(Jonathan Moore/NASCAR photo)
Though Hemric chased his teammate for the final 36 circuits after reclaiming second from Custer, closing the gap down to three-quarters of a second at one point, he had no answer for Reddick’s performance in the end.
“I’m really proud of everyone on this team. We fought hard,” Hemric said. “Tyler was good and clean air is always king on these mile-and-a-halfs. I probably raced a little too hard there with the No.00 (Custer). I hurt the right front tire a little too much and I thought if I could cool it off that I could make a charge at it, but the truck just lost all the right front turn it had.”
“I tried to run the top one lap and lost about a half of a second or so, and at that point I went back to running the bottom there and just started hoping he would come off the white line a little earlier than I could so I could make a little gain. All in all, it just wasn’t quite enough tonight, but ultimately I am so proud of everybody at Brad Keselowski Racing on the performance by both trucks in the race. It’s a big night for us all.”
With Hemric entering Sin City 20 points outside the Chase cutoff line and needing a win to secure his place in the Round of 6, Reddick’s overall performance was both a blessing and a curse to BKR – despite the team’s first-ever one-two finish in the Truck Series.
Hemric leaves Las Vegas seventh in points, 15 back of the transfer position, and will head to Talladega Superspeedway’s elimination race in three weeks’ time in a virtual must-win situation.
However, Reddick said after the race he is prepared to help his teammate advance to the next round at the Alabama superspeedway, “whatever it takes.”
“I can promise you that if there should be anybody behind the No.19 pushing him to victory at Talladega, I’m definitely going to be helping him, 120 percent,” Reddick said emphatically. “I’m going to be on his back bumper pushing him to make sure he’s in the Chase and gets a win at Talladega. That’s our goal going in there.”
“I know we want to win, but we really need to make sure that No. 19 is locked into the next round for sure, so that’s what we’re going to do our best to help them do.”
Custer came home third for JR Motorsports, followed by Kennedy and points leader William Byron.
Christopher Bell rallied from losing third gear on a lap 44 restart to finish sixth.
The NASCAR Camping World Truck Series returns to action on Oct. 22 with the final race in the opening round of the Chase, the Fred’s 250 powered by Coca-Cola from Talladega Superspeedway.
