INDIANAPOLIS -Speed and composure helped Tyler Reddick, of Richard Childress Racing, won the Verizon 200 at the Brickyard on Sunday at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course. Reddick prevailed in overtime in the NASCAR Cup Series race on the 14-turn, 2.439-mile road course after starting from the pole in the No. 8 3CHI Chevrolet.
The race extended four laps past its scheduled 82-lap distance due to a green-white-checkered finish.
This was Reddick second career NASCAR Cup Series victory, his second of the season, and his first on the road course at Indianapolis. His margin over second-place Austin Cindric was 1.065 seconds.
There were five caution periods for a total of 15 laps.
Twenty-eight of the 38 drivers in the Verizon 200 at the Brickyard finished on the lead lap.
Chase Elliott remains the championship leader after Indianapolis with a 125-point advantage over second-place Ryan Blaney.
Stage 1 Winner: Chase Briscoe of Stewart-Haas Racing (Ford)
Stage 2 Winner: Christopher Bell of Joe Gibbs Racing (Toyota)
SHR Race Finish:
- Cole Custer (Started 24th, Finished 9th / Running, completed 86 of 86 laps)
- Chase Briscoe (Started 3rd, Finished 23rd / Running, completed 86 of 86 laps)
- Kevin Harvick (Started 18th, Finished 33rd / Accident, completed 64 of 86 laps)
- Aric Almirola (Started 14th, Finished 38th / Accident, completed 24 of 86 laps)
SHR Points:
- Kevin Harvick (10th with 575 points, 246 out of first)
- Chase Briscoe (15th with 515 points, 306 out of first)
- Aric Almirola (16th with 515 points, 306 out of first)
- Cole Custer (25th with 384 points, 437 out of first)
Custer earned his second top-10 of the season and his first top-10 in two career NASCAR Cup Series starts on the road course at Indianapolis.
Custer’s ninth-place result equaled his previous best finish this season. He also finished ninth on July 10 at Atlanta Motor Speedway.
“You just hope for the best pretty much every time on a restart going through turn one. We were able to have it worked out pretty well the last couple of times, but we just had a long-run car. Honestly, we were one of the best cars on the track when it was a long run, but we just couldn’t fire off well. It’s good to come up with a solid run and hopefully get ourselves a little bit better points-wise and keep chipping away at it, but move on to the next one,” said Cole Custer, driver of the No. 41 HaasTooling.com Ford Mustang
Custer finished eighth in Stage 2 to earn three bonus points.
Briscoe won Stage 1 to earn 10 bonus points and one playoff point. He finished seventh in Stage 2 to earn four more bonus points.
“It was a situation where we had to try to get that first stage win and it just kind of buried us after that. We got back there and struggled to get back up there. A couple of times we thought we were going to be OK, and then I just made a mistake. There, in the end, that restart was just chaos and tore us up. Obviously, I wish we would’ve finished a lot better than where we ended up. I don’t think we had anything for the 8 car (Reddick), but we and the 2 (Cindric) were pretty close and he ended up second. That was kind of the strategy we had, to kind of play today for our points and playoff situation. Obviously, the playoffs are more important than trying to win here. It’s unfortunate we had to be in that situation but, overall, we were able to get a playoff point, which will be big come playoff time, said. ” Chase Briscoe, driver of the No. 14 HighPoint.com Ford Mustang
Briscoe led once for five laps, increasing his laps led total on the road course at Indianapolis to 17.
Aric Almirola left the race after his suspension went out in the No. 10 Mobil 1/GEARWRENCH Ford Mustang.
“We broke the left-front suspension. I got into turn one and locked up the rear tires and it just kind of took off on me and I got into the 5 (Kyle Larson). I hate it for those guys. I hate it for our guys. Man, this was just a frustrating weekend. I felt like the guys did a great job of bringing me a car that was pretty good and thought we were going to have a good day. Just not the day we were hoping for. I made a mistake or I’m not sure what happened, but I locked up the tires getting into one and killed our day and tore up the 5 cars at the same time,” said Aric Almirola, driver of the No. 10 Mobil 1 / GEARWRENCH Ford Mustang.
Next Up:
The next event on the NASCAR Cup Series schedule is the FireKeepers Casino 400 on Sunday, Aug. 7 at Michigan International Speedway in Brooklyn. The race begins at 3 p.m. EDT with live coverage provided by USA and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.
