Brad Keselowski Racing’s Tyler Reddick, held off teammate Daniel Hemric in the closing laps of the DC Solar 350 and won at Las Vegas Speedway. The triumph was also Reddick’s first of the year and was the first time two Brad Keselowki Racing truck finished one-two in the Camping World Truck Series.
Tyler Reddick grabbed the lead on five different occasions for 70 of the 146 laps turned. He passed Cole Custer when the race went under caution for the third time. Tyler Reddick didn’t look back, and stayed out in front for the rest of the circuits around the 1.5 mile oval.
“We were spot-on from the beginning,” said Tyler Reddick, who started 16th in the 31-truck field but reached the top three by the 19th lap. The victory was his third in the series and first since June 2015 at Dover International Speedway. Unfortunately, I was a spoiler for our teammate. He was right behind us, and also could have gotten locked into the next round, by winning.”
At times, the two Brad Keselowski Racing Fords drove right next to one another at during the DC Solar 350. As a result, race winner Tyler Reddick kind of thought Daniel Hemric might be mad at the aggression shown by his teammate.
Instead, the runner-up finisher Daniel Hemric stated that that was not the case at all. The savvy youngster said it was a fair duel between the two until the checkered flag was waved at the end of the event.
“I’m not mad, we we’re racing for the win,” said Hemric. He improved one spot to seventh in the championship heading into the next race at Talladega Superspeedway. “Furthermore, Reddick did everything picture perfect. He also did what you are supposed to do in that situation.”
Cole Custer finished out his evening in third in his #00 Chevrolet. The side by side battle with second place finisher Daniel Hemric benefited Tyler Reddick. It allowed the time for the eventual winner to pull away for good.
Ben Kennedy led 22 laps in his Jacob Companies Chevrolet, he would take the checkered flag in fourth. Finally, Camping World Truck Series leader William Bryan finished in fifth. Byron also retained his place a top the point standings with his result. Christopher Bell, Johnny Sauter, Matt Crafton and pole position winner Timothy Peters lined-up behind Byron.
Timothy Peters and Ben Kennedy found themselves out front in the early stages of the DC Solar 350. Peters kept the lead until the 14th lap when Kennedy and Custer sped past him. The newly implemented caution clock, brought out the yellow flag on lap 39. Tyler Reddick took his first lead after beating his fellow racers out of the pits.
The DC Solar 350 saw five different drivers take the lead on 12 different occasions. It was also a clean ran race, that sported only three cautions for 14 laps around the 1.5 mile oval. The event took only one hour and 35 minutes to complete.
The average speed of the field was 143.152 miles per hour and the margin of victory was 1.401 seconds. Tyler Reddick’s 143.152 miles per hour speed, set the track record at Las Vegas Speedway. Xfinity Series driver Erik Jones had previously held that honor.
The DC Solar 350 was the second of three contests in the CWTS Chase’s Round of eight. Unfortunately, Tyler Reddick was not among the eight post-season qualifiers. Furthermore, a Daniel Hemric victory would have allowed the speedster to move on to the next round.
As of now, Daniel Hemric is 15 points outside the six driver cut-off line going into the elimination race at Talladega Superspeedway. The same scenario faces John Hunter Nemechek. Nemechek finished in 16th and was docked 10 points before the DC Solar 350 even began.
Final Results for the DC Solar 350 at Las Vegas Speedway:
1. (16) Tyler Reddick, Ford, 146 laps, 145.4 rating, 37 points.
2. (6) Daniel Hemric, Ford, 146, 126.9, 32.
3. (3) Cole Custer, Chevrolet, 146, 113.2, 31.
4. (4) Ben Kennedy, Chevrolet, 146, 116.1, 30.
5. (10) William Byron, Toyota, 146, 102.3, 28.
6. (18) Christopher Bell, Toyota, 146, 88.2, 27.
7. (14) Johnny Sauter, Chevrolet, 146, 96.4, 26.
8. (2) Matt Crafton, Toyota, 146, 86.7, 25.
9. (1) Timothy Peters, Toyota, 146, 100.7, 25.
10. (12) Grant Enfinger, Chevrolet, 146, 79.2, 23.
11. (5) Spencer Gallagher, Chevrolet, 146, 88.1, 22.
12. (8) Ben Rhodes, Toyota, 146, 75.2, 21.
13. (7) John Wes Townley, Toyota, 146, 82.7, 20.
14. (20) Parker Kligerman, Ford, 146, 70.3, 19.
15. (13) Matt Tifft, Toyota, 146, 67.3, 18.
16. (15) John Hunter Nemechek, Chevrolet, 145, 61.6, 17.
17. (11) Cody Coughlin, Toyota, 145, 58.2, 16.
18. (9) Cameron Hayley, Toyota, 145, 65.0, 15.
19. (19) Stewart Friesen, Chevrolet, 145, 53.3, 14.
20. (17) Rico Abreu, Toyota, 144, 55.8, 13.
21. (25) Austin Wayne Self, Toyota, 142, 45.8, 12.
22. (22) Tommy Joe Martins, Chevrolet, 142, 48.5, 11.
23. (21) Tyler Young, Chevrolet, 142, 39.3, 10.
24. (23) Travis Kvapil, Chevrolet, 140, 44.0, 9.
25. (26) Todd Peck, Chevrolet, 138, 36.5, 0.
26. (29) Norm Benning, Chevrolet, 134, 34.7, 7.
27. (24) Jennifer Jo Cobb, Chevrolet, suspension, 74, 39.7, 6.
28. (28) Wayne Edwards, Chevrolet, accident, 48, 34.2, 5.
29. (30) Timothy Viens, Chevrolet, oilleak, 29, 27.3, 4.
30. (27) Carlos Contreras, Chevrolet, vibration, 9, 26.8, 3.
31. (31) Caleb Roark, Chevrolet, electrical, 4, 23.2, 2.
