WATKINS GLEN, N.Y.: With just two races remaining in the NASCAR Cup Series regular season, Tyler Reddick hopes to continue to showcase speed with his No. 45 Toyota Camry but will look to his 23XI Racing team to execute when it counts most in the Playoffs.
Through 24 races in 2023, Reddick scored his first win under the 23XI Racing umbrella at Circuit of the Americas (COTA) in March, asserting himself into the Playoff lineup early. Still, Reddick’s bunch overall hasn’t been able to execute on opportunity.
Reddick hopes that changes over the final three months of the season.
Heading into Sunday’s Go Bowling at The Glen, Reddick has just seven top-fives and 10 top-10 finishes despite leading 312 laps. His average finish of 17th certainly has not lived up to some expectations, but with the Playoffs set to begin at Darlington (S.C.) Raceway on Sept. 3, 2023. Reddick is hoping his team will be perfect when it matters most.
“A lot of potential,” Reddick said Saturday at Watkins Glen International. “A lot of potential there. We just have not quite capitalized on it every single moment, unfortunately. Like I said, a lot of speed, we just, unfortunately, have not taken advantage of that every weekend that we’ve had it.
“So, hopefully, between this weekend and next, we can do more of that and go into the Playoffs in a good place.”
With the regular season finale, a wild card race at Daytona (Fla.) International Speedway on Aug. 26, The Corning, Calif. native is thankful he does not find himself able to do anything but chase his second win of the season.
“We don’t go into that weekend thinking, ‘Oh man, it is a relief.’ But certainly, it definitely is,” offered Reddick of Daytona. “I’ve been in a different situation in the past a few times where that race, everything is on the line, and we get there and it’s very stressful for sure.
“Yeah, hopefully, everything pans out in a good place to where we’re able to go into that race without a lot to worry about other than trying to win stages and win the race. Because for a lot of teams, it gets really crazy, and with that, normally a lot of carnage happens as well.”
But there’s more than just winning on the line at Daytona. There’s opportunity there too.
With crucial Playoff points on the line for the top-10 finishers when the checkered flag waves in the Coke Zero 400 at Daytona, Reddick hopes to add a few more to his tally.
“It’d be huge, honestly,” said Reddick of the points. “Earlier in the year, before things really went off the rails for us, we were right around fifth, sixth and had a shot on closing on the lead and things kind of just blew apart. Obviously, watching a points battle, I guess a lot of that, but certainly understanding if we go out and have a good solid week here and avoid having a catastrophic day at Daytona, hopefully, we’re in reach of getting those points right now.
“I think we’re strong enough at the road courses to get that, and when we go to Daytona, we need to survive and try to win the race anyways. It would definitely be nice to get back kind of in that points standing order we probably should’ve been in any way. Hopefully, in this race and the next, we can take a big chunk of that out. Ideally, it would be awesome to jump from where we’re at to sixth, but even just getting a couple would be great.”
With the smoke clears from Watkins Glen and Daytona, the 10-race Playoff run begins from Darlington to Phoenix (Ariz.) Raceway arrives, and Reddick believes executing when it matters most will keep the team alive and one of the Championship 4 teams in early November.
“The one thing that’s probably the most difficult part of it is showing up to the race track every weekend with a shot to win and we’ve been doing that for the majority of the year,” he explained. “We’ve got a lot of speed. That is the difficult part, but where it gets frustrating is when we don’t capitalize on it and get the finishes that we probably should be getting.
“The speed is there, right? And, how we’re getting it has been consistent, so we’re just going to keep pushing on that front and hopefully the things that have been mistakes, the lessons along the way stick and we can just execute when it matters.”
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