Tyler Reddick should have a spot in the NASCAR Cup Series postseason, but the fact that's even in doubt is news in itself.
There are no guarantees, of course, with five races left in the regular season and four spots still to be determined on the playoff grid. Reddick, however, is sitting in the most comfortable position as the highest driver on the provisional playoff grid without a win and a margin of 156 points. One year ago, though, Reddick was the regular-season champion.
How times have changed. And how the conversation has shifted to one that Reddick feels should not involve him or his 23XI Racing team.
“Honestly, for us, making the playoffs is the minimum requirement,” Reddick said Friday at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. “This team, the kind of performance we bring to the racetrack, whether it’s our pit crew, the cars, or how we strategize and race, it’s crazy to even think we’re worried about making the playoffs, considering what kind of team I think we are. So, to be in the playoffs, you have to make it, I get that. But for us, it’s more about 'OK, we’re in it, great, but we need playoff points. We need to do all these things.'”
Reddick is fifth in the overall championship standings with eight top-10 finishes in 21 starts. However, he lacks a race win and has one playoff point, earned via a stage win.
“Ultimately, that means when it does get started, we’re going to have to work really hard or run 20 to 30 spots better than guys we’re around each round,” Reddick noted. “I think we’re capable of that, but now we’re asking for some help along the way, too. Some of the strong teams making mistakes.
“I don’t love the spot that we’re in for those reasons. Yeah, I feel good about making the playoffs, but for me and this team, the goal isn’t making the playoffs; it’s going far in the playoffs. It’s making it to the Championship 4 and competing for championships. That’s what it’s about for us. Making the playoffs isn’t something that we have as a goal. It’s almost a requirement.”
23XI Racing is winless across the board with its teams. Reddick is the highest in the point standings, while Bubba Wallace, who is 13th, sits on the bubble of the provisional playoff grid. Riley Herbst, the third team put together for this year, is a rookie and currently ranks 35th out of the 36 full-time drivers in the standings.
Reddick won three races last year. Wallace has not won since 2022.
Denny Hamlin didn’t pull punches a month ago in Atlanta when addressing the outlook for the team he co-founded to make the postseason. Given the resources and what is put into 23XI Racing, Hamlin said “all of our drivers” should win races. It is the natural expectation for an organization of its caliber.
“I need all my cars winning at some point,” Hamlin said at the time. “There are just too many resources, too many good people over there not to win more races, and certainly. I think we’ve underperformed as far as actually winning this year.”
Reddick acknowledged the execution has not been there for 23XI Racing when opportunities to win have presented themselves.
“We’ve made a mistake, we’ve done something along the way that either makes (it) that much more difficult to win or completely takes us out of it,” he said. “So, that’s kind of the name of the game. You can go and look through these races and the teams that don’t make the major mistakes win, even this past weekend at Dover. [Chase Elliott] was extremely strong; they made a couple of mistakes along the way, he didn’t win the race. That's just kind of how it goes with how close the cars are, how close the competition is.
“I feel like it was Darlington years ago, when Denny missed pit road, and because his team and his car were so good, they were able to come back from that and still win the race. In this day and age of stock car racing, because of how close everything is, those mistakes hurt you so much more. So, it’s extremely important to go out there, do your job, and execute. I know it’s a hard thing; if you tell yourself not to make mistakes, you’re going to be thinking about mistakes. But that’s what you have to do. You have to be able to lock in during those critical moments and perform.”