Tyler Reddick – Martinsville II 2016 Recap

Tyler Reddick (@TylerReddick) overcame a tight handling truck and a soft brake pedal to score a 13th-place finish in the Texas Roadhouse 200 at Martinsville (Va.) Speedway. Reddick has now completed all 2,825 possible laps in 14 career NASCAR Camping World Truck Series short track races, including 1,369 in six Martinsville starts.  He is 10th in the series championship standings, four points behind ninth-place Cole Custer.   
 
Reddick qualified fourth on Saturday, the fifth consecutive Martinsville race where he has started 10th or better.  Once the green flag waved for the 200-lap event, he wedged his way into seventh place in the bottom lane of traffic.  On lap 35, Reddick radioed his crew that he was having issues with his brakes, but he held his ground until the first yellow flag slowed the pace on lap 51.  He pitted one lap later for four tires and adjustments, plus the team took an extra moment to remove bits of rubber that were clogging up the brake ducts.  Reddick restarted 12th when the race went green on lap 59.
 
Once again he squeezed into the preferred bottom groove relatively quickly, falling in line 15th by lap 67. But the tight handling condition of his Ford F-150 soon returned, as did his braking issues.  He was 18th in the running order at the time of the second caution on lap 109. Once again, Reddick pitted for four tires and adjustments, and speedy service by the Cooper Standard team moved him up to the 14th position when the race went green on lap 116.
 
Reddick picked up two positions on the restart, but soon he was once again struggling to make his truck turn in the corners.  He held firm in the 12th position during the run, which was interrupted by the third caution on lap 150.  Reddick pitted one lap later for four tires, but differing pit strategy by his competitors shuffled him back to 16th place for the restart on lap 156.
 
Over the next 27 laps, Reddick inched his way up the leaderboard. He was 13th with 14 laps remaining when he made a bold move at the entrance to Turn 1 to gain two positions.  Unfortunately, he wasn’t able to pull off the pass and didn’t mount another charge for position in the closing laps, collecting a 13th-place finish. 

BKR PR