Tyler Reddick Holds off Elliott at Road America for First Cup Win

The Kwik Trip 250 marked the second time NASCAR visited the 4-mile road course track of Road America. It was also the second time the race occurred on Independence Day weekend, in front of a sea of enthusiastic race fans. Last year’s winner, Chase Elliott, looked strong most of the weekend and was a favourite to win, though he came up just short in the end.

LAP 1: Last week’s winner in Nashville, Chase Elliott, set the fastest time in qualifying, earning himself the pole position. When the green flag waved, Elliott got a jump on the second-place starter of Chase Briscoe and pulled ahead to a comfortable lead despite complaining of steering issues.

LAP 5: Kyle Busch, who was sent to the rear of the field for an engine change, made contact with Aric Almirola in the #10 Ford Mustang in Turn 5. Both drivers recovered quickly and neither sustained damage so the yellow flag was not waved.

STAGE 1 END – LAP 15: Despite leading the entire stage and having a 6-second advantage, Elliott’s #9 team decided to pit just before the stage end, leaving Chase Briscoe in P1. Briscoe claimed the stage win and the points, along with Austin Cindric, Alex Bowman, Joey Logano, and Kurt Busch who finished in the Top 5 respectively. Elliott cycled back to the lead following the stage break and continued to set the pace at the front of the field.

LAP 24: The #22 of Joey Logano drove deep into Turn 5 and made contact with the #23 of Bubba Wallace, causing both cars to spin.

STAGE 2 END – LAP 30: Similar to the previous stage, Elliott pitted prior to the conclusion of the stage, letting Ryan Blaney inherit the lead and the segment victory. Behind Blaney – Joey Hand, Ty Dillon, Kurt Busch, and Erik Jones also finished in the Top 5 at the end of the stage. Once again, Chase Elliott cycled through to P1 and led from the restart, though the #8 of Tyler Reddick remained a close second.

LAP 46: Elliott overshot Turn 6 and went wide in the turn, allowing Reddick an opportunity to make the pass.  Despite Elliott’s best attempts, he couldn’t get close enough to the #8 to regain the lead and his car performance began to fade as the tires wore.

CHECKERED FLAG – LAP 62: Tyler Reddick crossed the line over 3-seconds ahead of Chase Elliott to claim his first victory in the NASCAR CUp Series. Reddick became the fifth first-time winner of the 2022 season and continued a streak on first wins coming on road courses, with Ross Chastain and Daniel Suarez having accomplished the feat earlier in the year.

RESULTS:

1. Tyler Reddick
2. Chase Elliott
3. Kyle Larson
4. Ross Chastain
5. Daniel Suarez
6. Chris Buescher
7. Austin Cindric
8. Michael McDowell
9. AJ Allmendinger
10. Kevin Harvick
11. Ryan Blaney
12. Alex Bowman
13. Martin Truex Je
14. Chase Briscoe
15. Cole Custer
16. William Byron
17. Denny Hamlin
18. Christopher Bell
19. Ricky Stenhouse Jr
20. Ty Dillon
21. Joey Hand
22. Harrison Burton
23. Kurt Busch
24. Justin Haley
25. Todd GIliland
26. Erik Jones
27. Joey Logano
28. Aric Almirola
29. Kyle Busch
30. Kyle Tilley
31. Austin Dillon
32. Cody Ware
33. Brad Keselowski
34. Corey Lajoie
35. Bubba Wallace
36. Josh Bilicki
37. Loris Hezemans