NASCAR on TV this week

Holding a Pretty Wheel: Tyler Reddick’s Star Is Just Beginning to Rise

It was the finest performance of Tyler Reddick’s still-young career.

With his back against the wall entering the Straight Talk 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway, Reddick, the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series regular season champion, wasn’t mathematically in a must-win situation to contend for the series title. But for all intents and purposes, he might as well have been.

Reddick started on the pole and handily won the first stage, maximizing his points haul. He finished fourth in stage two, but it didn’t look like it would be enough to elevate Reddick to a position where he’d be in striking distance of the top four heading to Martinsville Speedway, a track where Reddick has struggled in the Cup Series with zero top fives and an average finish of just 19.3 in nine starts. 

There was only one way Reddick could avoid entering a track where he’s never led a single lap with a double-digit points deficit.

He could win.

See also
The Big 6: Questions Answered After Tyler Reddick Drives Into Championship 4 at Homestead

As good as Reddick’s car had been to start the day, the speed had dropped off just enough that he’d need some luck on his side. It was still a top-five car, but his 23XI Racing team owner Denny Hamlin and defending Cup champion Ryan Blaney were faster. So was Kyle Larson, who had pulled himself up by the bootstraps after a cut tire earlier in the day.

Teams would have to make a pit stop for fuel in the final stage, but tires were the true commodity. Conventional wisdom would say that pitting among the first cars to come in was an advantage, and that played out throughout the cycle. Blaney and Larson pitted early. Hamlin waited a few more laps, hoping that fresher tires would allow him to run them down as he had in his stage two win, but they opened up a gap that would be difficult to overcome.

Had he come in with Blaney, Reddick simply didn’t have the car to beat him on the long run to the finish. Had he come in with Hamlin, he’d have risked being too far back to mount a charge.

So crew chief Billy Scott left Reddick on track when the rest of the field pitted, leaving him with a big lead but old tires and not enough fuel to contend. Scott knew that if the caution came out after everyone else had pitted, Reddick could pit from the lead and they’d all pit again for tires, putting Reddick at or near the front for a late restart.

But the yellow flag didn’t fly, and Reddick finally had to give up the lead to come to pit road.

And just as Reddick was returning to the fray, Larson spun. 

With just two laps on his tires, Reddick stayed on track while the rest of the lead-lap cars streamed to their boxes for fresh rubber. He had the track position he wanted and could choose his preferred outside lane, where he could sling his No. 23 within inches of the wall.

But even two laps on tires was a disadvantage on the restart.

Blaney and Hamlin both bolted to the lead. Racing side-by-side, Hamlin and Blaney, both in the same points boat as Reddick and needing a win, fought hard for it. 

Hamlin held the spot with two to go. Blaney got beside him in turn 1 and the pair drag-raced down the backstretch. That allowed Reddick to draw within a couple of car lengths, but there was nowhere to go. Blaney had the advantage as they raced into turn 3 and cleared Hamlin coming to the white flag.

Reddick caught Hamlin in turn 1 and was clear in second off turn 2. Blaney had gained the lead racing the middle lane, and that’s the line he chose as he entered the final turn. If he protected the top, Blaney would likely have won, but he left Reddick a lane.

Reddick took it and swept past Blaney while riding inches from the wall, beating the No. 12 to the line by a quarter of a second.

He has a chance at a title. It’s his first appearance in the title race, and though he’s struggled a bit at Phoenix Raceway in the past, he has a chance.

It won’t be his last.

This all comes on the heels of an outstanding race at the Charlotte Motor Speedway ROVAL, where Reddick fought his way back from an incident to secure a place in the Round of 8 in the final laps.

Reddick has shown a level of aggression that he hasn’t always had. He’s a driver who people will say should have more wins than he does, if not for the wrong call, or for racing too clean or for the bad luck. He’s coming into his own as a top-level racer.

And the more comfortable he becomes racing for wins, the more of them he’s going to get.

Reddick has had multiple wins in each of the last three years, including a three-win season with struggling Richard Childress Racing, a team he elevated in the three seasons he raced in the No. 8.

He has five wins in two seasons with 23XI, and at 28, he’s just entering his competitive prime.

See also
Monday Morning Pit Box: Staying Out Helps Send Tyler Reddick to the Championship 4

Reddick’s rising star shouldn’t come as a surprise. In his first full season in a NASCAR national division, Reddick finished runner-up to 2015 champion Erik Jones in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series. 

The most remarkable thing about Reddick’s 2015 Truck Series season is his remarkable consistency. In 23 starts for Brad Keselowski Racing, Reddick never finished outside the top 20 and had just two finishes outside the top 15. His average finish matched Jones at a remarkable 6.3.

In three full-time NASCAR Xfinity Series seasons, Reddick won back-to-back titles for two different teams, JR Motorsports in 2018 and RCR in 2019. 

Reddick found the Cup Series more challenging, with RCR a solid mid-tier team instead of the top organizations he’d raced with in Trucks and Xfinity. Still, Reddick made the playoffs twice in three years with RCR before moving to 23XI a year earlier than planned, replacing the injured Kurt Busch.

Reddick’s background before NASCAR was in open-wheel sprint cars, a similar route to 2021 Cup champion Larson, a highly-touted prospect when he first entered the Cup Series full time in 2014. Larson broke into the top series with Chip Ganassi Racing, a team that was a solid step above RCR and fairly equal to 23XI, maybe a fraction of a step behind Hamlin and Michael Jordan’s organization, but very close.

In his first five Cup seasons, Larson, one of the hottest prospects of the early 2010s, posted five wins, 47 top fives and 81 top 10s to go with seven poles.

With two races to go in his fifth full year, Reddick has eight wins, 38 top fives, 77 top 10s and nine poles.

Even before Larson moved to Hendrick Motorsports in 2021 and flourished with top-level equipment, he was considered NASCAR’s hottest commodity.

And in the opening years of their respective Cup careers, Reddick has virtually matched him step for step. 

Maybe it’s time to see Reddick in a different light: the spotlight.

About the author

Amy is an 20-year veteran NASCAR writer and a six-time National Motorsports Press Association (NMPA) writing award winner, including first place awards for both columns and race coverage. As well as serving as Photo Editor, Amy writes The Big 6 (Mondays) after every NASCAR Cup Series race. She can also be found working on her bi-weekly columns Holding A Pretty Wheel (Tuesdays) and Only Yesterday (Wednesdays). A New Hampshire native whose heart is in North Carolina, Amy’s work credits have extended everywhere from driver Kenny Wallace’s website to Athlon Sports. She can also be heard weekly as a panelist on the Hard Left Turn podcast that can be found on AccessWDUN.com's Around the Track page.

Sign up for the Frontstretch Newsletter

A daily email update (Monday through Friday) providing racing news, commentary, features, and information from Frontstretch.com
We hate spam. Your email address will not be sold or shared with anyone else.


Subscribe
Notify of
guest

6 Comments
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
Echo

Reddick has been known as a wheelman and racer since day one. As for 23xi, it’s Toyota and Joe Gibbs 5th and 6th team. Way more than a tad better than Chip. Good try, although lame. Are you comparing him to Larson, is that what your trying to do !!!

WJW Motorsports

A great talent for sure – although not so strong in the loyalty department. Just don’t turn your back on him and you’ll be fine. Fits in well with that bunch over there I’m sure.

Echo

Money talks in Nascar. Reddick made a smart move, career and money wise. Kyle Busch made a smart move, money wise. RCR is going down the drain. Richard paid Kyle because the fool Austin talked him into it. Will Austin run RCR someday !!

WJW Motorsports

Agreed! Speaks nothing to my point though.

Bobby K

Sorry, no fan of dweeby Reddick, 5 foot 1…..then knocks up his 6 foot cuban trophy girlfriend. Just following in Austin’s footprints. People made fun of Kyle and Samantha back in the day.. At least Kyle is taller than her. And at least Crashhouse has good looks to explain his hot wives.

DoninAjax

Remember the words of the jockey in the Secretariat movie when explaining his girlfriend….”I’m taller when I stand on my wallet!”

6
0
We'd like to hear from you, please comment.x
()
x