On lap four of the Iowa Corn 350 at Iowa Speedway on Sunday afternoon, Tyler Reddick lost control heading into turn four and collected Erik Jones of Legacy Motorsports. The incident ended the race for both Toyota drivers, with Reddick slipping from second in the points standings while watching from the infield, and Jones suffering what could be the final poor result he can afford if he is to remain in contention for the 2026 Playoff Chase.

After the accident, Reddick was quick to express regret that his error had brought Jones’ race to an early end.

“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 team-mate.”

At the moment he made the mistake, Reddick was running the low line in seventh place, and when his car moved up the track, Jones had nowhere to go and was caught up in the crash.

When The Athletic’s Jeff Gluck asked whether the playoffs were still realistically within reach for Jones, who dropped from 17th to 18th after the Cup Series’ previous race weekend at Indianapolis, Jones said the team could probably recover from only 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 continues, Reddick is at risk of dropping as low as fourth in the standings. Ryan Blaney, who came into the race in third, led the whole of the opening stage and moved ahead of him into second, while Ty Gibbs, currently fourth in the standings, finished stage one in fourth place, picking up early stage points and narrowing the gap.