Tyler Reddick Exposes Daytona 500’s Declining Allure Amid NASCAR Next Gen Controversy

Tyler Reddick is fighting it out in the playoffs. Despite not being able to match up to his three-win, regular-season championship 2024 season, Reddick still cracked the postseason. What is more, he survived the Round of 16 with three top 20 finishes, including a runner-up spot in Darlington. However, the 23XI Racing driver still has reasons to lament.

NASCAR’s Next-Gen car, ever since its debut in 2022, has caused ripples of discontent in the community. From expenses involved in single-spec parts to increased parity on the racetrack, its flaws are plenty. But what stands out for Tyler Reddick is the car’s impact on superspeedway racing.

Tyler Reddick abandons credit for runner-up

Entering the 2025 Daytona 500 race, the No. 45 Toyota was in a tough spot. Tyler Reddick had a 30.8 average result, and his best finish was 27th in 6 previous bids. With five laps remaining, Reddick was sure that he would get a similarly bleak result, running 25th. But right then, Christopher Bell’s barrel-rolling wreck allowed him to move up to 20th. Then, on the restart, he went up to 13th place. But the final harrowing crash on the final lap, involving several cars, allowed Reddick to speed up ahead right behind eventual race winner William Byron. The utterly chaotic nature of events made Reddick admit in a recent ‘Door, Bumper, Clear’ episode: “I did nothing to get second place.”

In the age of the Next-Gen era, the allure of the Daytona 500 has dropped. Gone are the days when legends like Dale Earnhardt or Tony Stewart could seamlessly pass their competitors en route to victories. Now, since drivers cannot pass each other in the Next-Gen cars, they resort to fuel saving to extract track positions – just like William Byron did. So when Freddie Kraft asked Tyler Reddick if the Great American Race had lost its appeal, the Toyota driver had his answer. “I hate to even answer that question. But if I’m being honest, yes. For me, it has lost some of it because of the way racing plays out,” he said.

Do drivers feel like the Daytona 500 has lost its luster? @TylerReddick | @FreddieKraft | @TBR7NY | @KarsynElledge3 pic.twitter.com/VJO3Yp0CSR

— Dirty Mo Media (@DirtyMoMedia) September 24, 2025

Then there comes the sheer unpredictability of superspeedway racing. Previously, the more skilled drivers could stand apart from their rivals. But the increased parity and lack of aerodynamic control have made it a chaotic mess. Even Tony Stewart does not like the Daytona 500 anymore because “anybody can win.” Kraft also chimed with this opinion: “Before this car, you would know on Thursday, I’ve got a shot to win the Daytona 500. And you go into Sunday, it doesn’t matter. As long as we were there at the end, we’ve got a shot at this thing. And now it’s like I don’t know. We’ll see what happens at the last pit stop.”

While Tyler Reddick laments about superspeedway racing in the Next-Gen era, he also feels dejected about his ongoing season.

Owning up to a drab streak

At this time last year, Tyler Reddick was one of the top contenders for the 2024 Cup Series title. He won three races, clinched the regular season championship, and was in the Championship 4 race. But this year, the 23XI Racing driver has yet to fetch his first victory through 30 races. He led just 156 laps this season, tallying 10 top 10s and six top 5s. Despite cracking the Round of 12, Reddick sits 11th in the playoff standings heading into Kansas Speedway, -23 below the cutline.

So, Tyler Reddick owned up to his season’s faults. He said, “I think when you really look at the details of it, it is not an improvement over last year, yes. Yeah, we haven’t performed quite like what we did last year. But it’s not like to an astronomical level. When you don’t execute, when you don’t have a clean race, you’re not going to have the opportunity to win races, and you’re not going to get those top 10s and top 5s that you’re able to get when you have those clean days. I think when I was looking at it last, we scored like 50 or 60 less points than we did last year. It just shows the top teams have had cleaner years.”

At the same time, Tyler Reddick is fifth in passing, ninth in defense, sixth in speed, and fifth in restarts. The No. 45 Toyota pit crew is notably ranked 19th in the Cup Series. What is more, if not for brake issues impeding his pace, Reddick would have finished better than 21st in last week’s New Hampshire race. So Reddick is not giving up: “I know [23XI co-owner] Michael [Jordan] feels this way, I know a lot of people at 23XI feel this way — we don’t show up just to run 10th. I don’t do this just to run 10th; I show up to make a difference and take a car that’s capable of winning and get it to Victory Lane. We have days just get away when we’re capable of winning [and] it’s frustrating, for sure.”

Evidently, Tyler Reddick is grappling with a number of challenges. If he can wade through the Next-Gen car’s faults and focus on winning, then miracles can still happen this season.

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