Reddick rolls car in opening race of playoff semis

LAS VEGAS — NASCAR regular-season champion Tyler Reddick rolled his car early during Sunday’s playoff race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

Reddick, who had just won the first stage of the opening race of the semifinal round of the playoffs, was involved in a multicar wreck moments after the start of the second stage. The Toyota from 23XI Racing made contact with Chase Elliott, another title contender.

“You’ve just got to be aggressive on restarts; I just had a split second to make a decision,” Reddick said. “By the time I realized I was in trouble, it was too late. There was nowhere really to go. Be a little conservative, that’s what we needed to do. We’ll learn from it.”

Reddick was attempting to gain on-track position and misjudged how much room he had.

“I thought the hole was there; it wasn’t. It closed so quickly,” Reddick said on his radio.

The crash also collected reigning Cup Series champion Ryan Blaney, who had driven from last in the field into the top 20 after a crash in Saturday practice prevented him from making a qualifying lap.

Blaney and Elliott were able to continue, but the crash ended Reddick’s race. Blaney finished 32nd, Elliott was 33rd and Reddick was 35th.

Joey Logano ended up taking the checkered flag, becoming the first drive to clinch a spot in the championship finale.

The playoff field has been cut to eight drivers for the next three races. Four will race for the Cup title in next month’s season finale at Phoenix Raceway.

The Associated Press contributed to this story.