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Bob PockrassNASCAR
HOMESTEAD, Fla. — Tyler Reddick, who opened his Xfinity Series rookie season with a win at Daytona, capped it off by winning the season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway to capture the series title.
Using pit strategy and a racing line up against the wall, the JR Motorsports driver saved maybe his best race of the season for last, winning by more than 6.9 seconds over Cole Custer.
Custer led 95 laps, but he ran several laps more than championship contenders Reddick and Christopher Bell before making his final pit stop under green. Custer ended up eight seconds behind the leaders, who had the advantage with fresher tires earlier in the lengthy green-flag run, but his Stewart-Haas Racing team hoped he would be able to rally as tire wear would become a factor.
Reddick and Bell swapped the top spot before Reddick was able to pull away after taking the lead with 36 laps remaining. He even tapped the wall a few times as he used the faster high line around the track.
It was the second consecutive championship and third overall for JR Motorsports, which won the title with William Byron in 2017 and in 2014 with Chase Elliott.
Reddick didn’t have a phenomenal season — he had just five top-5s and no wins after Daytona — and the 22-year-old driver has already announced he would leave JR Motorsports to go to Richard Childress Racing’s Xfinity program next season.
He will replace Daniel Hemric, who finished fourth, and was one of the four championship contenders. Bell had a flat tire late in the season and finished 11th.