DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (AP) — Tyler Reddick had trouble corralling his young son on a Disney cruise and then inside a cramped motorhome in the days leading into the Daytona 500.
Rookie Reddick turns 9 months old later this month and he's ready to stretch his hands and legs and start crawling.
“He's been like a speedster,” Tyler Reddick said.
Kind of like dad.
Reddick had his entire family with him in victory lane — oh, and team owner and basketball Hall
of Famer Michael Jordan, too — once he burst through a last-lap wreck Sunday at Daytona International Speedway for 23XI Racing to shake a 38-race winless streak and celebrate his first Daytona 500 victory.
Reddick's 6-year-old son jumped on the roof of the No. 45 Toyota and was soon swooped in the air by his joyous father as confetti fluttered around them. Reddick's wife quickly joined them and plopped Rookie in his father's lap as they all posed for a victorious photo opp in front of the Harley J. Earl trophy.
Reddick gave Rookie an extra squeeze lest he try and crawl away from all the festivities.
“You start crawling really fast and we have to keep up with that,” Reddick said. “Keep away from the stairs and the bus.”
An emotional victory for any driver who win's NASCAR's version of the Super Bowl, Reddick had a tinge more reason to soak in the milestone. Yes, he only needed one race to rebound from a winless 2025 season that prompted some hard conversations inside the 23XI team. But his family also got to share the joy with Rookie, who suffered serious health complications l ast year.
Rookie was diagnosed with a tumor in his chest that affected his heart.
Alexa Reddick posted a social media update last October that said Rookie had a “tumor that’s ‘choking’ the renal vein & renal artery. Telling the heart ‘Hey I’m not getting enough blood … pump harder.’”
She said it has caused an enlarged heart, and Rookie needed a kidney removed because doctors determined it was no longer functioning.
Four months later, Rookie's health had improved, and he is now the son of a Daytona 500 champion.
“I just remember getting out of the car, and typically I’ve just been able to focus on Beau and my wife, and it’s like Rookie is getting to experience this for the first time, too,” Reddick said. “Rookie is a trooper, whether it’s been the Thunderbirds blasting over the track, just super loud, stuff I love.”
Waiting for him once the family reunion subsided was Jordan. The Chicago Bulls legend — who co-owns the team with three-time Daytona 500 champion Denny Hamlin — bear-hugged Reddick in victory lane and then jointly hoisted the trophy with Reddick.
“I have someone like Michael Jordan and Denny Hamlin saying, ‘you’re our first pick, you’re the guy that we want most ... it’s just crazy," Reddick said. "But they believe in what I bring to the table. It’s just nice to be able to deliver on those things for people like that.”
Reddick signed with Jordan's team ahead of the 2023 season after spending the first three-plus years with Richard Childress Racing. Reddick made NASCAR's playoff in his first two seasons driving for Jordan, winning twice in 2023 and three more times in 2024, when he advanced to the championship-deciding finale.
Last season brought professional and personal hardships that were so intertwined that Reddick, a 30-year-old from Corning, California, found the season difficult at times to navigate.
“You've got all these expectations to win multiple races, championships, and we didn't really live up to those last year,” Reddick said. “We had a lot of hard conversations in the offseason on top of everything else that was going on.”
The early results were promising for 23XI and Reddick. Reddick led only one lap Sunday and that was the one to the checkered flag. He was the 25th different driver to lead a lap for a new Daytona 500 record.
“It was never a frustration of discouragement or disappointment or blame or anything else,” crew chief Billy Scott said. “It was collectively how do we get better, how do we work on the things that we can improve ourselves. And he has been all in on everything that’s come up, from ownership, from within our team, and he’s entered the season with a new, I think, rejuvenated outlook on things.”
Reddick certainly feels rejuvenated in 2026 — already a Daytona 500 champ with Beau in his arms, and Rookie in tow.
“Rookie loves this stuff. The crazier it is, he just starts laughing and loves it,” Reddick said. “He’s wild, like his dad.”
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