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NASCAR title contender Tyler Reddick rolls over in bizarre accident in Las Vegas

NASCAR title contender Tyler Reddick rolls over in bizarre accident in Las Vegas

Tyler Reddick won the opening stage at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, only to have his race literally turned on its head moments later.

On Lap 89, Reddick had a run on the outside and made it three with Chase Elliott and Martin Truex Jr. underneath him. They drifted up and there was contact between Elliott and Reddick, which resulted in both drivers crashing. As they drove around the track, Brad Keselowski was caught and all three cars spun out of control through the infield grass.

Then, in a surprise flip/roll, Reddick's car dug in and overturned as it slid sideways across the asphalt-grass transition in the infield. His race was over. Reddick will finish 36th.

Keselowski's car backed onto the track in the final moments of the incident, causing Team Penske drivers Ryan Blaney and Austin Cindric to swerve into the outside wall. Cindric, Keselowski and Reddick could not continue. Defending champion Blaney was several laps down and Elliott went to the workshop for extensive repairs after reaching the minimum speed.

“You just have to be aggressive on restarts,” Reddick said after being released from the infield care center. “That’s what this next-gen race has been like from the start. I somehow saw that both of them were having a moment and I only had a split second to make a decision. You have to be aggressive. You have to try to regain these places when you restart.” . It can be difficult to pass after a while.

“By the time I realized I was in trouble, it was just too late. The #19 (Truex) was starting to slide, the #9 (Elliott) was coming and I was pretty much out. At this point.” I didn't actually have to make the decision earlier as I saw that they were a little more conservative. That simply wouldn't have prevented the incident.

“It's unfortunate. It knocked us out of the race. We had a really fast Camry. I thought we were at it all day.”

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