For the second time in as many races, the NASCAR Cup Series saw calamity at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course.
Throughout the first 47 laps, 14 different cars spun off the track, Turn 1 saw many collisions on restarts and a freightening crash between Kyle Larson and Ty Dillon highlighted what was another incident-filled race on the Indy Road Course.
Ultimately, it was the pole sitter, Tyler Reddick, that controlled the race from start-to-finish and came away with his second victory of the 2022 season, both on road courses (other win was Road America back on July 3).
On the overtime restart, Ross Chastain, who spun three times during the first stage, took the access road off Turn 1 to run side-by-side against Reddick. Chastain briefly led before Reddick retook the lead heading into the final lap.
“I was like, uh oh!” Reddick said after the race. “That was a scenario that had been talked about. I was waiting to see if he was gonna have a penalty because I didn’t want to move him out of the way and make the race worse than what it was.”
Reddick eventually held off Chastain and Austin Cindric, who started beside Reddick on the front row to start the race, to reach victory lane for the second time in 2022. Chastain was penalized by NASCAR for short-cutting the track, dropping him to P27.
“Hats off to Ross for trying to do that but good thing it didn’t work out because I would have been pretty pissed off,” Reddick said.
See how @TylerReddick scored the win at @IMS in overtime!
Here's a look at the final restart at Indy. #NASCAR pic.twitter.com/Yo43SqrrzP
— NASCAR on NBC (@NASCARonNBC) July 31, 2022
“[I was] trying not to be in the corner there in Turn 1,” Chastain said. “I thought we were four-wide and couldn’t go any further right and decided to take the access lane.”
Reddick won his first race since the shock announcement of him leaving Richard Childress Racing after the end of the 2023 season to join 23XI Racing back on July 13, which also came 10 days after his victory at Road America.
Woof. Richard Childress was just asked about his relationship with @TylerReddick by @pkligerman:
💭 "Kevin Harvick and I talked through his whole deal and we made a joint announcement. He won 4 races that year and we almost won the championship. This one didn't happen like that"
— Davey Segal (@DaveyCenter) July 31, 2022
Despite some tensions within the team, Reddick has continued to improve in the No. 8 car, culminating in Sunday’s win at Indianapolis.
“We know what we’re capable of and we did that at Road America. [I’m] really glad to do it here at Indianapolis; this is one special place to race and I’m excited to kiss the bricks and I’m excited we got 3chi a win in their hometown,” Reddick said.
Before the battle between Reddick and Chastain, Ryan Blaney’s successful day came crashing down as he was dumped on Turn 2 during the overtime restart. He took fuel only on his final pit stop to increase track position, putting him in contention to win.
He stayed out to finish P2 in Stage 1 and led Reddick before pitting in the final stage with his fuel-only stop. His P26 solidifies him being the top playoff driver on points (Martin Truex Jr. the only other one in the top 16).
Ryan Blaney was fuming after the race after being spun. Said it wasn't the tires: “That was a case of just getting wrecked, that’s all people do at the end of these things. Just dive in there and f**king wreck you. And I don’t know who shoved who. I don’t care."
Story to come
— Kelly Crandall (@KellyCrandall) July 31, 2022
On the previous restart with three laps to go, six cars spun near Turn 1, including regular season points leader Chase Elliott. He spun while running P2, ending his streak of five-consecutive top-two finishes. Alas, he P16 finish was good enough to stretch his regular season points lead to 125 points over Blaney.
Austin Dillon ultimately brought out the caution that led to overtime as his car was stuck in the gravel.
What. Just. Happened?
Joey Logano goes five-wide, multiple cars spin, Austin Dillon's car gets stuck and the caution comes out. #NASCAR pic.twitter.com/6CRHhshQFF
— NASCAR on NBC (@NASCARonNBC) July 31, 2022
He was not the only Dillon to be involved in a caution for a race incident as on Lap 61, Kyle Larson’s brakes failed entering Turn 1, causing him to leap full force in Ty Dillon. Both cars suffered severe damage but both drivers seemed ok after the collision.
HUGE HITS for Kyle Larson and Ty Dillon.
Larson loses his brakes and slams into the No. 42 at near-full speed. #NASCAR
📺 : @nbc pic.twitter.com/AhgmlenNzJ
— NASCAR on NBC (@NASCARonNBC) July 31, 2022
The 2022 rookie class put on career performances as they took advantage of the chaos to achieve front-row track position. Cindric, who won the 2021 Xfinity Series race on the Indy Road Course, fell back toward the pack during Stage 2 after starting on the front row, but climbed back to finish P2, his best result since winning the 2022 Daytona 500.
Harrison Burton and Todd Gilliland achieved their first-career top-five finishes in the Cup Series in P3 and P4 respectively.
With @AustinCindric, @ToddGilliland_ and @HBurtonRacing finishing in the top five, it marks just the second time in Cup history that three rookies placed in the top five in a race.
The first time: Pocono II, 1994: Ward Burton (second), Joe Nemechek (third), Jeff Burton (fourth).
— Dustin Albino (@DustinAlbino) July 31, 2022
Bubba Wallace finished P5 to pick up his first-career top-five finish in the Cup Series on a road course.
A.J. Allmendinger, who won last year’s Cup Series race on the Indy Road Course and Saturday’s Xfinity Series race, pushed his way home to a P7 finish. However, he needed medical attention after the race due to overheating from a cool suit failure.
At the end of Stage 1, Chris Buescher’s car ignited on pit road, but continued racing. He was rewarded with a 10th-place finish.
Christopher Bell, whose flat tire caused the caution that led to the restart with three laps to go, stayed out to pick up his first stage win of the 2022 season during Stage 1, the last playoff driver to win a stage this season. Chase Briscoe did the same to win Stage 2 after Reddick pitted late in both stages.
Former Formula 1 driver (Red Bull Racing, Toro Rosso and AlphaTauri in 2020), Daniil Kvyat made his NASCAR debut with Team Hezeburg. At the end of Stage 2, his car stalled and eventually, had to retire after only running 43 of the 82 laps.
The 2022 NASCAR Cup Series will commence the final month of its regular season as it heads to Michigan International Speedway for the FireKeepers Casino 400 on Sunday Aug. 7.
Race results:
Points report:
Owner points:
