On one hand, Austin Dillon stunned the field with another surprise victory at Richmond Raceway, this time locking his place in the NASCAR Cup Series playoffs beyond any doubt. On the other hand, it was a crushing blow for Denny Hamlin’s driver, Tyler Reddick. After starting from an impressive P2 and capturing Stage 1, Reddick saw his playoff hopes collapse following Daniel Suarez’s indirect involvement.
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On Lap 181, Suarez nudged Ty Gibbs, who shot up the track into Reddick’s left rear, spinning the No. 45 in Turn 4 and bringing out the caution. Though Reddick returned after repairs, his car never recovered. He limped home P34, collecting just 13 points and sliding to 15th in the standings.
Suarez, meanwhile, salvaged a seventh-place finish. Addressing the incident afterward, he admitted, “I feel bad for the #45 to begin with. I mean, it wasn’t intentional. The last thing I want to do is just crash him for no reason.”
Explaining further, he said, “The #54 already had older tires, and at that point, it’s a two, three-second difference, you know? And when he went to the bottom, he slowed down way more than I anticipated. So, I bumped him a little bit to get some room. But just maybe a little bit too hard of a bump for the tires that he had.”
“He got a wiggle, and then he ended up spinning out the #45, which really wasn’t intentional. Feel bad for that, but yeah, just a bad situation there. Just trying to make as much time as possible,” Suarez continued.
Daniel Suarez on the Gubbs, Reddick incident pic.twitter.com/DMJW2OQUl0
— Matt Weaver (@MattWeaverRA) August 17, 2025
With back-to-back top-10s, including P7 at Watkins Glen the week prior, the Trackhouse Racing driver, Suarez, is making the most of his remaining time in the No. 99 Chevrolet ZL1. Now 29th in the standings with 433 points, one top-five, and five top-10s across 25 starts, his playoff hopes now rest on a single path: winning the regular-season finale at Daytona next Sunday.
