Dale Earnhardt Jr. proposes theory for why Tyler Reddick's missing fender wasn't a problem at Atlanta

Dale Earnhardt Jr. doesn’t beleive that Tyler Reddick‘s missing fender impacted his finish at the NASCAR Cup Series race at Atlanta. On this week’s Dale Jr. Download, Earnhardt revealed his theory for why Reddick’s missing fender wasn’t an issue.

“There’s fans asking on social media if the fender was an advantage,” Dale Earnhardt Jr. said. “I have a theory. The car has so much drag on it that you can take the fender off, and the drag is still flat. Like the number doesn’t get worse. It didn’t help him, but the car’s already got so so much draft that it didn’t hurt it.”

Tyler Reddick, who won the race at Atlanta on Sunday, suffered right front-fender damage to his No. 45 Toyota. After the race, Reddick noticed his missing fender and wondered how he won after being collected in a nine-car accident with 40 laps remaining.

Tyler Reddick reacts to Atlanta win despite car damage

“That’s crazy, how about that EchoPark Speedway?” Reddick said to the grandstands at EchoPark Speedway. “This place, over the years, it just puts on some amazing racing. Handling matters here, but I don’t know, I guess determination outweighs handling.”

During his post-race press conference, Reddick was asked about the faith he had in the car and the team’s repairs to make the moves needed to win his second consecutive race. “Well, to some degree, after we got in that damage, Billy [Scott], as we kind of talked about in the offseason, let’s just aim for a top 15 here. In some ways, I kind of didn’t listen. I kind of drove it into turn one and turn three on the first lap after crashing at about a 10 out of 10,” Reddick said.

“And I’m glad I did because I guess on one hand I could have crashed all by myself, but I was able to really understand what we needed if we had another caution to further repair the car to help the now loose handling that we had in our car from the right front being gone.”