Tyler Reddick had a bad battery and a bad fast race car, and the latter won out in Darlington.
Reddick passed Brad Keselowski with less than 30 laps to go to win the Goodyear 400NASCAR Cup Series race on March 22 at Darlington Raceway.
Reddick sat on the pole, battled battery and alternator issues all day and managed to work a different tire strategy to his advantage in the final 100 laps.
Keselowski led 142 of 295 laps in what was his strongest performance in a couple seasons.
But no one could contend with Reddick’s speed all day — as long as his battery held up.
Reddick earned his fourth victory in six races over the early stretch of this season.
Here are the winners and losers from the NASCAR Darlington race:
NASCAR Darlington winners and losers as Tyler Reddick battles battery issues to win
Winner: Tyler Reddick’s race recovery
Tyler Reddick had a fast car, a bad alternator and a very hot 400 miles inside the car.
Reddick reported low voltage on his car battery early in the first run, and the No. 45 team evaluated the issue after the first stage. The problem was with the alternator, and a quick fix was not available even if the team could manage it throughout the 400-mile race. Many driver aids, including cooling fans and use of Reddick’s cool suit, were turned off on a day with temperatures in the 80s.
Reddick restarted the second stage at the rear of the field and had to navigate the full field back into the top 10.
Crew chief Billy Scott stuck to his strategy anyway later in the race, keeping Reddick out a few laps longer than the other leaders to provide a tire edge with the best car on the track. It meant more cars to pass, but kept Reddick on the front foot with better tires and the faster car.
It paid off after the final stop, with Reddick chasing down Brad Keselowski with 29 laps to go and passing him for the lead.
By the end, Reddick, bad alternator and all, won by 5.8 seconds for his fourth win of the season.
Winner: Brad Keselowski
NASCAR did not market this spring’s Darlington race as a formal throwback event, though some teams did produce some throwback schemes.
One of those teams was RFK Racing, who honored the late Greg Biffle among its three cars with car numbers designed like Biffle’s old No. 16.
It was also a throwback race for Brad Keselowski, who led a race-high 142 laps before settling for a second-place finish. He also swept the stage wins, maximizing on points throughout the day.
RFK Racing was always going to benefit most from the Chase format, and that’s proving true through six weeks.
Honorable mention winners: Spire Motorsports had two cars finish inside the top 10, with Carson Hocevar (4th) and Daniel Suarez (7th). The pair were the two highest-finishing Chevrolets.
Loser: Joey Logano
Rare is the race in which Joey Logano and crew chief Paul Wolfe are non-competitive for the full distance.
But Logano was among the worst cars all day, starting with the first run in which he was lapped by leader Tyler Reddick before the first round of green-flag pit stops. Logano never returned to the lead lap, finishing 33rd and three laps down.
While the No. 22 suffered through the warm South Carolina air, Austin Cindric and Ryan Blaney were fast all day. Blaney had a couple pit road errors again this week but managed a third-place finish, while Cindric finished in 5th.
It’s been a weird start to 2026 for Logano, which has included a third-place finish at the Daytona 500, a few middling finishes, the DNF at Phoenix and a long day at Darlington.
Loser: The other 23XI Racing drivers
Bubba Wallace and Riley Herbst did not earn finishes respective to the speed of their race cars after issues throughout the race.
Wallace had a poor stop following a fourth-place finish in Stage 1, with the No. 23 team needing to stop again for a loose wheel.
And while being back in the pack, Wallace was collected in an incident involving Erik Jones and Denny Hamlin outside the top 10.
Wallace’s No. 23 Toyota suffered damage to the steering and toe link and never recovered for 34th-place run.
Herbst was running inside the top 20 before spinning (after contact with Connor Zilisch) with 100 laps to go and making contact with the inside wall. He too never recovered from the steering damage, finishing 35th.
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: NASCAR Darlington winners, losers as Tyler Reddick battles battery issue for 4th win
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