BROOKLYN, Michigan (AP) — Tyler Reddick capped an emotional week with his second NASCAR Cup Series victory of the year.

Reddick’s mentor Scott Bloomquist died in a plane crash just three days before his victory on Monday at Michigan International Speedway.

“I can’t help but sit here in Victory Lane and think of Scott Bloomquist,” he said. “A great mentor to me and an incredible role model and legend of dirt racing and motorsports.”

“The last few days have been tough. This really helps him. This victory should be for him, his family and his friends.”

Reddick passed Kyle Larson for the lead in the Cup standings. His win gave him another playoff spot, as he was one of 12 drivers who automatically qualified for the championship with a win.

This means that four places are still available, with races in Daytona and Darlington still to come.

Reddick also won at Talladega four months ago in his No. 45 Toyota for 23XI, the team of Denny Hamlin and Michael Jordan. The Basketball Hall of Famer and former owner of the Charlotte Hornets was in Michigan on Sunday when the race was stopped after 51 laps due to rain.

“This is a fun hobby for him, a fun business,” said Hamlin, who started on the pole and finished ninth in his No. 11 Toyota. “It fills a lot of gaps in competitiveness that he’s lost since he’s no longer been part of the Hornets.”

Martin Truex Jr. spun off the track in the No. 19 Toyota on lap 194, prompting a yellow flag and a restart with six laps to go.

Reddick was in the lead at the first restart and the race went into the second overtime when Ross Chastain, running 11th, was involved in an accident that earned him another caution period.

William Byron led on the second restart, but Reddick passed him for the 26th lead change of the race. Byron finished second in the No. 24 Chevy and Ty Gibbs finished third in the No. 54 Toyota, improving his chances of making the playoffs even if he doesn’t win one of the next two races.

Larson, who was the favorite to win the race according to BetMGM Sportsbook, lost control of the No. 5 Chevrolet on lap 115 and several cars became tangled in the chaos.

A few laps later, Joey Logano brought his damaged No. 22 Ford into the garage and Bubba Wallace’s No. 23 Toyota suffered a blow that slowed the struggling driver’s relative success in the race.

The pileup left Logano in 33rd place, Larson one place behind and Wallace in 26th place. This meant that he slipped from 15th to 17th place in the playoff rankings of the 16-car field.

Austin Dillon finished 17th, a week after destroying Logano and Hamlin on the final lap at Richmond to win, stripping him of his automatic playoff spot as a result of NASCAR’s decision. Dillon’s appeal is scheduled for Wednesday.

Kyle Busch won the second stage, the first for him and Richard Childress Racing this season. Busch became the 19th driver to win a stage in 2024, which set a single-season record, and the sixth to win a stage in every year since NASCAR added the innovation in 2017.

Busch finished fourth.

“That’s how we would run,” he said. “That’s how we want to run.”

Scary sight

Corey LaJoie, driving the No. 7 Chevrolet, was thrown into the air after a collision and slid a good distance on the hood before rolling over on the grass.

“There were sparks, dirt and all kinds of things coming in,” said LaJoie, who was examined and released from the infield care center.

Hamlin said he would rather have an accident like LaJoie than the alternative.

“I’d rather roll over than hit a wall at that speed,” Hamlin said. “We have a pretty safe car.”

Series broken

Ford had won nine consecutive races at Michigan – a track record – until Reddick’s Toyota ended the streak.

Chris Buescher, last year’s winner, finished seventh. Brad Keselowski came sixth for Ford.

Next

The haulers had to travel more than 1,000 miles of highway to transport the cars to Daytona Beach, Florida, where qualifying for Saturday night’s race took place on Friday.

The regular season ends the following week in Darlington.

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AP NASCAR: https://apnews.com/hub/nascar-racing