Running from February through November, the NASCAR season can be long, grueling and unforgivable for its drivers, full of twists and turns, ups and downs.
It’s been that way for Tyler Reddick this year.
The 30-year-old from Corning, California, started the year on an absolute tear and made history, becoming the first driver to win the first three races of the season. When he took consecutive checkered flags at Daytona, Atlanta and Circuit of the Americas, he did something that not even legends of this sport – such as Richard Petty or Dale Earnhardt – had accomplished.
By mid-April, Reddick had won five of the first nine races of the season, and most fans assumed he was going to ride that momentum all year and win his first championship in the Cup
Series by a wide margin. Heading into June, Reddick still remained first in points with a comfortable lead.
Then the bad days started to pile up. His No. 45 Toyota got caught in a multi-car crash at Michigan and he didn’t finish. Two weeks later in the street course race at Naval Base Coronado, Reddick was battling with teammate Corey Heim for the lead with less than three laps to go, then blew his left front tire and settled for a 25th-place finish.
The next week at Sonoma, power steering issues led to finishing 36th. He finished in the same position the next week at Chicagoland when debris from the track pierced his radiator. More troublesome days followed at North Wilkesboro and Iowa.
Still, Reddick has a shot to win the championship. With one race remaining until the start of NASCAR’s postseason Chase, he’s fourth in the point standings.
Moreover, Reddick hasn’t lost his faith. He’s confident his car will return to victory lane and he’s been impressed with the fight of his No. 45 team for 23XI Racing.
"We have days that don't go smooth, but we don't let it derail us. We fight through those hard days very well as a team," Reddick told USA TODAY Sports. "When we get into the Chase here – I mean, ideally on paper, you don't want to have a bad race, but when it does happen, it's important to respond the right way. I feel like our team does that. When something goes wrong, we don't just throw our hands up in the air and start complaining, we get to work."
Ahead of the Chase beginning on Sept. 6 at Darlington, fans have a reason to root for Reddick to start capturing checkered flags again. Through the "We Win, You Win" sweepstakes, every time a 23XI driver wins one of the 10 Chase races, one fan will earn an all-expenses-paid trip to one of Charlotte’s NASCAR Cup Series races in 2027. And, if either Reddick or teammate Bubba Wallace capture the championship, each winner will also get a $2,311 cash prize. Fans can enter by visiting Mobil 1’s website or by purchasing Mobil 1 motor oil at an O'Reilly Auto Parts store through Nov. 15.
"Hopefully the fans get to experience the winning sensation," Reddick said. "It gives them a little something extra to pull for and be excited for as we try to win some races in the Chase."
Reasons for optimism in the Chase
Despite some of those unfortunate finishes for Reddick this summer, there is a reason for him to be optimistic. Indeed, as he said, his team has shown some real grit in recent weeks and a knack for figuring things out to salvage the best finish possible even when things aren’t perfect for the No. 45 Toyota.
At the Brickyard 400, he qualified third and finished 10th. At Richmond, he qualified way in the back at 32nd, but clawed his way forward, led some laps and finished 11th. Last weekend at New Hampshire, he won the pole, but spun out early on the rain-soaked track and had to drop to the back of the field. But still, the No. 45 fought and notched an eighth-place finish.
That gave Reddick his 15th top-10 of the season, fourth most amongst all drivers.
"We're not necessarily rosy and walking around with smiles all the time because of it, but I feel like we're handling the situations the right way on the racetrack," Reddick said.
This will be the sixth consecutive season that Reddick has made NASCAR’s postseason. But this year, the system is different. Following 12 years of the win-and-in elimination-style playoff format, the Chase is back.
For many athletes, the postseason can feel like a fresh start. Wipe the records and whatever happened in the previous months off the board – this is a new season.
But for NASCAR drivers, or at least Reddick, the Chase is different. Carrying momentum into it is crucial.
“It’s extremely important to keep rolling the things that your team does well from the season into the Chase. With the old playoffs, it was like three races at a time and then you start over again. There will be no starting over in the Chase," Reddick said. "I think your mindset, your approach, is going to be different. There's going to be mistakes made along the way, but don't let those mistakes tear down your entire Chase.
"Respond the right way, handle the adversity the correct way, and I feel like we've been having to do that the last couple of months."
Michael Jordan visits with 23XI teams
If Reddick’s No. 45 team needed a pep talk – or perhaps a kick in the rear – they likely got it during the week heading into the Richmond race on Aug. 15. NBA legend and team co-owner Michael Jordan visited 23XI Racing’s facilities in Huntersville, North Carolina, a place they all call Airspeed.
Jordan got to celebrate in victory lane with Reddick earlier this season and the two have had conversations since, but Reddick believes Jordan’s presence in the race shop provided a big morale boost for the whole building.
"It’s great for me, but my favorite part is what it does to the rest of the people here at Airspeed. For him to come here and spend time with the entire team, it’s just a big needle mover," Reddick said. "The impact that he has on myself as a driver is significant, obviously. But when he does this for everyone here, I feel like he does a really good job of letting us know where he's at, where he wants us to be, and how and why he believes in us, in this group and in this organization."
Of course, the other co-owner of the team is Denny Hamlin. At 45 years old, he’s the oldest active driver in NASCAR’s Cup Series and is still chasing his first championship. In the No. 11 Toyota for Joe Gibbs Racing, he’s running arguably better than he ever has in his career. Hamlin has taken four checkered flags this season and finished inside the top seven in six of the past seven races.
Heading into the final race of the regular season at Daytona, Hamlin has already locked up the regular season championship and the No. 1 seed in the Chase. For Reddick, he admires the way Hamlin balances being an owner and a competitor.
For six days of the week, Hamlin is a team-first guy for 23XI. On that seventh day, though, he’s aiming to make sure his machine crosses the finish line first.
"He’s made clear his passion, his vision, for 23XI. Whether I'm talking to Denny the owner or Denny the driver, he's a great Toyota teammate," Reddick said. "You can't put a price on the value that he brings to the table for us. Obviously, when we're on the racetrack with him, he's out there for himself. That's one thing I always appreciate about him is you know what you're going to get."
While Jordan and Hamlin keep the vibes high at 23XI in their own ways, Airspeed’s newest resident is doing his part too.
The day after NASCAR legend Kyle Busch suddenly died, a 23XI employee was driving into work when she passed a stray dog alongside a busy road. The team got the dog to a vet, then gave him a home at Airspeed as the unofficial shop dog. The dog was named "Rowdy" – Busch’s famous nickname.
"The timing was – it just seemed like a sign," Reddick said. "He's a puppy, he's young, he's got all this energy. He has all this open space and runs around and says hi to everybody. He’s settling into the crazy things we do around here on a daily basis. He’s a work in progress, but Rowdy is figuring it out.
"He really likes peeing and pooping on the floors. We're trying to get him to do that in the grass."
Indeed, whether it’s trying to find more consistency on the racetrack or training a puppy, the work never stops for Reddick and 23XI.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: After roller-coaster season, Tyler Reddick confident as NASCAR's Chase approaches
