On the fourth lap of the Iowa Corn 300 at Iowa Speedway, Tyler Reddick lost control into turn four and took out Erik Jones of Legacy Motorsports Sunday afternoon.
In doing so, Reddick ended both Toyota drivers’ races, as he fell from second in the points standings from the infield, and Jones was dealt his last available bad finish if he hopes to make the 2026 Playoff Chase.
Following the crash, Reddick was quick to say that he was remorseful that his mistake ended Jones’ run.
“I hate it for my team and Erik Jones and everyone at Legacy,” Reddick told NASCAR on USA. “They needed a strong day. If I took myself out, that’s one thing, but to take out a Toyota teammate.”
Reddick was running the bottom line in seventh at the time of his mistake, and as he checked up the track, he collected Jones with nowhere to go.
When asked by The Athletic’s Jeff Gluck if the playoffs were still within reach for Jones, who fell from 17th to 18th in Cup’s last race weekend at Indianapolis, he answered that the team could reasonably only bounce back from one more ‘bad week’.
“One more bad week, or if we lose any more ground it’s going to be pretty insurmountable,” Jones said. “We need to have a good weekend; that’s a tall hill for us here. Not to sugarcoat it. We’ll just have to see; hopefully it’s a good one, and we can stay in it, but I think it’s pretty much one more week.
As the race runs, Reddick is in danger of falling as low as 4th in the standings with Ryan Blaney, who entered the race in third, leading the entire first stage, passing him for second position, and Ty Gibbs, currently fourth in the standings, finishing stage one fourth, collecting stage points early and closing the gap.
Victoria Beaver is a nomadic sports writer who spends her time hopping between race tracks and hippie farms. She’s covered every corner of motorsports that will let her in from 410 Sprints to NASCAR to Supercross. Her daily driver is a 2010 Subaru that she refused to do the smallest amount of preventative maintenance on. Instead, she spends her free time and money building a 42-foot Skoolie to one day travel the country full time.