Reddick Has ‘Solid-ish’ Day Despite Phoenix Practice Spin

Tyler Reddick (Mike Meadows/LAT for Toyota Racing photo)

AVONDALE, Ariz. – Tyler Reddick wasn’t quite sure what word to use to describe his experience during Friday’s NASCAR Cup Series practice at Phoenix Raceway, so he invented one.

The 23XI driver and Corning, Calif., native termed his on-track time at the one-mile desert oval as “solid-ish,” despite the fact that he spun his No. 45 Toyota Camry XSE in turn two with less than five minutes to go in the 50-minute session.

The long, smoky slide by Reddick ended in a burnout that would have made any professional in the National Hot Rod Ass’n proud, though it didn’t do Reddick any favors in advance of Busch Light Pole Qualifying on Saturday.

“I’m glad we practiced coming to pit road, because that was not good,” explained Reddick after the end of practice. “Car-wise, I’ve hit the wall a few times … so I don’t know how we went third on the board, but we’ve got some work to do I feel like.

“Not exactly the day that we wanted for our Mobil 1 Toyota Camry XSE because we don’t have a lot of turnaround time for tech, and I knocked the tail [end] off of it pretty good,” he added. “I don’t know if that was the cause of some of our handling issues; every time I feel like we made a positive change, we’d get in traffic and [the progress] would be gone again. Pretty interesting, to say the least.

“We’re done practicing, so I can’t damage it anymore!”

Even with his turn-two adventure, Reddick still posted the third-fastest single lap speed of the day, a time of 27.467 seconds (131.066 mph), as well as the seventh-best 10-lap average among the 36-car field.

“We’ll be here for quite a while tonight working on this thing, I’d say. Hopefully we have enough time to get it through tech,” tipped Reddick. “It was nice to have a solid-ish day … not a clean day, but nice to have speed and some base points that we can build on for the rest of the weekend.”

One thing of note – from Reddick as well as many of his competitors – was that the new-for-2024 short track aerodynamics debuted Friday at Phoenix seemed to do little to help cars make passes in dirty air.

The updated short-track rules include a simplified rear diffuser with fewer vertical strakes and a three-inch tall rear spoiler.

“This package was supposed to help the cars [in traffic], but it feels exponentially worse,” Reddick noted. “Very interesting to feel out the car and what’s happening there. I think we’ve got a lot to talk about and figure out in a short period of time.”

Reddick and the stars of the NASCAR Cup Series will qualify for the Shriner’s Childrens 500 on Saturday at 2 p.m. ET, with live coverage from Phoenix Raceway airing on FS1 and the Motor Racing Network.