RESOLVING THE LEDGER
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Reddick, Jones Both Wiped Out Early at Iowa in Brutal Toyota Double-DNF
Tyler Reddick’s quest for the NASCAR Cup Series regular-season championship just took another gut punch — and this time, he took a fellow Toyota driver down with him.
Reddick lost control of his No. 45 23XI Racing Toyota early in Stage 1 of Sunday’s Iowa Corn 350 at Iowa Speedway, sliding into Erik Jones and his No. 43 Legacy Motor Club Toyota. The contact ended the days of both drivers far earlier than either could have imagined.
Reddick started fifth after qualifying 133.911 mph on Saturday, while Jones rolled off 10th.
Instead of banking valuable stage points and positioning themselves for strong finishes, both Toyotas were forced out of contention before the race had a chance to develop.
For Reddick, the timing could hardly be worse.
The five-time winner entered Iowa having already watched his once-massive regular-season points advantage disappear. After leading the standings by 129 points following Watkins Glen, Reddick surrendered the lead to Denny Hamlin during the summer slide. Mechanical problems at Sonoma and Chicago, along with his Michigan crash, had already put a serious dent in his championship cushion.
Now, another early DNF at Iowa leaves Reddick with virtually no opportunity to collect points Sunday.
And that’s brutal for his No. 1 seed hopes heading into the Chase.
It’s just as painful for Jones. The Legacy Motor Club driver had one of his best starting spots of the season and was looking to capitalize on a fast Toyota after posting the fastest single-lap speed in practice.
Instead, Jones is going home early alongside one of the championship favorites.
For two drivers who started fifth and 10th, respectively, this is about as bad as Sunday could have gone.
Reddick’s recent stretch has already been defined by bad luck and missed opportunities. Another race without meaningful points only makes the road to securing the top Chase seed that much steeper.
Iowa was supposed to be an opportunity to stop the bleeding.
Instead, the bleeding just got worse.
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