For the primary time in the course of the 2026 NASCAR Cup season, Tyler Reddick isn’t the championship chief. After successful the primary three races of the 12 months, Reddick held the highest spot via the primary 17 rounds of the season. At one level, he had a mighty 129-point lead. Only one month later, it is gone.
Reddick has completed twenty fifth or worse in three of the final 4 races, and at Sonoma, an influence steering situation left him with a last-place end.
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In consequence, Denny Hamlin now leads the championship standings, only one level forward of Reddick. Nonetheless, the driving force of the No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota wasn’t smiling after Sunday’s race.
He gave up stage factors in favor of flipping each phases, as he had an opportunity for a high 5, or at the least high ten end. However in the long run, he completed twenty sixth, leaving quite a lot of factors on the desk. On a late-race restart, he bought circled whereas operating seventh fell to the very rear of the sphere. Hamlin’s splitter was additionally broken within the incident, and he struggled to make up misplaced floor.
“I had a extremely quick automotive, high 5 automotive on pace,” mentioned Hamlin, subdued in his TNT interview. “Did not actually have nice restarts, giving up a pair within the first and about one after that. Received spun there, and as soon as we bought spun, I hit the nostril and knocked the splitter off. Misplaced quite a lot of downforce, and struggled to run the place we had been at.”
Reddick tries to have a look at the positives
As for Reddick, the frustration was clear for him as effectively. He fell six laps down whereas the 23XI Racing labored on the ability steering situation, and witn so little attrition, he was caught in last-place for a lot of the race. He did handle to safe the quickest lap bonus, strolling away with a measly two factors on the board.
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“We had been making an attempt to diagnose it, and it was only a very odd situation,” remarked Reddick. “For us … every thing appeared tremendous once we left within the pit stall that first inexperienced flag cycle. Simply quite a lot of points within the steering, simply actually notchy with the ability steering going out and in, prefer it was getting certain up. I did not know what was occurring. I did not know if we had a wheel situation or what was occurring at first. However all of the wheels had been good, and it was simply actually onerous to make any type of laptime with it. It is so onerous to say in hindsight if we made the best choice to work on it. I undoubtedly do not suppose I’d have been inside seconds of the tempo, so both means, we had a troublesome street forward. We did get the Xfinity quickest lap out of the day at the least (after engaged on it), in order that was the robust factor … It was type of bittersweet that we had been in a position to get the quickest lap and have that type of pace, though we had been having slight steering points.”
On shedding management of the championship, Reddick tried to look on the intense aspect of issues. “I might say we bought fairly lucky immediately. He was operating actually good, however one thing occurred, do not actually know what it was. All issues thought of for the problems that we had, we had been actually lucky to essentially solely lose 9 factors on the day to Denny, ending lifeless final. It’s what it’s, we’ll take it and transfer on. And we’ll do every thing we will at Chicagoland to get again the lead.”
Watch: Reddick on ‘very odd situation’ that resulted in last-place end
Learn Additionally:
Full NASCAR Cup factors standings after Sonoma 2026
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