2021 MENACS O'Reilly Auto Parts 253

#MENACS2021

Mike Joy: We're not done with Daytona yet, race 2 of this season sees us debuting one of our new road courses! This Daytona Road Course is most known for the Rolex 24, and NASCAR is gonna give it a try! It's going to be a unique and difficult challenge for these drivers, who's gonna take home victory?

Race Details

Track: 3.570 Mile Road Course

Race Length: 70 Laps/252.7 Miles

Stages: 16/18/36

Fuel Window: 20-25 Laps

Tire Wear: High

Race Start: 3:00 PM

Weather: 65° Cloudy Skies

Chance of Rain: 40%

Starting Lineup

Row 1: Tyler Reddick/Ty Gibbs (R)

Row 2: Shane Van Gisbergen/Kyle Larson

Row 3: Brad Keselowski/Kyle Busch

Row 4: Kevin Harvick/Jimmie Johnson

Row 5: William Byron/Todd Gilliland

Row 6: Kurt Busch/Kimi Raikkonen (R)

Row 7: Ty Majeski/Justin Haley (R)

Row 8: Chase Elliott/Christopher Bell

Row 9: Myatt Snider (R)/Anthony Alfredo

Row 10: Noah Gragson/Joey Logano

Row 11: Ryan Blaney/Juan Pablo Montoya

Row 12: Denny Hamlin/Martin Truex Jr

Row 13: Harrison Burton/Matt DiBenedetto

Row 14: Colten Herta (R)/Chris Buescher

Row 15: Austin Cindric/Christian Eckes

Row 16: Bubba Wallace/Justin Allgaier

Row 17: Chase Briscoe/Gracie Trotter (R)

Row 18: John Hunter Nemechek (R)/Matt Kenseth

Row 19: Ross Chastain/Ty Dillon

Row 20: Quin Houff/Cole Custer

Row 21: Alex Bowman/Andy Lally

Row 22: Jenson Button

DNQ: Pedro Acosta (R), Mick Schumacher (R), Hailie Deegan (R), Erik Jones, Scott McLaughlin (R), Casey Atwood

1/70

The inaugural Daytona Road Course race is underway! Tyler Reddick from pole leads into turn 1, side-by-side with Ty Gibbs and Reddick makes the on the 54 to keep the lead! Gibbs drops back to 2nd and follows Reddick through the infield portion of this racetrack. Into turn 3, Reddick leads Gibbs, Shane Van Gisbergen, Kyle Larson, and there's trouble as William Byron sends it in on Kevin Harvick and takes himself and the 4 out! Big trouble for both as they tumble down the order. Reddick leads through the dogleg and the West Horseshoe, Gibbs sits about 3 car lengths back. The top 3 are pulling a gap to Kyle Larson already as Reddick brings the field back onto the oval part of the course, Gibbs will get a great draft down the backstretch but he's unable to make a move into this chicane. Tyler Reddick completes the course through oval turns 3 and 4 and the frontstretch chicane to lead the first lap!

2/70

Kimi Raikkonen dives to the inside of Kurt Busch into turn 3, he's gonna push Busch wide on corner exit and he'll take the 9th spot away from the 45. Raikkonen is making his season debut, looking for a trophy.

3/70

Ty Gibbs has been making life difficult for Tyler Reddick and he's gonna go for the lead into turn 1! Side-by-side between a pair of like-named drivers and Gibbs takes the spot away! Ty really likes these road courses and thinks he could win today.

5/70

Todd Gilliland wants to take 7th place from Jimmie Johnson, these 2 battled for the championship last year and Jimmie isn't letting Gilliland take it easy as they're side-by-side coming back onto the oval! It'll be a drag race down the backstretch, the Roush power prevails and Gilliland takes the position.

8/70

Kyle Busch, Brad Keselowski battling for a spot inside the top 5 and Busch is gonna move past the 2 to take 5th away down into turn 5. These guys have put on many great road course battles over the years.

10/70

Trouble for Joey Logano, he goes around coming off the frontstretch chicane! Big problems for the 2018 champion and he falls back.

14/70

Tyler Reddick has chased Ty Gibbs back down on this longer run, and Reddick makes his move into turn 6 to take the spot away! These 2 have been the class of the field so far.

16/70

Here comes Tyler Reddick out of the final chicane, he wins Stage 1 here at the Daytona Road Course!

Stage 1 Results

1 - Tyler Reddick

2 - Ty Gibbs (R)

3 - Shane Van Gisbergen

4 - Kyle Larson

5 - Kyle Busch

6 - Brad Keselowski

7 - Todd Gilliland

8 - Jimmie Johnson

9 - Kimi Raikkonen (R)

10 - Kurt Busch

18/70 -> Caution

Here comes Tyler Reddick and the rest of the field for pit stops! It's gonna be 4 tires and a tank full of fuel for everybody and Reddick uses that first pit stall to win the race off pit road easily.

Race Off Pit Road

1 - Tyler Reddick

2 - Ty Gibbs (R)

3 - Kyle Larson (+1)

4 - Shane Van Gisbergen (-1)

5 - Kyle Busch

6 - Brad Keselowski

7 - Todd Gilliland

8 - Jimmie Johnson

9 - Kimi Raikkonen (R)

10 - Kurt Busch

20/70

Tyler Reddick leads the field again and Stage 2 is underway! Reddick gets a great launch over Ty Gibbs and clears the 54 into turn 1, Kyle Larson now challenging the 54 for 2nd as the top 4 are already starting to pull away.

23/70

Trouble for Bubba Wallace, he goes around off of turn 3 and slides into the grass. It's been a difficult tenure at Furniture Row for the driver of the 87 and he's not off to a great start here.

25/70

Kyle Larson makes his move for 2nd! He gets to the inside of Ty Gibbs entering the frontstretch chicane, and he'll muscle his way past into the position.

29/70

Kurt Busch goes to retake 9th from Kimi Raikkonen and he'll do just that into turn 1! Kurt hasn't been a fan of this track so far this weekend but he sure is making the most of it.

30/70

Shane Van Gisbergen goes for 3rd on Ty Gibbs, he'll make the on the 18 year old and take the spot away. Shane is gonna be very delighted with how many road courses there are on this schedule, seeing many opportunities to find wins.

32/70

Kurt Busch is now searching for 8th on Jimmie Johnson! Busch has found something very quick on this long run and he'll make the on the 7 time champion.

34/70

Here comes Tyler Reddick, he has been dominant today here at Daytona and he sweeps the stages on the road course!

Stage 2 Results

1 - Tyler Reddick

2 - Kyle Larson

3 - Shane Van Gisbergen

4 - Ty Gibbs (R)

5 - Kyle Busch

6 - Brad Keselowski

7 - Todd Gilliland

8 - Kurt Busch

9 - Jimmie Johnson

10 - Kimi Raikkonen (R)

36/70 -> Caution

Back into the pits they come, it's been pretty much all Tyler Reddick today as he gets 4 tires and fuel to keep the lead ahead of Kyle Larson.

Race Off Pit Road

1 - Tyler Reddick

2 - Kyle Larson

3 - Shane Van Gisbergen

4 - Ty Gibbs (R)

5 - Kyle Busch

6 - Brad Keselowski

7 - Todd Gilliland

8 - Kimi Raikkonen (R) (+2)

9 - Kurt Busch (-1)

10 - Jimmie Johnson (-1)

38/70

33 laps to go, one more stage and we're green again! Tyler Reddick leads into turn 1 but here comes Kyle Larson around the outside to take the lead! Larson moves ahead of Reddick as Ryan Blaney and Martin Truex Jr both go around behind them! It's a scatter in the middle of the field as Larson leads the way.

40/70

Ty Gibbs sees an opportunity to get past Shane Van Gisbergen into the backstretch chicane and he'll take that opportunity and gain a place!

43/70

Brad Keselowski wants 5th back from Kyle Busch, he's gonna take the spot away into turn 1 and move ahead of the 18 car.

45/70

Kyle Busch is starting to trend backwards, Todd Gilliland is gonna get past into the backstretch chicane and move up into 6th.

49/70

Spinner, Anthony Alfredo goes off of turn 3 and slides into the grass and taps the barriers. He was 17th at the time but that'll ruin a great run after experiencing that wild flip last race.

51/70

Another spin, Austin Cindric goes around and taps the wall with the rear of his car exiting the frontstretch chicane. It has been a disappointing weekend for a driver that has been really good on road courses.

54/70

We have pit stops! Tyler Reddick dives onto pit road and brings Ty Gibbs and more with him! It's gonna be 4 tires and fuel to make it to the end, Reddick is looking for the undercut!

55/70

John Hunter Nemechek goes around off of turn 5, he manages to do a really quick 360 and get back going but drops from 27th to 31st.

56/70

Kyle Larson and the rest of the leaders pit, this is huge for the development of this race! 4 tires and fuel for Larson, he exits the pits but he's jumped by Tyler Reddick! Incredible sequence for RCR to get their man back out front!

58/70

Shane Van Gisbergen has a problem, a big problem, he's slow on the backstretch and he's reporting he's down a cylinder! He's gonna have to limp around for 13 more laps to try and salvage some sort of finishing position.

61/70

Kimi Raikkonen puts the bumper to Kyle Busch into turn 1 and he's spins the 18 out! Busch goes around but he had a big gap to 8th that prevents him from losing any more spots.

63/70

Jimmie Johnson is contesting Kurt Busch for 8th, he moves the 45 out of the way into turn 3 and takes the spot away! Couple of multi time champions have been battling it out all day.

65/70

Rookie Justin Haley is looking for a spot on Ty Majeski, a top 10 is on the line and Haley moves past the 16 to take 10th away! RCR has themselves a powerful duo if Haley keeps this type of performance up.

67/70

Shane Van Gisbergen has dropped to 20th with his engine problems, and there's another 6 cars behind him that are gaining quickly. What a heartbreaking result after running inside the top 4 all day long.

70/70

Final lap at the Daytona Road Course, Tyler Reddick leads but Kyle Larson is gaining in a hurry! Reddick makes his way through turn 1 as Larson is pushing hard, the gap is 7 tenths as they charge through turn 2 and down to turn 3. Reddick continues to lose time to Larson as Kyle gets sideways off the International Horseshoe! Larson nearly lost it but he's still charging down towards the Western Horseshoe. The gap sits at 6 tenths, Reddick makes his way through turns 6 and back onto the oval, but Larson is gonna gain another couple tenths with that Roush engine power! Into the chicane, Larson takes a tighter line and gains more, the gap is 3 tenths! Through oval 3 and 4, it's gonna be close as they head towards the final chicane! Larson sends it deep, he hits Reddick and they both go around! Reddick gets it back going first, he wins at the Daytona Road Course!

O'Reilly Auto Parts 253 Results

1 - Tyler Reddick (41 Laps Led/Swept Stages)

2 - Kyle Larson (18 Laps Led)

3 - Ty Gibbs (R)(11 Laps Led)

4 - Brad Keselowski

5 - Todd Gilliland

6 - Kimi Raikkonen (R)

7 - Kyle Busch

8 - Jimmie Johnson

9 - Kurt Busch

10 - Justin Haley (R)

11 - Ty Majeski

12 - Juan Pablo Montoya

13 - Matt DiBenedetto

14 - William Byron

15 - Christopher Bell

16 - Kevin Harvick

17 - Myatt Snider (R)

18 - Noah Gragson

19 - Chase Elliott

20 - Denny Hamlin

21 - Chris Buescher

22 - Harrison Burton

23 - Martin Truex Jr

24 - Matt Kenseth

25 - Colten Herta (R)

26 - Shane Van Gisbergen

27 - Joey Logano

28 - Ryan Blaney

29 - Gracie Trotter (R)

30 - John Hunter Nemechek (R)

31 - Anthony Alfredo

32 - Justin Allgaier

33 - Chase Briscoe

34 - Austin Cindric

35 - Ross Chastain

36 - Christian Eckes

37 - Ty Dillon

38 - Quin Houff

39 - Bubba Wallace

40 - Jenson Button (-1)

41 - Cole Custer (-1)

42 - Andy Lally (-2)

43 - Alex Bowman (-2)