45. After three wins in the first three races of the season, the Californian saw his chance for a fourth victory potentially slip away, compounded by a very poor pit stop on his first lap, which caused him to plummet down the standings. Under a caution flag, the team took the opportunity to swap his battery for a higher-capacity one, but Reddick had to complete the entire race without his cooling vest, as it drained the battery too much to function.

Under these circumstances, it would have been easy to throw in the towel, but throughout the 500 miles (804 kilometers) on the South Carolina oval, Tyler Reddick hung on, eventually regaining the lead with 27 laps to go, and cruising to his fourth victory in six races this season, a feat accomplished only by Dale Earnhardt in 1987 and Bill Elliott in 1992. Earnhardt went on to win the title that same year, but Elliott did not.

"I know you should never give up.", said Reddick, who earned his 12th career victory. “I think it’s quite fitting that, as we finally get our first win here at Darlington, the ‘Lady in Black’ (another nickname for Darlington – Ed.) puts us through the wringer like this. We’ve been so close so many times. I mean, right from the first lap, we had a charging problem: the battery wasn’t charging at all. All day, the fans weren’t working. I was sweating buckets in the car, and we knew it was going to be physically demanding. I was really exhausted, but I guess I don’t need as much cooling as usual.”

Brad Keselowski, who led the race for 142 of the 293 laps, was a good sport. Sporting a livery paying tribute to his former team driver, Greg Biffle, who was killed in a plane crash last December, the 2012 Cup Series champion knew he had one of the best cars on the track that Sunday, but not the best…

"We didn't have the best car today."Keselowski acknowledged. “Not compared to Tyler. Tyler had an amazing race, he’s driving a real rocket and he’s really making the most of it right now. I think we got the most out of today, honestly, but we scored a lot of points in the segments, we finished second, he’s the first of the losers, sure, but it’s okay. We’re doing what we have to do and making the most of the days we have.”

Next game this Sunday in Martinsville, the smallest oval of the season.

NASCAR 2026 – Darlington
The results of the race

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