CONCORD, N.C.—Despite entering the Bank of America ROVAL 400 two points below the cut line, Tyler Reddick never doubted he would advance to the Round of 8 in the NASCAR Cup Playoffs.
The 27-year-old racer’s prediction proved provident. From the moment the No. 45 23XI Racing Toyota rolled off the truck at Charlotte Motor Speedway, Reddick had the car and the confidence to tackle the task at hand.
On Saturday, Reddick was second fastest in practice—first in best 10 consecutive lap averages—then won the pole position for the race. Come race day, both the driver and the Billy Scott-led team executed to near-perfection.
“For what we needed to do today, we did a great job,” Reddick said. “I just think of the hard work the team puts in, everyone at TRD (Toyota Racing Development), the knowledge shared between ourselves and Joe Gibbs Racing, it really helps all of us perform better.”
Reddick won the first stage. He gained 10 points then added seven additional points by finishing fourth in Stage 2. He led 27 laps—second only to race winner AJ Allmendinger’s 46 circuits at the front of the field. With Reddick’s sixth-place result on Sunday, he became the only competitor outside starting the race below the cut line to progress in the Playoffs.
“The job isn’t done until it’s over, that’s for sure,” Reddick said. “They put us in a great position to set it off and get those 10 stage points and a Playoff point, but I knew it wasn’t going to be over until the final lap. We were going to have to fight hard. The final six, seven laps we were going to have to be smart—not take ourselves out of it—and we did a good job of it.”
23XI Racing co-owner Denny Hamlin set a goal at the start of the season for both of his teams—the No. 45 and the No. 23, driven by Bubba Wallace, to make the Playoffs. Not only did both teams qualify, but both drivers also advanced to the Round of 12. While only Reddick moved on after Charlotte, he’s proud of the effort everyone has put forth.
“It’s a great moment for our team,” Reddick said. “I know we really did want both cars to make it through. I knew it was going to be a tough road. I really don’t know how Bubba’s race went. Obviously, I’m sure it’s a tough spot for him.
“But when you look at the growth of this team, the rate of improvement, we’re doing the right things, and he will spend the rest of this year doing what he can to be even more prepped and ready to go for the for the next year.”
Both Reddick and Wallace will finish the season with career-high positions in the Cup point standings as wells as team-best results for 23XI. While some racers might have been relieved after a stress-filled day, Reddick’s focus has already transitioned to his next challenge.
“I’m not even thinking about relief, honestly,” Reddick said. “My mind-set has already moved on to getting ready for Vegas. I’ve believe all year that this team, this organization. If we put it all together and run the race we need to, we show week in and week out that we have the speed that can get us through these playoff rounds.
“So to put it together today and get through it and have three great shots, three great opportunities to close the points gap or get to Victory Lane, it’s very exciting for us.”
The next round is nearly custom-made for Reddick. won the pole for last year’s Playoff race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway then went on to score his third top 10 at the 1.5-mile track. Reddick won consecutive season finales in the NASCAR Xfinity Series to win back-to-back titles on that tour.
In his first two Cup starts at Homestead-Miami Speedway, the second intermediate in the Round of 8, he has finished fourth and second. While Martinsville Speedway might be Reddick’s weakest link of the three tracks, should he advance to the Championship 4 Round, two of his last three races at Phoenix resulted in third-place results.
“This is a car that’s about details,” Reddick said. “You can’t win a race with just one thing. You have to put it all together—the pit crew, the road crew people at the shop, everybody. We’re doing a good job with that. We’ve shown flashes of potential, right? We haven’t put it all together.
“But we had a pretty unusual string of races in this round so to put to be able to put together a solid race today, puts us back where we need to be and gets us three good opportunities—no, great opportunities—at tracks we’re really solid at.”
Follow Lee Spencer on Twitter @CandiceSpencer or email her at: [email protected].
