“Schooled Us”: Tyler Reddick Confesses JGR Star’s Superiority in Phoenix That Forced Boss Denny Hamlin to Take Notes

Tyler Reddick is among the favorites to win the first road course Cup Series race of the season at Circuit of the Americas. The 28-year-old had a tough start to the season with the two superspeedway races, but his last three races have been huge improvements. Since the return of short track races, the 23XI driver has found his groove back, which was even acknowledged by Kevin Harvick, who spoke to him on the Happy Hour podcast show.

Particularly in the race at Phoenix, Reddick was on a roll as he led close to 68 laps and even won stage 1. He was quite a troublemaker for Joe Gibbs Racing driver, Ty Gibbs and his team co-owner Denny Hamlin. Despite all the efforts and early momentum, Reddick saw his lead vanish quickly as Christopher Bell clinched the victory. Although Reddick’s skills at Phoenix were lauded by Harvick, the former RCR driver acknowledged Bell’s dominant comeback at Phoenix, even suggesting that he should learn a thing or two from his rival.

Tyler Reddick was all praise for Christopher Bell’s racing display at Phoenix

It was the season’s first short-track race with the new aero package at Phoenix Raceway. For most of the first two stages, it looked like Tyler Reddick was the front-runner to get the win, but the dynamics of the race soon changed with Bell making haste to contest for the lead. With just 5 laps to go in stage 2, Reddick faced the daunting challenge of keeping Bell at bay, and this is where Bell pulled out his technical mastery to make a pass that eventually got him his first win of the season.

Heaping praise upon Bell on the podcast, Reddick explained, “Christopher pretty much schooled us on how to properly use it (racing down the apron) last Sunday. In the moment, I didn’t know how much faster he was. I didn’t know he was 8 seconds back and just ran insane laps. So, I think there’s something to learn from that, for sure. I think me and Denny kind of talked about it, so I think what he did there was some of his car, but a lot of it potentially just be technique, so it’s something we’ll certainly be trying to be more in tune with.”

One of the biggest takeaways from the last two races has been the resurgence of the Toyota Camry. Be it qualifying or racking up wins, in the first three races, Toyota was sort of struggling, but not anymore.

With two short-track race wins under the belt, Joe Gibbs Racing has now made a strong comeback, and going into the COTA race, Reddick will now look to get the best out of the Camry on the road course track.

Tyler Reddick is among the frontrunners to bag the win at Circuit of the Americas

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After two thrilling encounters at short-track races in Phoenix and Bristol, the NASCAR Cup Series will now head to its first road course event at COTA. So far, the #45 driver from 23XI has had his fair share of good and sub-par performances. His best finish came at Las Vegas, finishing race #2 just behind the winner, Kyle Larson, whereas Phoenix was another one of his good showings. But given that he is a road course specialist driver, he will be backing himself to get a decent result from this Sunday’s race.

Reddick only had one road course win last season, which came at COTA. Moreover, in his three Cup Series starts at the venue, he has never qualified outside of the top five positions. As far as his performances are concerned, his worst finish is 9th, which came back in 2021 when he raced for RCR, driving a Chevrolet car.

What are your predictions for the NASCAR Cup Series road course race at COTA? Do let us know in the comments below.

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