Tyler Reddick celebrates in Victory Lane at Homestead-Miami.

The Homestead high rider punched his ticket to Phoenix. (Photo: Sean Gardner | Getty Images)

HOMESTEAD, Fla. — Tyler Reddick used the high line at Homestead-Miami Speedway to sail around Ryan Blaney on the last lap to win a thriller in the Straight Talk Wireless 400, with the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series Regular Season Champion clinching a spot in the Championship 4.

Reddick was dominant all weekend as the driver of the No. 45 The Beast Killer Sunrise Toyota was fastest in practice, started on pole and led the most laps (97) en route to his third Cup Series victory of the 2024 season. In doing so, Reddick also became the first driver since William Byron at COTA in 2023 to win from pole position.

Heading into the final lap, Reddick was third, racing behind 23XI Racing team co-owner Denny Hamlin and defending Cup Series champion Ryan Blaney.

Tyler Reddick's race-winning move

“I can’t walk you through the last few laps., but my emotions were all over the place,” Reddick said. “Yeah, when we went long, I didn’t know how that was going to play out. I was worried that caution wasn’t going to come. We pit, lose a lap. Oh, damn. We get back on the lead lap. I was not expecting it, right? Nick (Payne, spotter) says caution. Great, we’re at the back, whatever else. It was like, ‘Yeah, we’re going to stay out.’ I was like, ‘Oh, snap, we’re going to stay out?’ We’re going to figure this out. Yeah, turn one went about as good as I thought it could have went.

“Going into one, I made the right guess. I got the bottom. I got clean air. I got up in front of the 11 (Hamlin). I had a good run on the 12 (Blaney). I was just blown away that I had that kind of momentum going into turn three. I thought there was no way the 12 was going to leave, Blaney, was going to leave me the outside. He must have thought that I was just going to absolutely dive-bomb it off in there to try to get around him. Once I saw him kind of shade down, I hit the gas and forgot about everything else. Came out on the other side in the lead. It was just crazy.”

It was heartbreaking for Blaney’s No. 12 team, which now faces a near-must-win situation heading into the Martinsville elimination race next week. Blaney led 47 laps and scored a much-needed 48 points to help his team inch closer to the cut line.

“I had a good shot to win it and I didn’t have a very good last lap,” Blaney said. “I thought I got into three hard and the 45 just went in there and it stuck for him, which is really impressive. I hate to give one away there like that. I don’t know if we gave it away. We got the lead back after losing it on the restart and just that last lap didn’t play out for us. I appreciate everybody on the 12 team for bringing a really fast race car. I had a really great shot to go to Phoenix and I still have one more chance, so we still have to look forward to that.”

Third-place finisher Hamlin won Stage 2 and shares the same feelings as Blaney. Both drivers set themselves up perfectly heading into the final lap but came up short behind Reddick.

“Well, I’m not really sure,” Hamlin said when asked about what more he could have done. “Tried to cover all lanes, but just couldn’t quite get off the corner as good as I needed to there on that short run. Short run wasn’t my specialty all day, obviously.  Either way, controlling the race with two to go, you got to try to find a way to finish it. Just didn’t.”

Results from the 2024 Straight Talk Wireless 400 are listed below:

2024 Straight Talk Wireless 400 results.

Other Race Facts

Tyler Reddick’s lap time on the final lap was 33.379, Ryan Blaney’s was 33.906 and Denny Hamlin’s was 34.110. This shows that the driver of the No. 45 Toyota was over half a second faster than his competitors on Lap 267 despite being on older tires after going from third to first.

The 33 lead changes that occurred during the Straight Talk Wireless 400 are the most ever in a NASCAR Cup Series race at Homestead-Miami Speedway. 11 drivers led at least one lap.

Christopher Bell has quietly been on a tear lately. By finishing fourth, this was now his sixth straight top-seven finish and his ninth in the last 10 races.

Heading into the final race in the Round of 8 in the Cup Series Playoffs, here is how the standings shape up:

Playoff Standings

GRID Ranking

The 2024 GRID Ranking is the eighth year of the world’s premier motorsport ranking and was initially released on Sunday, April 7.

The official ranking includes drivers that participate in seven racing series (NASCAR, IndyCar, Formula 1, Formula E, World Rally Championship, Repco Supercars, MotoGP), and each driver earns GRID Ratings, which help determine their seeding in the GRID Ranking.

DRIVER OLD RATING PREVIOUS RANKING MOST RECENT FINISH NEW RATING NEW RANKING
Christopher Bell 11.13 23rd 4th 11.31 21st
Kyle Larson 11.21 21st 13th 10.88 24th
William Byron 10.52 26th 6th 10.55 27th
Tyler Reddick 9.47 28th 1st 10.25 28th
Denny Hamlin 8.47 33rd 3rd 8.85 33rd
Week 30 of the GRID Ranking:

GRID Ranking

After Week 30 of the GRID Ranking, NASCAR has a new leader in its GRID Rating. As Christopher Bell continues to consistently finish inside the top seven, he has now passed Kyle Larson with two races to go in the 2024 NASCAR season. Although none of these drivers will finish inside the top 15 of the overall GRID Ranking, there is a fight for who will come out on top of the NASCAR GRID Rating.
The next race on the NASCAR Cup Series schedule is the Xfinity 500 at Martinsville Speedway on Sunday, Nov. 3. Coverage will begin at 2 p.m. ET on NBC.