Tyler Reddick’s late-race call at NASCAR’s Anduril 250 at Naval Base Coronado drew a sharp reaction from Kevin Harvick. The former Cup champion questioned why the 23XI Racing driver chose to back off after contact with teammate Corey Heim while battling for the win in the closing laps.
The incident unfolded after Heim had spent nearly 10 laps shadowing Reddick. By Lap 70, the gap was consistently less than a second, as the pressure built. With three laps to go, Heim closed rapidly and attacked into Turn 2. Reddick got loose under braking, opening the door. Heim took the lead, but the fight was not over.
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Reddick responded immediately. He dived back to the inside and made contact, pushing Heim toward the wall exiting the next corner. Heim brushed the barrier but held position. The two remained side-by-side, but instead of continuing the fight, Reddick lifted significantly, allowing Heim to gather the car and keep the lead.
Speaking on his Happy Hour podcast, Kevin Harvick did not hold back (20:04 onwards):
“I honestly hated it. Hated everything about it. I think Tyler was racing hard, got loose, got into his door. That’s part of it. He’s not going to drive into the wall if he lets off, and if he catches you again. But I could never imagine standing on the brakes and letting somebody gather it up, when we’re four laps from the finish.”
“I just don’t get it. I sat up on the couch. I was laying there watching the race and I sat up and was like, ‘What in the f**k just happened,” Harvick added his immediate reaction.
In Harvick’s view, hard racing late in a race naturally involves contact, and the expectation is to keep fighting rather than reset the battle. He acknowledged that if Tyler Reddick felt he crossed a line, giving the position back later is acceptable. But lifting in the moment neutralizes the fight.
“Now, if you wreck, that’s a different scenario. I think if the 67 (Heim) catches me again, I let him go. I know I owe him one at that point. But letting him out of the fricking throttle and just watching him… I mean he all but stopped. I see the nice guy side of it, but I’m a winner. I know how hard these races are to win… We’re talking four laps to go. I don’t get it. Doesn’t make any sense,” he continued (20:59 onwards)
That decision proved costly. Moments after regaining the lead, Corey Heim pulled clear, while Tyler Reddick suffered a left-front tire failure entering Turn 5. The issue dropped him down the order to a 25th-place finish, turning what looked like a race win into a major setback.
Denny Hamlin praises Tyler Reddick’s ‘character’ despite loss
While Kevin Harvick criticized the move, 23XI Racing co-owner Denny Hamlin took the opposite stance. From his perspective, the decision reflected Tyler Reddick’s racing standards rather than a mistake.
At one stage on Lap 66, all four 23XI entries were running inside the top five. By the finish, the team still placed three cars in the top 10, with Heim winning, Bubba Wallace finishing second, and Riley Herbst eighth. Reddick, however, paid the price for the late-race sequence.
Hamlin explained his view post-race:
“Well, I think it speaks a lot to Tyler’s character, right? Apparently he felt like Corey raced him very clean, got around him clean. When he tried to pass him back clean, he didn’t, so he wanted to hit the reset button and try it again.”
“So, I’m very proud of that, ’cause it’s very easy when you’re racing for the win to just say, I’ll say I’m sorry later. But it speaks a lot to the character of Tyler Reddick,” he added.
Tyler Reddick himself accepted full responsibility for how the battle unfolded. He admitted that the contact was his doing and that Corey Heim had raced him fairly throughout the exchange.
The result has broader implications. Just a month ago, Reddick held a 129-point lead in the standings. After a string of poor finishes, including Coronado, that margin has now dropped to single digits with nine races left in the regular season.
Edited by Anurup Chakraborty
