Tyler Reddick wins NASCAR truck race in Las Vegas

On Friday afternoon at The Ultimate Fighter gym on Valley View Boulevard, the eight drivers in the inaugural chase for the NASCAR truck series championship survived an introductory workout/photo op with UFC Hall of Famer Forrest Griffin and some of his mixed martial arts pals.

But on Saturday night at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, it was nonchase upstart Tyler Reddick who unleashed a roundhouse kick on the field.

Reddick held off Daniel Hemric in a spirited battle of Brad Keselowski Racing teammates to win the DC Solar 350, Round 2 of the inaugural seven-round playoff-type battle that will decide the truck series championship.

“Unfortunately, I was a spoiler for our teammate,” said the 20-year-old Reddick, who led a race-high 70 of 146 laps en route to his first victory of 2016 and third win in 58 truck series starts. “He was right behind us, and could have gotten locked into the next round,” by winning.

Reddick’s margin of victory was 1.404 seconds.

The two Ford drivers raced side by side at various junctures, and Reddick initially thought Hemric might be upset by the winner’s aggressiveness. But the runner-up said nothing could have been further from the truth. Hemric said it was clean racing all the way to the checkered flag from where he was sitting, as Reddick paced the final 44 laps.

“I’m not mad — we’re racing for the win,” said Hemric, who improved one spot to seventh in the championship heading into the next race at Talladega Superspeedway in Alabama in two weeks, after which the chase field will be trimmed from eight contenders to six.

“He did everything picture perfect, what you are supposed to do in that situation.”

It was a great night for also-rans in the championship. Cole Custer, another nonchaser, finished third, but could not mount a serious challenge to the two Keselowski drivers at the finish.

William Byron, the 18-year-old phenom who drives a Toyota for Las Vegas native Kyle Busch, finished fifth and retained his championship lead. Byron now leads teammate Christopher Bell by 18 points. Ben Kennedy jumped from fourth place to sixth, as there was limited movement among the title contenders.

Reddick also was the star of the first half of the race, charging from 16th starting position to grab the lead before the caution clock went off, bringing out the first yellow flag after 20 minutes and 38 laps of racing.

Pole sitter Timothy Peters led the first 13 laps before being overhauled by Kennedy, who would yield to Reddick before emerging from the mandatory pit stop back in front. Hemric was leading when the caution clock expired for the second time on lap 93 of 146.

There were five leaders and 12 lead changes and only three caution periods for 14 laps in a race that was run in a brisk 1 hour, 34 minutes. Reddick’s average speed was 143.152 mph and easily broke Erik Jones’ track record of 136.709 set in 2014.

Spencer Gallagher, the only Las Vegas driver in the race, ran as high as third during the early laps before falling back and finishing 11th.

Matt Tifft, a 20-year-old driver from Ohio, started 13 and finished 15th — not a bad result for a guy who underwent brain surgery in July to have a benign tumor removed.

Ron Kantowski can be reached at rkantowski@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0352. His motor sports notebook runs on Friday.