Tyler Reddick is no longer seen as the underdog race car driver from a new team. Having started his journey in racing by competing in outlaw karts and now competing for the biggest prize in motor racing, Reddick has made it. He always had the talent, but last year, he truly announced himself as a genuine title contender after taking 23XI Racing to their first-ever championship race.

This career growth hasn’t been without the highs and the lows. Currently, he is experiencing the highest of the high, being signed to Michael Jordan’s team, competing for championships on Sundays and being happily married to his wife Alexa DeLeon. But things weren’t always merry for the California native driver, and he did hit the lowest of the lows back in 2018.

Interestingly, during this period of his racing career, he was competing for championships in the Xfinity Series. But, for some reason, this joy and fulfilment of competing for championship glory wasn’t enough to fill the void he was facing at the time.

Tyler Reddick was close to calling it quits from racing

In an interview with The Athletic, he said, “In 2018, I was dangerously close to making a decision that would have pointed my life in a very different direction in a number of ways. I was dangerously close to making the wrong decision and just not racing anymore. I was dangerously close to just making a lot of bad choices in life. Thankfully, I realized the situation I was in and then made some good choices to correct that situation and make it better over time.”

In 2018, Reddick competed in his first full-time ride with JR Motorsports. He started off with a win at Daytona International Speedway, and then he clinched the championship race in Phoenix to bag his first Xfinity Series title. During the interview, the 23XI Racing star remained mute about the fine details about this struggle, but he clarified that it wasn’t all related to racing.

“It was kind of everything. I was a hot mess away from the track and even moreso when I was at the track. I had the opportunity to really screw it up, and I almost did, but thankfully I didn’t. It took a long time, but yeah. In hindsight, it was like, Damn, this took me way too long to realize I was in a bad place. But thankfully, I did and fixed it.”

Well, he certainly turned a corner for good after the struggles of 2018. Surprisingly, he ditched the JRM camp and joined Richard Childress Racing. the idea behind this move was that through RCR, he could elevate himself tothe  Cup Series. Driving the No. 2 Chevy, he competed as if his life was on the line and racked up 24 top 5 finishes out of 33 races. Out of these six were race wins and like 2018 he once again bagged the Xfinity Series championship.

This triumph secured his ride in the Cup Series as he took command of the No. 8 RCR Chevy in 2020. He would continue with Richard Childress and his team for three full seasons after making the big switch to Toyota camp and joining 23XI Racing. Now that he’s settled into his role, Reddick also shared his take on how he sees NASCAR transform in the modern era. And he was more inclined towards the vision shared by the sanctioning body.

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Reddick is all-in for more NASCAR international races

NASCAR isn’t the dominant motorsports series it once was during the 90s and the 2000s. Cable TV has been replaced by streaming platforms, and weekly shows on TV networks are now consumed as docu-series on Netflix and Prime Videos. Although NASCAR can hold its own thanks to some marquee events like Daytona 500, Coca-Cola 600 or the Southern 500. But with Formula 1 and IndyCar expanding well beyond their traditional boundaries, NASCAR is left with no option but to follow suit.

The sanctioning body has already scheduled a points-paying race down south in Mexico City. Meanwhile, a return to Canada and extending as far as Brazil is something NASCAR is considering for future events. Although this idea and ambitious plan is seen as anti-NASCAR by a few fans, Tyler Reddick feels that other regions of the world need to experience the best of stock car racing.

“I could be wrong, but a big one (is international races). Going to Mexico City for the first time, I hope it goes really, really well, because if it does, I feel like it’s a great opportunity to get out there and go race in different countries where the NASCAR Cup Series has never been before.” The driver added.

Well, it will be interesting to see how the Mexico race turns out. If everything goes well, NASCAR will feel confident about this approach and add more international dates. And Tyler Reddick from 23XI Racing will be eager to experience that joy of racing in different regions.