Tyler Reddick sees points gap to Denny Hamlin grow after radiator issue at Chicagoland

For the second straight week, Tyler Reddick did nothing wrong but finished poorly after mechanical issues ruined his race. 

On June 28 at Sonoma, it was power-steering issues that relegated Reddick to a 36th-place finish. Sunday at Chicagoland, it was a piece of debris flying into the radiator of his No. 45 23XI Racing Toyota that did him in and sent him to the garage. 

While Reddick was able to get back on track, he finished 36th again and saw Denny Hamlin extend his points lead to 44 points. Reddick led Hamlin by 129 points after the May 10 race at Watkins Glen, but has four finishes of 20th or worse over the last five races.

Tyler Reddick falls further behind

"Hate it for everyone at 23Xi," Reddick told TNT. "Back-to-back weeks of just kind of uncertain things coming our way. Real bummer. We were just starting to inch away on it. Shaping up to be a good night. It stinks, 36th two weeks in a row. I guess the year's balancing itself back out. We got all the right things we need to succeed."

Reddick won five of the first nine races of the season and didn't finish worse than 15th until June 7 at Michigan. His season has since taken a turn for the worse, though he's still ahead of third-place Ryan Blaney in the Cup Series standings by 69 points. 

Reddick will go to Atlanta on July 12 looking to sweep the season's two races at the 1.5-mile Georgia venue.