Caution Clock Chaos: Tyler Reddick spoils Truck Chase with Vegas victory

Tyler Reddick applies the winner's decal in Victory Lan on October 1, 2016 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
Credit: Jonathon Moore

by Courtney Horn

Tyler Reddick soared to victory Saturday night at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, earning his first victory of the 2016 Camping World Truck Series season.

Reddick quickly came from behind in the DC Solar 350 to contend with the leaders throughout the evening. Reddick started 16th, peaked into the top three by Lap 19 and captured the lead for the first time on Lap 33.

“This was not an easy weekend,” Reddick said. “In the past it wasn’t one of my most favorite race tracks, but the guys did an outstanding job. The truck was great. We were able to get our way up there and fight up front pretty much all day long.”

The Brad Keselowski Racing driver outran his teammate Daniel Hemric for the win by almost a second and a half. The one-two finish is the first time the team has ever completed that feature within the series, along with the first mile-and-a-half track victory.

“It’s easy to be very frustrated,” Hemric said of finishing second. "But overall on the big picture side of things it’s a huge night for Brad Keselowski Racing.”

Hemric remains 15 points behind the Chase cutoff line heading into Talladega Superspeedway, but the driver does not blame his teammate for racing hard for the victory.

“Looking back maybe I could have attacked a certain part of that race a little differently to put myself in a better position,” Hemric said, “But I don’t fault him at all.”

It was a good night for the Chase contenders where seven of the eight drivers scored top-10 finishes heading into the wild card cutoff race. William Byron quietly earned a fifth-place finish while John Hunter Nemechek struggled to finish 16th.

A Look Forward to the Chase

The Camping World Truck Series has two weekends off before heading into Talladega on October 22 for the first elimination race of the Chase.

Christopher Bell, who finished sixth in Vegas, looks to avoid trouble for another solid race to secure his place into the next round. Bell sits third in the standings ahead of Talladega.

Hemric is in a must-win situation to secure a berth in the next round. Last year he finished 28th, but holds strong momentum from Vegas. Can he continue with a win at Talladega and put himself in contention to battle for the championship?

Catch Hemric at Talladega for the last race in the Round of 12 on Oct. 22, 2016, at 1 p.m. ET on Fox Sports 1.