Tyler Reddick Drops Bold Admission on 23XI’s Greatest Failure Despite Owner Denny Hamlin’s Success

Remember the spring 2024 race in Bristol? Due to NASCAR’s experiment with Goodyear tires, the race featured a whopping 54 lead changes and extraordinary tire fall-off. Amidst the chaos that gripped drivers, though, Denny Hamlin dazzled. He led for 163 laps and won at the short track, where he has grabbed four Cup Series wins and five straight top-10 finishes in recent seasons. However, the magic that Hamlin uses for Bristol has not found its way to his own Cup Series team.

23XI Racing is gearing up for a tough playoff bout, with both Bubba Wallace and Tyler Reddick vying for the championship. The upcoming race is at Darlington Raceway, where both Wallace and Reddick are optimistic. However, a thorn lies in the path for Reddick two races away – and he believes it will prick his entire team.

Denny Hamlin’s strong point misses his drivers

During the spring 2025 race in Bristol, Tyler Reddick was disappointed. He stayed out with about 100 laps remaining in his No. 45 Toyota, had a run in the top five, and hoped for a caution. However, that never materialized, forcing Reddick to an 18th-place result. Bubba Wallace also stayed out in the final stage, finishing in 19th. Similarly, the Fall race of 2024 spelled another fizzling out of hope for Reddick. Despite picking up valuable points in the second Stage, Reddick ultimately finished in 20th place. In his history at ‘The Last Great Colosseum’, Reddick has fetched only one top five and one top ten, both in 2020.

Hence, the 2024 regular season champion believes that the Round of 16 will be tough, mainly due to Bristol. Despite his team owner, Denny Hamlin’s genius in Bristol, Tyler Reddick painted a grim picture for the entire 23XI Racing grid. He said, “I wanna say that, Bristol, we can figure it out and make it work. We just haven’t, as an organization, really found what we need to be fast and competitive at Bristol for a couple of years now.” Bubba Wallace’s lone top five at Bristol Motor Speedway came in September 2024, and his lone top ten came back in 2020.

Due to this perceived weakness at Bristol, Tyler Reddick is banking on the other tracks. Darlington and Gateway have served him better. In 2024, Reddick clinched his regular-season title in Darlington and finished 4th at Gateway. He continued, “I feel like for us, our path this first round is, we gotta perform to what our standard is at Darlington. And for us, that’s running top five all day, collecting stage points, battling for stage wins. I think that’ll be really important to start the playoffs like that for us. Gateway’s been a track where we’ve had brake failures, we’ve had things go awry throughout the course of the race. But I do feel like our Toyota Camrys are good when we go to Gateway.”

While Tyler Reddick navigates the tricky path ahead, a NASCAR veteran analyzes his chances.

This may not be Reddick’s year

In terms of numbers, Tyler Reddick’s regular season looks good. He is the sixth-best driver on the NASCAR Insights list with a total score of 41. Reddick ranks third in passing, sixth in speed, ninth in long-run speed, 11th on defense, and 12th on restarts. While these stats may look reassuring, there are more reasons to worry. Reddick enters Darlington below the cutoff line, 14th in the standings, a seismic shift from his 2024 position. The lack of wins is a glaring problem for the No. 45 Toyota team, usually seen as 23XI Racing’s crown jewel. Bubba Wallace grabbed the winning duty this time, after he won the Brickyard 400 race.

Hence, Kevin Harvick is confused. The 2014 Cup Series champion said, “When you look at the speed chart average for the first 26 weeks, he ranks fifth. So, they have speed, but they don’t execute. They don’t turn it into anything. But to me, it doesn’t feel like he’s had that top-five speed when I watch the races.” Then Harvick issued a jarring verdict for Reddick, claiming that he might not be poised this time. He continued, “It’s not been that type of year like we saw last year out of Tyler Reddick. So, not hard to do. You don’t have to miss by much to not be in that category anymore. But they just, to me, don’t feel like contenders at this point.”

Clearly, Tyler Reddick has big battles ahead in the playoffs. Let’s wait and see if the 23XI Racing racer can challenge Bristol or not.

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