The Team 18 Camaros make contact. Image: Fox Sports
The Supercars veteran finished second to Chaz Mostert in the Symmons Plains opener, marking his first podium in a sprint race since joining Team 18 at the start of 2024.
Mostert pulled a bold move for the lead on Anton De Pasquale into Turn 6 on the second lap.
The loss of momentum allowed Reynolds to draw alongside his teammate at the final corner, resulting in side-to-side contact.
That allowed Andre Heimgartner and Brodie Kostecki to also file through on the hapless De Pasquale, who eventually finished sixth.
“I had a little stuff-up with Anton at the start and pushed him a bit wide,” Reynolds later confessed.
“I feel really bad about that. It took me about 10 laps to get over, but after that I was just head down.”
Reynolds reiterated in the post-race cooldown room that he felt “terrible” about the move, adding “I’m surprised I didn’t get a penalty”.
Third-placed finisher Brodie Kostecki cheekily labelled Reynolds’ move “pretty disgusting”.
Mostert takes Tasmania opener ahead of resurgent Reynolds
De Pasquale confirmed Reynolds apologised to him post-race, but the DeWalt-backed driver was typically relaxed about the situation.
“When you get hung out, it cooks you here. You get stuck and it’s all too tight to recover, I lost a few spots and that was us,” he said.
“It’s racing. We’re all racing for position, so I’m not too upset with it.
“He said sorry to me straight away, but I wasn’t too upset about it. I’d been hung out anyway, so it was his for the taking.
“There’s not much you can do. If we were a little but quicker, and a bit better at the hairpin, we wouldn’t have been in that position.
“I got to the lead, did that job which was the plan, and if we were fast enough I wouldn’t have been under threat.”
Reynolds was able to hold on for second place after Kostecki was kept busy in the closing laps by a charging Broc Feeney.
“When Brodie and Broc were coming at me I had the maximum stress going,” Reynolds said.
“And then they started fighting and I got about a second and a half gap. I was like ‘woohoo, I’m home’.
“It’s awesome. The Snowy River crew have done an awesome job all weekend. It’s been a tough year but things are going to turn around.”