TALLADEGA, Ala. - 23XI Racing driver Tyler Reddick survived a wild last-lap crash that collected multiple cars, taming Talladega Superspeedway and winning the GEICO 500 with team co-owner and NBA legend Michael Jordan atop the pit box.
Reddick, who was in fourth heading into the tri-oval coming to the checkered flag, avoided the chaos that ensued after a late block by Michael McDowell and found his way into Victory Lane for the first time in the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series season.
"Man, it’s incredible," Reddick said. "Everyone on this 45 Jordan Brand Toyota Camry worked really hard today. Yeah, just got to give a lot of credit to Ty Gibbs and Martin Truex Jr. It was just us Toyotas left and they pushed me with everything they had so a huge credit to Martin and Ty. Without those pushes we don’t win this race."
The race was very memorable for not only Reddick but for his son Beau as well, who was held by "MJ" after Toyota's first superspeedway win in the Next Gen era.
This was also the first time Jordan got to visit Victory Lane in person as a team owner and he was very happy about it post-race.
The runner-up finisher for the second consecutive week was Brad Keselowski, whose RFK Racing Ford almost found Victory Lane for the first time since the 2021 Talladega spring race which was 108 races ago. Keselowski has seemingly changed the narrative of "if" he will ever win again to "where" he is going to win next.
"We just ran a really solid race, really good execution, strategy, put ourselves in position and ran up front at the end when it mattered," Keselowski said. "I just wish we could have got the win. It was kind of a wild finish there.Â
"I got a great push from Noah Gragson and had a chance to make a move on Michael and in all the swerves back and forth all three of us ran into each other and Michael got the worst end of it. Unfortunately, we weren’t able to get the win, but still a really solid day and something to be proud of."
Results from the 2024 GEICO 500 at Talladega Superspeedway are listed below:
Other Race Facts
Corey LaJoie wound up 18th after crossing the start/finish line on his side. Photographer Chris Owens captured the Spire Motorsports driver's wild ride on the final lap.
NASCAR also released LaJoie's in-car camera, along with Josh Berry's as both drivers wrecked.
23XI Racing's Bubba Wallace had his 30-race finishing streak come to an end after a huge wreck involving his fellow Toyota teammates.
A bold strategy by Toyota looked like it would work out until aggressive pushing by multiple drivers ended the day for Wallace, Denny Hamlin and Erik Jones, who was shaken up after the hard impact.
After being checked and released initially, Jones returned to the infield care center after the race and was transported to a local hospital for further evaluation on Sunday night.
Legacy Motor Club released the following statement:
"Following a crash at Talladega Superspeedway in Sunday's GEICO 500, Erik Jones was transported to UAB University Hospital in Birmingham, Ala. As of 11:30 p.m. CT, Jones was evaluated, released and will return home to North Carolina this evening."
The GEICO 500 had more drivers lead (23) than drivers who did not (14) during the race on Sunday. One of those drivers who led was Anthony Alfredo, who finished third in the Xfinity Series race on Saturday for Our Motorsports and sixth in the Cup Series race in his No. 62 Dude Wipes Chevrolet for Beard Motorsports.
Two other drivers that many did not expect to lead were Shane van Gisbergen (three laps), who made his Cup Series oval debut. BJ McLeod (five laps) brought his unsponsored and non-chartered No. 78 Live Fast Motorsports Chevrolet from 37th to the front in the first 10 laps of the GEICO 500.
GRID Ranking
The 2024 GRID Ranking is the eighth year of the world's premier motorsport ranking and was initially released on Sunday, April 7.
The official ranking includes drivers that participate in seven racing series (NASCAR, IndyCar, Formula 1, Formula E, World Rally Championship, Repco Supercars, MotoGP), and each driver earns GRID Ratings, which help determine their seeding in the GRID Ranking.
DRIVER | OLD RATING | PREVIOUS RANKING | MOST RECENT FINISH | NEW RATING | NEW RANKING |
William Byron | 15.95 | 6th | 7th | 15.24 | 12th |
Tyler Reddick | 11.02 | 22nd | 1st | 10.80 | 24th |
Kyle Larson | 11.18 | 20th | 21st | 10.06 | 27th |
Christopher Bell | 11.02 | 22nd | 38th | 9.92 | T-29th |
Brad Keselowski | N/A | N/A | 2nd | 9.92 | T-29th |
Week 3 of the GRID Ranking:
2023 NASCAR GRID Rating Champion William Byron remains on top with a seventh-place finish at Talladega. Byron is currently 11th overall in the GRID Ranking at the end of Week 3. Tyler Reddick's win helped propel him from just outside the NASCAR GRID Rating to second after his victory.
The next race on the NASCAR Cup Series schedule is on Sunday, April 28 at Dover Motor Speedway. Coverage of the Würth 400 will begin at 2 p.m. ET on FS1.
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Editor's Note: The disqualification of Team Penske's Josef Newgarden from the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Pete resulted in changes to Week 3 of the GRID Ranking after initially publishing this article.