Saturday evening’s DC Solar 350 from Las Vegas Motor Speedway was a night of firsts for Brad Keselowski Racing and their driver Tyler Reddick.
The No. 29 Cooper Standard Ford F-150 driver pushed his truck all the way to Victory Lane, and Daniel Hemric wasn’t far behind, bringing his No. 19 Blue Gate Bank Ford home in second for Brad Keselowski racing’s first one-two finish.
“All the guys on the Cooper Standard team did a heck of a job all weekend long,” he said. “I really enjoy coming out to Las Vegas and I really enjoy the atmosphere. In the past, it wasn’t one of my favorite racetracks, but our Cooper Standard Ford F-150 was great.”
The 2015 Camping World Truck Series runner-up missed the inaugural field of their Chase this season, but didn’t let it take away from his shot to put his No. 29 F-150 in the winner’s circle.
Starting the race from P16, Reddick had his work cut out to move to the front. Following the completion of the first lap, he advanced inside the Top 10, and by lap 12, made it inside of the Top 5. On the 33rd lap, the California Kid drove past leader Ben Kennedy to claim the top spot. His ability to slice through the field under green was more impressive than anything, as the first caution flew on lap 39 when the timer ended.
Pitting under yellow under the direction of veteran crew chief Doug Randolph, the Cooper Standard crew changed all four Goodyear tires and filled the tank with Sunoco racing fuel. Once racing resumed, he reclaimed the lead from Kennedy, and swapped the top spot with Hemric before driving away from the field on lap 102.
“We were able to get up there and run up front pretty much all day long,” Reddick said. “We didn’t qualify like I thought we were going to. The wind was moving around quite a bit this afternoon and it was just kind of gusting the wrong way for us. Qualifying kind of put us back there but, honestly, it wasn’t necessarily a bad thing. We had an idea early on when we were around other trucks of what we had. We were able to drive our way to the front there early on while some people, I think, were still fighting some balance changes as the track cooled down. We were spot-on from the drop of the green to the end of the race.”
While the 146-lap race ran smoothly for Team BKR’s championship hopeful Daniel Hemric, he leaves Sin City on a bittersweet second place result.
“It’s easy to be very frustrated running second, but overall, on the big-picture side of things it’s a huge night for Brad Keselowski Racing to pick up its first mile-and-a-half win,” he said.
Winning first practice, and placing second in happy hour, Hemric proved his No. 19 Blue Gate Bank team came to win Las Vegas. In qualifying, he further backed it up by laying down the fastest lap in the first round, and winding up P6 after the second round. Even with all that speed, it was no match for the track position his teammate had in the closing laps of the event.
“Tyler Reddick and the No. 29 guys did exactly what they needed to do on the last stop and they just beat us off pit road,” Hemric said. “Clean air is king, just like it is at a lot of these mile-and-a-half tracks, and I didn’t get enough of a push on that last restart to get out front.”
In the middle stage of the race, Hemric was able to claim the lead from Reddick and pace the field for 38 laps, and more importantly, claim a bonus point towards the Chase.
“Once Tyler and I both got clear of the No. 00, we were able to slowly drive away, but I just didn’t have enough maneuverability to get to him in the end. All in all, it was a solid night for Brad Keselowski Racing. I’m happy for my teammate; he did everything he was supposed to do tonight. Now we just need to get our win at Talladega.”
Tyler Reddick Leads Brad Keselowski Racing to 1-2 Finish in Las Vegas https://t.co/aOzpo57kx1 pic.twitter.com/I51ktkj0lT
— Jerry Jordan (@JerryJordan_KTT) October 2, 2016
It's trophy time for #DCSolar350 champ @TylerReddick at LVMS! pic.twitter.com/wNSzfWhDHQ
— Las Vegas Speedway (@LVMotorSpeedway) October 2, 2016
HALFWAY at @LVMotorSpeedway:
P1 @DanielHemric
P2 @TylerReddick
P3 @BenKennedy33
P4 @colecuster00
P5 @TimothyPeters17#DCSolar350 #TheChase pic.twitter.com/LwkYjAs0Uw— TalladegaSuperspdwy (@TalladegaSuperS) October 2, 2016
Huge congrats to @keselowski @TeamBKR @TylerReddick @DanielHemric on their 1-2 tonight. Racing perfection.
— Michael Waltrip (@MW55) October 2, 2016
https://twitter.com/TylerReddick/status/782432501662752769
Selfishly, hard to finish 2nd at any point of the year, in any kind of race car….
But genuinely proud of @TylerReddick & all of @TeamBKR!
— Daniel Hemric (@DanielHemric) October 2, 2016
https://twitter.com/keselowski/status/782407876371415040
Reddick’s victory was the first of the season for BKR, as well as the team’s first mile-and-a-half win, being their ninth overall. As the 149th race the team has participated in, 94 of those were fielded as a multi-truck team, with this one being their first one-two result.
The No. 19 Blue Gate Bank team currently sits 15 points outside the advancement window towards the Round of 6. With Talladega Superspeedway looming as the elimination site, the possible outcomes are endless. Reddick has pledged to 120 percent push Hemric to a superspeedway win. It will either take that or some misfortunes from the fellow Chase rivals to advance.
Tune into the Fred’s 250 powered by Coca-Cola on Saturday Oct. 22 at 1 p.m. ET, live on FOX as the truckers take on Talladega.