Ford snatched defeat from the jaws of victory.
They didn’t have to worry about the Chevy’s, which were quiet most of the day. They didn’t have to worry about the Toyotas, who took themselves mostly out of the race with 33 laps to go. Tyler Reddick, who was one of the last Toyotas in the race, managed to find victory lane.
While Reddick’s victory will go down in the history books, Ford’s ineptitude is the headline. They’ve been found on road dead for most of the 2024 NASCAR season and nearly came back to life…until they didn’t.
For Talladega’s standards, this was a fairly tame race until the final moments. There were cautions, but nothing that quite rose to the level of “the big one.” As pole-sitter Michael McDowell took the white flag, it seemed certain that he would be the one to end Ford’s drought.
Instead, he tried to block one too many cars and ended up in the wall courtesy of Brad Keselowski.
Current NASCAR on Fox commentator and former Ford driver Kevin Harvick said earlier this week on his “Happy Hour” podcast that it would be an “absolute failure” if Ford couldn’t win, with their chances looking slim for the next few weeks.
Despite sweeping the stages, Ford couldn’t get the job done and now their season is in grave danger after 10 races. With no winnable race in sight, the manufacturer is left with more questions than answers.
Here’s what you need to know about the results of Sunday’s event at Talladega.
When the dust settled on the final lap, Tyler Reddick ended up in victory lane for the first time at a superspeedway.
The win for 23XI was certainly a welcome sight for co-owner Michael Jordan, who saw his No. 45 car driver punch his ticket to the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs.
Denny Hamlin, the driver, didn’t have a good day after finishing in 37th. However, Hamlin, the owner, did have a reason to smile in what was an otherwise frustrating trip to Talladega. He had a chance to put on his owner hat and talk about how much the win for Reddick means to him.
Heading into Sunday’s race, here’s how the point standings shaped up:
