Fans noticed Tyler Reddick slip down the grid from a P8 starting spot to a p22 at Iowa. Maybe, his ‘Hamburglar’ inspired paint scheme and firesuit could be deemed responsible for an almost-criminal loss of track position for the #45 on Sunday? This one-off tribute to a beloved mascot belonging to one of the primary sponsors partnered with Michael Jordan’s race team has put quite a few eyes on a contrary conundrum. 

After all, the Hamburglar fancies himself the smoothest bandit in McDonaldland, snatching the tastiest treats right under everyone’s noses. On the other hand, his NASCAR counterpart, at the Iowa Corn 350, was barely invisible for those watching this week, and neither was he able to snatch the ultimate ‘treat.’ Or even a solitary stage point for that matter.

Although Tyler did look dapper donning the outfit in between the Cornfields of Iowa, the fans have, as fans do, brought about a storm. The type to make even the real Hamburglar shake in his knees to witness the cold, cold heart of the NASCAR nation.

Did the ‘bandit of McDonaldland’ curse Tyler Reddick?

When McDonald’s started rolling out commercials involving the Hamburglar to promote their ventures in 1971, even Michael Jordan was all but 8 years old. Almost 5 decades later, McDonald’s serves 60 million people daily and MJ is worth 3.2 billion dollars. He is also the proud owner of a NASCAR race team, 23XI Racing, alongside Denny Hamlin. In a seemingly destined confluence of stock-car racing sponsorships, the world’s largest fast-food chain has supported 23XI’s advances from the initial stages to witness 6 race wins emerge out of less than 5 years of collaboration.

To take all those positives a notch further, as NASCAR’s premier tier debuted on a brand-new track, the Iowa Speedway, McDonald’s, and 23XI brought into existence a promo the size of a metaphorical McDouble. Similar to an earlier attempt at the eighth Playoffs race at Homestead last year, both 23XI Racing cars paid tributes to Grimace and The Hamburglar, two icons of McDonaldland, alongside Ronald himself. The twist was that the drivers received matching firesuits tailored to the likeness of the fictional characters.

But contrary to the top 10 finishes for both 23XI cars at Homestead, Bubba Wallace’s #23 wore the signature purple of Grimace and placed P17. Consequently, Reddick’s #45 displayed the infamous black-and-white stripes of The Hamburglar en route to a P22 finish this weekend. To be fair Sunday wasn’t exactly the shiniest of days for the Camry XSE. Its only representative inside the top 10 was Christopher Bell in P4 with his Joe Gibbs teammate Martin Truex Jr, trailing behind at P15. However, speaking of 23XI, they made noise only for their pretty paint and not so much for their results.

Even NASCAR driver-turned-FOX commentator, Kevin Harvick, seemed to neglect the performances of Reddick when he reposted a picture from Bob Pockrass of a Hamburglar mascot standing beside the #45 driver’s attempt at the former’s costume. Harvick would sarcastically write on Twitter, “I’m glad I had a beer sponsor… @BuschBeer.”

Nevertheless, Reddick and Wallace aren’t strangers to having iconic paint schemes on their cars either. Who can forget the all-white on Tyler Reddick’s #45 at Talladega emblazoned with the Jordan logo? And Wallace’s red and black McDonald’s scheme with the golden arches on the hood has already become a favorite. The fans may or may not agree with these sentiments, but what they did agree upon, heading out of Newport, was the banter that was derived to be “pretty fitting,” when all was done and dusted in Iowa’s Cup debut.

Eye-catching paint schemes keep fans engaged

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Reddit user u/jmnordan brought the discussions to the NASCAR subreddit with an image of the 28-year-old Californian walking at Iowa dressed in his dashing firesuit, complete with The Hamburglar’s signature tie decal. To kick off the conversations, the thread was captioned, “Is this really Reddick’s uniform for tonight? Hamburglar on the #45…”

Heeding reference to the notorious nature of The Hamburglar and his criminal-esque characteristics, one fan made a hilarious inquiry: “Am I a bad person for wanting him to get in a post-race altercation with that on?” The second-most upvoted reply to this inquiry matched its level of humor stating comedically, “Kyle Busch would have retired on the spot if Stenhouse punched him dressed as the Hamburglar. Hopefully Reddick won’t let us down.” 

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Others questioned if “Bubba is rocking a full on Grimace costume & he switches out the head for a Grimace helmet when he gets in the car.” Although the latter would not come to fruition for the hopeful, Bubba Wallace did wear a Grimace-inspired firesuit for the Iowa Corn 350.

This comment deserves a noteworthy glance complaining about the arguable price inflation of McDonald’s items in the current spectrum: “Pretty fitting McDonald’s has been using the hamburgarlar a lot recently in marketing considering their prices these days are highway robbery.” Regardless, a fan rightfully observed, “I am mad impressed with his ability to keep a straight face while wearing that.” 

With the season moving to New Hampshire and beyond at the onset of next weekend’s freshest NASCAR festivities, more such paint schemes will surely enthrall audiences with even more elements of surprise. As for Tyler Reddick and The Hamburglar tribute, hopefully, there will be more of those along the way.