“Was Not What We Wanted”: Tyler Reddick Admits to a Disappointing Downgrade With Bubba Wallace and 23XI; Hoping to Bounce Back

Kansas Speedway should have been Tyler Reddick and 23XI Racing’s big day. After clocking in 181.001 mph in the second practice session, all eyes were on the team that had won three out of the four previous races there. However, Reddick dropped to fifteenth and Bubba Wallace dropped to a dismal P23 in the starting grid. By the end of the AdventHealth 400, both Bubba Wallace and Tyler Reddick found themselves outside the top five.

Heading into this Sunday at Darlington Raceway, both 23XI Racing drivers face a similar dilemma. Now that the #45 Camry belonging to Reddick has qualified in pole position and Wallace is starting eighth, can the 23XI Racing crew avoid a repeat of last weekend’s heartbreak?

As shared by ‘Cup Scene’, after securing the pole at Darlington, Reddick stated, “We never really gave ourselves a chance though. I made some pretty big mistakes early in the (Kansas) race, tore the car pretty bad and we still were able to get back up to fifth with a pretty damaged race car. But yeah, finishing 20th and running where we did on stage three was not what we wanted.” 

Now that Reddick is aiming to secure another win for Denny Hamlin and Michael Jordan, such incidents shouldn’t become the norm. Fortunately, Reddick believes that 23XI Racing has solved that issue when it comes to Darlington. He added, “We just were extra motivated when we went back to the shop this week, Bob (Pockrass). We got our mindset right and we brought a really fast Toyota Camry. We did a good job in practice understanding what our car needed for qualifying. And we just maximized qualifying well.”

But what exactly went wrong in the first place? According to the #45 driver, the Camry XSE that 23XI had brought to Kansas had a lot of pace but was missing other factors which meant they fell short of TRD drivers such as Denny Hamlin himself. Reddick added, “Knowing the speed that the #11 had and the other Toyotas had, yeah it hurt, but these things happen in racing. So we certainly learned a lot from it.” 

With Reddick’s dominant performance during qualifying at Darlington, the 23XI Racing driver believes the team is better prepared for when they encounter Kansas again in the playoffs. With that said, it would be unfair to attribute all the credit for Reddick’s pole position to the setup improvements. What else could be responsible?

Tyler Reddick explains his upper edge in the competition at Darlington

We all know why Darlington has earned itself that moniker. Just yesterday, we saw Kyle Busch wreck twice during the Truck Series race, prompting many fans to call him washed. But after Dean Thompson lost traction at the same place in turn 2 and wrecked out many frontrunners, it’s safe to say that even the toughest can face defeat at the hands of Darlington’s narrow turns. However, if there’s any driver that can conquer Darlington this year, it’s Tyler Reddick.

In the post-qualifying interviews, Reddick highlighted the reasons why he’s so competitive at Darlington. After all, Reddick finished runners-up last time we were racing here. The #45 driver shared, “I have a lot of fun racing other competitors, but I have a lot of fun just running laps at this track as well. You know, my first-ever laps in the Next-Gen car and the NASCAR Next-Gen version 3 car was here. We had a test, the thing was a handful to drive. Had a lot of fun in it.”

But that’s not all. Reddick also revealed that he’s been a part of other rookie tests at Darlington as well. While a rookie test is challenging on its own, Darlington certainly takes things up a few notches. Reddick had to come to grips with both the Xfinity and Cup cars at the intermediate track, making him one of the best-suited to handle its treacherous nature.

And that truly speaks volumes if you look at his performances. With three Top-5s and one Top-10 in ten appearances, Reddick has proved why he’s a formidable force at the track. But that dominance certainly didn’t come out of the blue. Reddick believes he’s understood what it takes to win at Darlington.

He concluded, ” I‘ve had some unique experiences that have probably helped me get better here. But I think the biggest thing is just the way the tires wear out and the amount you have to move around, the amount of risk you have to take every single lap and manage that for a whole race has kind of benefited me and how I drive a race car.” 

As 23XI Racing looks to forget their woes from Kansas, do you think Tyler Reddick and Bubba Wallace can escape a fate similar to last weekend this time?