close
close

Le-verdict

News with a Local Lens

    • Tyler Reddick wins; Michael Jordan is a happy complainer
    minsta

    Tyler Reddick wins; Michael Jordan is a happy complainer

    Pabio Posted on

    play

    Raise your hand if you saw that future.

    Tyler Reddick had gone six straight weeks without a top 10 finish and had somehow maintained a playoff life despite five of those six weeks producing a 20th place finish or worse.

    Yet he was there on Sunday in Homestead-Miamipulling his Toyota deep and high through turns 3 and 4 on the final lap to overwhelm (and stun, frankly) Ryan Blaney, who had to mentally uncork the champagne before getting dusted.

    Ideally, Tyler waited World Series times to deliver the hardest part. Let’s talk baseball, folks.

    It was the power move of power moves in auto racing – taking the high line, which happens to be the longest route, delivering the horses needed to cover that extra ground, and then hoping like hell that it sticks.

    He did it and that’s what happened.

    The co-owner of Tyler’s rather famous team put it another way.

    “The little kid went wild,” said Michael Jordan, who, by my count, had only looked this jubilant six other times in his competitive life.

    GREAT AMERICAN READING: Celebrate the thrilling history of the Daytona 500 with a new book; preface by Richard Petty

    First Gear: Wreckers one week, ladies the next for Tyler Reddick

    Tyler Reddick took his shot, and he pretty much had no other choice. If he hadn’t passed Denny Hamlin (another co-owner of the team, by the way) and Blaney on the final lap, and finished second or third, he would be heading to Martinsville next week before the playoffs for fourth place. bubble.

    To illustrate Reddick’s recent slump, let’s look at specific finishes since early September in Atlanta: 27, 20, 25, 20, 11, 35. And this 35th place in Vegas last week was due to a wrong movement, leading to a fall.

    After Homestead, he was asked how a driver could turn violently and, a week later, take the car so hard into the corner as he did on Sunday.

    “We’re a little crazy, to a certain extent,” he began. “That’s exactly what you need to be if you want to compete at this level.” There are certain things that must be blocked and forgotten.

    But here’s something he hasn’t forgotten: how to run at Homestead. We’ve seen his recent results in 2024, but look at his career results on South Florida’s 1.5-mile oval: 4, 2, 35 (crash), 3, 1. The top three were in Chevrolets RCR, the last two in 23XI. Toyotas.

    Second Gear: Another championship trophy for Michael Jordan?

    We can’t ignore the elephant in the room, which in this case happens to be a bull. The most famous bull of all time, in fact.

    Michael Jordan co-owns 23XI Racing with Denny Hamlin and Curtis Polk, Jordan’s longtime business partner. Just to remind you, 23XI is one of two Cup Series teams, along with Front Row Motorsports, currently suing NASCAR for what they consider to be anti-competitive practices.

    NASCAR’s Boys in Legal have fought back in official court documents, and unless some type of settlement or change of heart from the plaintiffs occurs, this case will surely drag on into 2025 and possibly beyond. beyond.

    Which means that yes, there is a one in four chance (by my calculations) that NASCAR President Steve Phelps will present the championship trophy to Reddick, Jordan and the entire Hee Haw gang at 23XI.

    Old stick-and-ball fans may remember Pete Rozelle uncomfortably handing the Super Bowl trophy to Raiders owner Al Davis, or Bowie Kuhn presenting A’s owner Charlie Finley with World Series hardware . There were no hugs.

    Something similar could happen in Phoenix. No one could have expected Jordan to win his seventh championship on a stock car circuit, and surely no one expected him to be so locked into this role at the top of the pits every week.

    Third gear: Hooray for Homestead (again)

    Homestead-Miami Speedway delivered again. There are places where the Next Gen car mixes like water and the Quaker State. But not at Homestead, where variable incline (18 to 20 degrees) seems to be the key to a really good race.

    The track is one of NASCAR’s properties and you may be wondering why Homestead doesn’t have two races a year while other NASCAR-owned tracks do, like Kansas, Martinsville and Darlington. And SMI-owned tracks like Charlotte, Las Vegas, Bristol and Atlanta.

    Good question, but remember, just because the racing is good at Homestead now doesn’t mean it will be after future adjustments to the aero and power packages. Things are changing. Bristol was great, remember?

    However, it seems criminal (OK, at least unfortunate) that Homestead was kicked off the 2025 playoff menu and pushed back to March.

    Fourth gear: A pinch and Kyle Larson is in trouble

    The official Round of 16 recap enters Martinsville next week for the penultimate race of the year: Joey Logano and Reddick are engaged in the four-way championship battle at Phoenix in two weeks. If one of the other six drivers in the playoffs wins at Martinsville, they are also in and fourth place comes down to overall points.

    These point rankings, beyond Logano and Reddick: Christopher Bell (+27 from the cut line), William Byron (+7), Kyle Larson (-7), Denny Hamlin (-18), Ryan Blaney (-38), Chase Elliott (-43).

    Remember when everyone was ready to hand Larson the trophy? One misstep on Sunday and suddenly he goes off the rails and scrambles. Credit to him, though, for trying to close the gap between Blaney and Austin Dillon and take the lead with 12 to play.

    But instead he turned around. Maybe he should have settled for a top three finish and made it to Martinsville just above the cut line, but he didn’t.

    And maybe he’ll go to Martinsville and win, then win again in Phoenix. It wouldn’t shock anyone either.

    — Email Ken Willis at [email protected]

    LEAVE A RESPONSE

    Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

    Pabio
    View all posts

    You Might Also Like