Larson’s 49-Point Lead Shrinks to 5 as Reddick Wins Phoenix — Car News, Oct 19

NASCAR Cup · Phoenix

Larson’s lead melts as Reddick ends a 23-race drought

This was supposed to be the safe weekend. Larson, the defending champion, rolled into the Freeway Insurance 500 on Sunday with the biggest lead in the Chase. Then he qualified 22nd, and things got worse from there.

He slid backward early and lost a lap. A timely caution handed it back. But with 31 laps left, his right-front tire let go and the No. 5 Chevy slammed the wall. He limped home 34th and scored just three points.

That should have been Denny Hamlin’s opening. Instead, Hamlin had his own meltdown. Running fourth, he blew a right-rear tire on lap 223, then got caught speeding on pit road on the way in. He finished 28th, a lap down. A gift-wrapped chance, returned unopened.

The turning point for the win came on the caution for Larson’s crash. Most leaders pitted; Chase Briscoe, Chase Elliott and Ty Gibbs stayed out. Bubba Wallace, who had led the run before, took four tires, lost five spots in the pits and then got his own speeding penalty. Briscoe grabbed the lead on the restart, but Reddick, on two fresh tires, powered past him inside the final 20 laps and never looked back.

Ryan Blaney, who led the first 45 laps from pole, came home second. Elliott, Christopher Bell and Corey Heim rounded out the top five. Joey Logano swept both stages but faded to sixth.

For Reddick it was win number six of 2026, and his first since Kansas on April 19. Think of it as a man who won the Daytona 500 in February and then spent six months staring at an empty trophy shelf.

Why it matters: the title fight just got real. Bell now sits only 5 points behind Larson. Briscoe is 24 back, Hamlin 31, Blaney 40 and Logano 44, with Reddick also inside 60. Next up is Talladega on October 25, where one wrong move in the draft can wreck half the field. Then Martinsville, then the Homestead-Miami finale. Nobody is safe.

Subaru EV

Subaru shows its first homemade EV, and it’s quick

Subaru pulled the covers off its first in-house electric prototype on Sunday at its test track north of Tokyo. Front and rear motors make a combined 380 kW, about 510 hp, and the test car runs 0 to 62 mph in under 4 seconds.

It rides on a brand-new EV platform with a new battery, new motors and a control unit built for over-the-air updates. The big story is who didn’t build it: Toyota, Subaru’s largest shareholder and its EV partner until now. Expect some of this tech in showrooms around 2029. For Subaru fans in Kenya, where Foresters and Outbacks are everywhere, that’s the first real sign of what an all-electric Subie will feel like.

GM Defense

GM turns a Silverado HD into a driverless army mule

GM revealed a cab-less, autonomous military vehicle built on the dual-rear-wheel Silverado 3500 HD skateboard. It’s meant for quiet electric supply runs and casualty evacuation, and it was shown with Scout AI’s self-driving system.

Electrek reports it likely uses a 102 kWh battery with a small diesel engine as a range extender, though GM hasn’t confirmed the specs. Colors? Army green. No production plans yet.

Volkswagen

VW wants to freeze pay for 660,000 workers until 2030

Volkswagen plans to freeze salaries across its global workforce until 2030, according to its Global Works Council. The plan, first reported by Germany’s Süddeutsche Zeitung, would also trim bonuses, special payments and benefits as CEO Oliver Blume pushes the deepest restructuring in VW’s German history.

The works council called the idea absurd and promised strong resistance, and the IG Metall union says pay belongs at the bargaining table. With inflation, workers could lose around 10% of their buying power. VW calls it speculation, and talks resume this week. Expect sparks.

Kei Trucks

Japan’s TV discovers America’s kei truck obsession

Japanese broadcaster NHK World sent a reporter to Pennsylvania to find out why Americans love tiny Japanese work trucks. One Lancaster dealer now imports 15 to 20 a month and sells them for about $6,000 to $8,000.

Roughly 30,000 kei vehicles have reportedly come into the U.S. in the past five years, thanks to the rule that lets 25-year-old cars in. They’re cheap, often 4×4 and sip fuel at around 40 mpg. The catch: some states, including New York, still won’t register them for public roads, while Texas legalized them last year after fans lobbied hard.