There are two races left in the Cup season, but fantastic finishes have made this a year to remember. In six races, the leader entered the final lap. This is the most for a Cup season. There have been five races this season where I won by less than a tenth of a second. Since the introduction of electronic timing and scoring systems in 1993, multiple rounds have been scored in a single season. During the 2007 season, there were six instances of finishing under a tenth of a second. The roster is expected to grow this weekend at Martinsville Speedway (Sunday at 2 p.m. ET on NBC) and with Round 8 in November. 10 championship races in Phoenix. Here are the top five finishes of the season so far:Tyler Reddick won Sunday’s quarterfinal playoff race and advanced from third to first in the final round to advance to the Championship Four for the first time in his Cup career.
That’s what makes for a great season to finish #1. Reddick did it by running bigger tires a few laps longer than the leader. In most places that wouldn’t mean much, but in Homestead it does. Christopher Bell called Reddick’s win “superb” because of Reddick’s success on the older tires. Ryan Blaney led the final lap and crossed the lane in turn three. He wanted to keep Reddick from jumping into the distance and sliding in front of him. Instead, Reddick hit the wall and flew past Blaney. “If I go deep like I’m going to hit the wall and break my right side, so be it,” Reddick told NBC Sports as he approached Corner 3. Time for the final loop.
“The kid rode the donkey,” 23XI Racing co-owner Michael Jordan told Reddick’s Dave Burns of NBC Sports. Kyle Larson and Chris Buescher had one of the most exciting battles of the final round. When the white flag waved, Bucher took the lead, but Larson gave up three points back-to-back to the outside of Bucher. Coming off turn four, they touched twice before Larson beat Buescher by 0.001 seconds to go. “It’s so close and it breaks my heart to miss it,” Buescher said. “I’ve seen a few times in NASCAR where if someone is running and you pass them, they stop,” Larson said. It happened. We got to the start and finish points, but we didn’t know if we were going to win or not.
“I don’t think I paid much attention to it, but I thought, ‘Oh, that was really cool.'” … Soon my observer went crazy. Yes, I like it very much.”Daniel Suarez beat Ryan Blaney by 0.003 seconds and Kyle Busch by 0.007 seconds, the closest third place finish in series history. Blaney was leading when the white flag waved, but Suarez took the outside lane on laps 3 and 4. Bush went to the center and Blaney went to the inside. Suarez built enough momentum to beat Blaney (and Busch) to the finish line. “Bush tried to subdraft his timer,” Suarez said of the finish. “I didn’t know where (Blaney) was. I thought (Bush) was like that. I knew it was close. But I didn’t know about (Blaney). I don’t know.”
Brad Keselowski took the lead in fourth, but Ricky Stenhouse Jr. William pushed Byron and moved Keselowski to cross the finish line .006 seconds ahead of Keselowski. It was the third-closest finish of the season and tied for the seventh-closest in series history. “We lost a few inches here, so it was nice to get an inch,” Stenhouse said. Kyle Busch took the final lap down the straight and recorded his 20th win of the season before Parker Retzlaff held off Harrison Burton. Burton held off Busch in Turn 4 to earn his first career Cup victory and 100th for Wood Brothers Racing.
“I got out of the car, turned around and was shocked,” Burton said of the exit from the start/finish line. “Anyone who can put their finger on this race car – the media side, the management side, the parenting side of my life, the husband side – everyone is on Mother Earth.” “It was great to see everyone running and celebrating with me.”
