CUP: Tyler Reddick’s summer to forget continues after Lap 4 crash collects Erik Jones
by Brock Beard / LASTCAR.info Editor-in-Chief
SCREENSHOT: NASCAR on USA
Tyler Reddick picked up the 3rd last-place finish of his NASCAR Cup Series career in Sunday’s Iowa Corn 350 Powered by Ethanol at the Iowa Speedway when his #45 SupplyHouse Toyota crashed after 3 of 350 laps.
The finish, which came in Reddick’s 241st start, was his second of the season and first in a Cup Series race since June 28, 2026 at Sears Point, five races ago. In the Cup Series’ last-place rankings, it was the 26th for the #45, the 206th for Toyota, and the 713th from a crash. Across NASCAR’s top three series, it was the 51t for the #45, the 441st for Toyota, and the 1,470th from a crash.
Reddick arrived at Iowa during what has been a complete reversal of fortune for the Daytona 500 winner. After scoring the first three wins of the season and holding a comfortable point lead for most of this year, a series of poor finishes starting with a crash at Michigan have seen that lead evaporate, the spot now held by 23XI Racing co-owner Denny Hamlin. That lead changed after mechanical issues in the early laps at Sears Point cost Reddick four laps in a road course race without any attrition. Debris punctured his radiator in Chicagoland, and a spin on the backstretch at North Wilkesboro continued the difficult stretch, a streak somewhat soothed by a 10th-place finish at Indianapolis heading into the off-week.
The Iowa race marked just the third time all year that only the 36 Chartered entries arrived in the garage area. In opening practice, he ranked 17th with a speed of 24.041 seconds (131.026mph). His was the 32nd car on track for qualifying, where he jumped to 5th on the starting grid with a speed of 23.523 seconds (133.911mph), just 0.049 second off Ryan Blaney’s pole. Reddick had run the black-and-white SupplyHouse scheme twice before this season and ran well each time, winning from the pole at Kansas and finishing 2nd in Pocono.
Securing the 36th and final starting spot was Cole Custer, whose Haas Factory Team had just that weekend asserted their commitment to remain in NASCAR by expanding their O’Reilly program to a third team with Sam Hun Racing driver Dean Thompson. Custer’s #41 HaasTooling.com Chevrolet turned in the slowest overall lap of 24.004 seconds (131.228mph), but was just 0.530 second off the pole.
Three drivers joined Custer at the tail end of the field for pre-race penalties. First among them was Chase Elliott, who spun his #9 NAPA Auto Parts Chevrolet in practice and made contact with the wall with the left-rear. Elliott’s team completed repairs in time for qualifying, where he ranked just 32nd, and unapproved adjustments dropped him to the rear. Next was Brad Keselowski, who qualified a strong 4th on his first lap, only to spin his #6 Trimble Ford in Turn 1 and hit the wall. The damage wasn’t quite enough to go to a backup car, so the RFK Racing team made repairs in time for Sunday. Denny Hamlin qualified just 29th in his #11 Progressive Insurance Toyota and ended up surrendering the other spots after changing the cooling unit on race morning.
During the pace laps, both Hamlin and Keselowski dropped to the rear of the field, but Elliott remained on the outside of Row 16 alongside Ty Dillon’s #10 Sea Best Chevrolet as the leaders addressed the starter’s stand. Elliott later said he was talking with his crew and couldn’t hear his spotter telling him to drop back behind the penalized Keselowski. Elliott also believed he had a radio issue and discussed swapping it out under caution. Coming off Turn 4, Elliott pulled to the outside line, letting Dillon pull ahead along with Daniel Suarez in the #7 Cal Ripken Sr. Foundation Chevrolet, Cody Ware in the #51 Costa Oil Filters Chevrolet on the outside of Ryan Preece in the #60 Kroger / Force Factor Ford with Custer’s #41 behind Ware, then finally the penalized Hamlin and Keselowski, dropping him to last place.
Elliott’s check-up cost him open track to the field, but he quickly made up the ground by the entrance to Turn 3. Heading into Turn 1 on Lap 2, Custer slid up the track and Ware tried to move to the low lane, getting loose on the inside lane, the pair now in a battle for the 34th spot. By Turn 3, Elliott got under Ware for the 35th spot, then cleared him heading into Turns 1 and 2 on Lap 3, dropping Ware to last place, 5.007 seconds back of the lead. Ware remained in 36th at the start of Lap 4, when trouble broke out among the leaders.
As the leaders sped through Turns 1 and 2, Tyler Reddick was taking the 7th spot from Erik Jones, the fastest driver in practice, who ran to his outside in the #43 Dollar Tree Toyota. As Reddick secured his spot in the inside lane ahead of Ross Chastain in the #1 Busch Light Farming Chevrolet, the rear of Reddick’s car stepped out, and he snapped loose, jumping sideways into the door of Jones’ #43. The two collided, steering Reddick nearly head-on into the outside wall and trapping Jones behind. Under caution, Jones got his engine re-fired and tried to make it to pit road, only to spin on the apron of Turn 4. He then re-fired his engine and drove in reverse back to pit road, crossing the stripe on Lap 7 as he pulled behind the wall between Stalls 23 and 24, putting him one lap ahead of Reddick. Reddick tried to re-fire his own engine, rolling down the banking as he did, but he shut it off again due to a loss of oil pressure. He was hooked up to a tow truck and pulled behind the wall through an opening past the exit of Turn 2.
In the infield, both Jones’ and Reddick’s cars were parked nose-to-tail in the “Damaged Vehicle Policy” Zone. Reddick’s crew believed they were done, but decided to take off some of the front bodywork to see what was causing the loss of oil pressure. If it was the oil cooler, they were done, but if it was only a crimped oil line, they could make repairs and return to the track. But the crew discovered a hole in the radiator, and on Lap 9 said they were done for the afternoon. Jones’ crew had removed both right side wheels, but soon discovered they were unable to return. On Lap 11, both Reddick’s and Jones’ on-board cameras were shut off, and NASCAR declared them out on Lap 13.
On Lap 148, a logjam off Turn 4 trapped Kyle Larson’s #5 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet against the outside wall as teammate Alex Bowman’s #48 Ally Chevrolet crossed his nose and hit the wall. Bowman fell out with crash damage short of the end of Stage 2. Larson finished the race after at least one trip to the garage area, ultimately crossing the stripe 18 laps down. Ware completed the Bottom Five, the last of three cars classified three laps down behind Carson Hocevar and Shane Van Gisbergen.
Berry, Allmendinger, Dillon, and Zilisch earn strong runs
Despite how challenging it was for anyone to pass during Sunday’s race, Josh Berry walked away with his best run of the 2026 season, taking home 4th in his #21 Menards / Master Force Tools Ford. This was Berry’s second-straight top-ten finish following his 7th-place showing at Indianapolis that improved on his season-best 9th in the Daytona 500.
Behind Berry in 8th came the #16 Campers Inn RV Chevrolet of A.J. Allmendinger, the inaugural Iowa last-place finisher from 2024, who earned his best finish on an oval in 2026 and his first top-ten finish since his 5th in San Diego. Austin Dillon took 10th in his #3 Chevrolet for only his third top-ten run of the season and first since last month in Atlanta, giving him momentum into his best track by far next Sunday in Richmond. Right behind Dillon came Connor Zilisch, whose #88 Roto-Rooter Chevrolet earned a stage point at the end of Stage 2 and finished 11th, his second-best run of the year behind his 7th in Sears Point.
LASTCAR STATISTICS
*This marked the first last-place finish for the #45 in a Cup Series race at Iowa.
*The three laps completed set a new record for fewest laps completed by a Cup driver at Iowa. The previous two runnings saw A.J. Allmendinger turn 54 laps and Joey Gase run 340.
THE BOTTOM FIVE
36) #45-Tyler Reddick / 3 laps / crash
35) #43-Erik Jones / 4 laps / crash
34) #48-Alex Bowman / 194 laps / crash
33) #5-Kyle Larson / 332 laps / running
32) #51-Cody Ware / 347 laps / running
2026 LASTCAR CUP SERIES OWNER’S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) Trackhouse Racing (5)
2nd) Joe Gibbs Racing (4)
3rd) Hendrick Motorsports (3)
4th) 23XI Racing, Kaulig Racing, Live Fast Motorsports (2)
5th) Garage 66, RFK Racing, Rick Ware Racing, Wood Brothers Racing (1)
2026 LASTCAR CUP SERIES MANUFACTURER’S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) Chevrolet (13)
2nd) Toyota (5)
3rd) Ford (4)
2026 LASTCAR CUP SERIES DRIVER’S CHAMPIONSHIP
