Phoenix, Ariz.: In their first Championship 4 appearance, Tyler Reddick and his 23XI Racing team aimed to play spoiler in Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series Championship Race.
Despite their best efforts, the team struggled to find the right balance to make the No. 45 The Beast Unleashed Toyota a serious contender throughout the 312-lap event.
Although the No. 45 car struggled for speed in Friday’s practice session at the 1.0-mile track in Avondale, Ariz., Reddick’s solid top-10 qualifying effort on Saturday helped ease some of the team’s concerns heading into race day.
When the green flag dropped on Sunday afternoon, however, it did not take long to realize that Reddick and his Michael Jordan and Denny Hamlin-owned team were still a little off the pace compared to his Championship 4 rivals Ryan Blaney, William Byron, and Joey Logano.
Reddick held his track position to finish seventh in Stage 1, though he was still last among the Championship 4 drivers. In Stage 2, despite adjustments from crew chief Billy Scott, Reddick’s grip issues continued, and he slipped to 10th.
With more changes to attempt to recover the handling, Reddick charged on the Lap 195 restart to start Stage 3, motoring from ninth to a race-high fifth and within the clutches of his Championship 4 rivals.
As Stage 3 progressed, though, the handling again faded, allowing his competition to inch away. Reddick battled Christopher Bell, Kyle Larson, and Chase Elliott for a top-five finish.
Reddick put one last hustle on a Lap 269 restart but could not make a dent in his competition and, over the final 43 laps, found himself battling his 23XI Racing teammate Bubba Wallace with Reddick edging his close friend at the checkered flag.
After the race, the eight-time Cup Series winner praised his team for their efforts but acknowledged the need for continued improvement if they return to the Championship 4 next season.
“I think we definitely got our Beast Camry better throughout the day,” said Reddick. “Yeah, there was that one time there we were behind the other Championship 4 cars, and they just kind of were able to pull away over time.
“It was a good year for us and everyone at 23XI to get to the Championship 4 and have a shot at it was nice. But yeah, we’ve got to get a little bit better here in Phoenix. Obviously we’re heavily motivated to do that knowing the championship is decided here.”
Michael Jordan, co-owner of 23XI Racing, was one of the first team members to meet Reddick at his car post-race.
“Michael (Jordan) is just proud of the effort of our team all year long. We put up a good fight,” sounded Reddick. “We didn’t make any mistakes that took ourselves out of it. We fought as hard as we could. We made the car better throughout the day.
“We did what we needed to do. Unfortunately, we just didn’t quite have the speed or quite the restarts we needed to get ahead and hold those guys up or really put up a fight there at the very, very end.
“I felt like if we got restarts, we could make bold moves and most of the time make something out of it. That last one there kind of got outside the No. 12 (Blaney) and the No. 9 (Elliott) slid up, and just circumstances. But I feel like with what we could control, we did all we could do.”
Reddick, 28, ended the season with three wins, 12 top-five and 21 top-10 finishes and fourth overall in the championship standings.
“Good year for us,” added Reddick. “Proud of the effort. It’s a lot to do, all the preparation, all the work that goes into it. It takes everybody. We were close. We were just not quite good enough, unfortunately.”
Reddick also acknowledged Wallace’s support throughout the weekend, noting that his teammate’s feedback after practice helped guide the No. 45 team in the right direction.
“Bubba was a great help throughout the weekend,” added Reddick. “Practice was no secret we were off there, and we’ve worked together like this since I’ve been here. And for us to be as transparent with one another as we are and be bought into how we do things at 23XI has helped us a lot. It’s been a benefit for both of us.
“I know it’s tough. He’s coming in here trying to run his own race. But I appreciate the lengths he was willing to go to helping us in practice, giving us feedback on what his car was doing, what he thinks I could do to make more speed out of my Camry, as well.
“It’s great that it worked like that, and he knows that the favor would be returned if the situation was reversed. Just great people working together at 23XI.
“We continue to build in the right direction, and obviously, the result wasn’t what we wanted today, but I feel like everyone worked really well together all weekend long, and we certainly gave it our best effort.”
Follow Chris Knight on X (Twitter) @Knighter01 or email at [email protected].
