Denny Hamlin appeared set to sweep victories in both Kansas races this season until Chris Buescher hit the wall and sent the race into a two-lap overtime.
That set up several different pit strategies as Daniel Suarez stayed out and inherited the lead and three drivers took on only two tires. Hamlin and Reddick pit for four new tires.
On the restart, Reddick got a big run and with Erik Jones on the outside and Joey Logano in the middle, Reddick dove to the inside off Turn 4 to grab the lead for the first time in the race.
Reddick then held off his team owner, Hamlin, by 0.327 seconds to claim the victory which locks him into the second next round of the playoffs regardless of his finish in next week’s race at Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway.
The win is Reddick’s second of the 2023 season and fifth of his career. 23XI Racing’s No. 45 Toyota has now won three of the last four races at Kansas with three different drivers (Kurt Busch, Bubba Wallace and Reddick).
“Just an outstanding job by this whole 23XI team. We had really good pace, but just couldn’t get ahead of Denny there, but chaos ensued, people stayed out, some took two tires, and the bottom lane opened up,” Reddick said. “It was pretty crazy.”
Asked the key to his overtime performance, Reddick said, “Four fresh tires and sitting in there and slide up.
“This Toyota Camry TRD had a lot of pace, and we’ve had really fast cars and it’s really great to get it back to Victory Lane.”
Jones ended up third, Kyle Larson was fourth and Logano rounded out the top five.
Completing the top-10 were Chase Elliott, Kyle Busch, Christopher Bell, Brad Keselowski and Alex Bowman.
With one race remaining in the first round of the playoffs, the four drivers lowest in points without a win and in danger of being eliminated from further title contention are Martin Truex Jr., Wallace, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Michael McDowell.
Stage 1
Larson passed Wallace on a restart with 11 of 80 laps remaining and held on to take the Stage 1 win. Bell was third, Ross Chastain fourth and Ryan Blaney was fifth.
Within the first five laps, regular season champion Truex hit the wall in Turn 3 after he suffered a puncture in his right-rear tire. The damage to his No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota knocked him out of the race.
Early trouble for the #NASCAR Cup Series regular season champion, Martin Truex Jr.
— Xfinity Racing (@XfinityRacing) September 10, 2023
His playoff point advantage in this round may be completely gone. pic.twitter.com/iawRC33ifW
Stage 2
Keselowski passed Elliott with three of 85 laps remaining and held off a late charge by Hamlin to take the Stage 2 win. Elliott ended up third, Harvick fourth and Reddick rounded out the top five.
Stage 3
Following the break between Stages 2 and 3, the lead-lap cars all elected to pit with Keselowski first off pit road. He led Hamlin and Harvick on the restart with 96 laps remaining in the race.
With 80 laps to go, Hamlin was able to power around Keselowski to take the lead for the first time in the race.
Blaney and Jones were the first to hit pit road with 53 laps remaining to kick off a final round of green flag pit stops to take on new tires and fuel to make it to the end of the race.
Once the cycle of stops was completed with 36 laps to go, Hamlin returned to the lead with a 1.476-second advantage over Reddick and Keselowski in third, more than six seconds behind.
Hamlin was able to build his advantage over Reddick to more than two seconds with 20 laps remaining in the race.
Chris Buescher hit the wall in Turns 1 and 2 with seven laps remaining which put the race under caution and set up some varying pit strategy decisions.
Problems for Chris Buescher and we'll have a late restart for the @kansasspeedway win on USA Network! pic.twitter.com/xEdf2HHc3O
— Xfinity Racing (@XfinityRacing) September 10, 2023
Jones was first off pit road thanks to a two-tire stop but Suarez remained on the track and inherited the lead.
When the race resumed in a two-lap overtime, Suarez led Jones, Busch and Logano – all of whom took two tires. Hamlin lined up fifth, the first car on four new tires.
