Three road course wins in the last two years. That’s how good 23XI Racing driver Tyler Reddick has been on road courses. But now, as NASCAR moves to the Windy City next weekend for the second annual Grant Park 165 (also known as the Chicago Street Race), Reddick once again has a shot at glory on a makeshift ‘street course’ where he will most likely be in his natural element. But can the #45 driver replicate that dominance? Well, if you ask his team owner Denny Hamlin, an unnatural encounter from last year’s rain-delayed Chicago Street Race tells him Reddick is ready to risk it all! 

Tyler Reddick isn’t afraid of breaking the norm!

Contrary to his rapid-fast advances on that final overtime lap which resulted in a Nashville P3 finish last Sunday, Reddick ended his Chicago race 16.390 seconds behind first-time NASCAR winner Shane van Gisbergen in P28. But the #45’s prowess around and about the turns of Downtown Chicago was evident straight from qualifying as he started P2 behind Hamlin, the pole-winner. And his main race tactics were even more steadfast, even leaving his team owner and the latter’s crew members stunned!

As Tyler Reddick appeared recent episode of the Actions Detrimental podcast, the team owner recalled, “We’re going to a road course right? Chicago. And you should be in the mix.” Although Reddick stated he had forgotten they were going to Chicago “with everything that happened yesterday” at the Ally 400, P12 finisher Hamlin shared an interesting anecdote. Talking about an embarrassing moment he faced during last year’s July 2nd outing, Hamlin began, “One of my most, you know, tuck-your-tail-between-your-legs moments was last year at Chicago on the start of the race… I’m controlling the race… ” Then as the single file began to split up in bids to pass the car on their nose, the Camry trailing Hamlin did not wait for an opportunity.

As soon as Turn 1 hit, Reddick attempted to overtake Hamlin on the outside, taking the lead on the stretch overlooking Lakefront Green. Denny was visibly shocked by this move, but all in good humor. “How can you take that kind of risk?” – Hamlin laughingly asked Reddick. His crew chief, Chris Gabehart’s reaction at that time was equally noteworthy, as Hamlin revealed, “It’s lap one. Corner one. And you just blew by me, and Gabehart was like, ‘Denny, he’s willing to crash. First Corner, first lap. And you’re not’.”

Reddick, reciprocating his team owner’s camaraderie began to lay out a justification with due contemplation: “I just had a feeling you were going to be you were going to be…” But just then Hamlin interjected Reddick’s train of thought to finish the sentence in good spirits with one word and a hint of inquiry: “Timid?”

His #45 driver does not hold a track record of being that disrespectful as he corrected Denny saying, “… smart about it. You’re going to be smart. You weren’t going to take the risk and I just saw a great opportunity to just go a little bit further…”

But then Kyle Busch lodged his car into the tire barriers on Turn 6 off South Columbus Drive to bring out the first caution for the Chicago Street Race. Reddick explained his own misfortunes that stemmed from that incident, after leading only 8 laps before giving up the lead to Christopher Bell. “Unfortunately, we had the caution right away. I think I gotten out like a 5-sec lead. I had, would have had, plenty of time to respond. Christopher was obviously a little bit better. Found a way to go a little bit faster. I would had plenty of time to respond. I wouldn’t try and get a gap and then give myself and the team time to: okay the #20 or whoever, it would have been is making up time here and there, and react. So I could have held the lead.”

The #20 won both stages in that event. Yet, Bell lost track position after spinning out on Turn 1 with 20 or so laps to go, eventually finishing P18, a total of ten spots above Reddick. . It was presumably not too funny for Hamlin to have witnessed Reddick “gone in a flash”, as he faced his own little spinout only moments afterward on Lap 2.

When the rain-shortened race concluded, Joe Gibbs Racing’s #11 driver finished his race ironically in P11. Yet this time around, that script could flip for Denny Hamlin & Tyler Reddick.

Can the #45 outrun its team owner this year?

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To call Tyler Reddick’s demeanor ‘disappointed’ after completing the Ally 400 in third position would be an understatement. Simply put, Reddick was heartbroken. On the penultimate restart, he rolled off the grid in P5 but somehow managed to creep up to eventual winner Joey Logano. However, falling short on fuel, the #22 still managed to beat the #45 and the #71 of Zane Smith.

These narrow Margins of Victory must bother Reddick, which he expressed in a conversation with SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, “It’s hard to sleep after one gets away like that, it always has been…For me, it was really frustrating. Being the first car on four (fresh) tires and I just couldn’t go anywhere, I couldn’t make speed, I couldn’t run the bottom like I had all day long…I had an opportunity to win the race and I did not capture it.”

But like every true competitor, the driver is ready to let go of the past and focus on his future. But for that, he’ll first have to deal with one mighty opponent: His own team owner! All of this was pretty evident as the recent Talladega winner revealed his own “tuck-your-tail-between-your-legs” narrative involving the #11. Despite being a certified road course specialist, Reddick told Hamlin, “Seemed like almost every time we went to the road course last year, you know, you were right behind me. I would think, in the queue. And I’d lay down the lap, they’d say P1… I get all excited, and like 2 seconds later. ‘Denny beat you by 200ths, 300ths. And yeah those were tough moments for me. Because you know as a driver it’s like: Damn!”

If we look at stats, compared to Tyler Reddick, his team owner hasn’t been the best of racers on road courses, with his last win coming at Watkins Glen in 2016. Last year he finished P2 at the same venue, before finishing P14 at COTA and P38 at Sonoma. So if he wants to get that elusive win, the driver will definitely have to pull up his socks!

Will he able to do it? To find that out, we must all prepare for a white-knuckled affair on July 7. Are you excited?