Reddick Riding Summer Surge Into Brickyard 400

Tyler Reddick (John Harrelson/Nigel Kinrade Photography)

MOORESVILLE, N.C. – Peaking at the right time is important following an up-and-down stretch where a team has been searching for answers.

In recent weeks, Tyler Reddick and 23XI Racing have done just that amid all the outside drama still swirling around the Michael Jordan and Denny Hamlin-led organization.

Even as 23XI remains locked in a court battle with NASCAR over potential antitrust practices, Reddick has stayed the course with three finishes of sixth or better in his last four races. Most recently, he finished 12th at Dover (Del.) Motor Speedway last weekend.

This is the best stretch Reddick has had all season as he tries to find consistency before the NASCAR Cup Series playoffs.

“I think to some degree we are frustrated that we haven’t won this season for sure, but we’ve been using it as motivation to keep improving and finding speed and we have improved with execution,” said Reddick. “We haven’t really backed away from the fact that we haven’t won a race. We are just using it to motivate us.

“Three weeks ago, we were 120 something points behind [former series points leader] William Byron and a lot of those cars up there, and the last couple of weeks we have closed the gap,” he said. “At Sonoma we didn’t really make up much ground at all, but we were still able to pass my bossman, Denny Hamlin, in points.”

The 29-year-old said his team is on the cusp of being a serious regular season points contender with five weeks remaining. And he said that the No. 45 team is also getting close to finding opportunities to battle for wins as long as they remain consistent.

Through 21 races, Reddick has five top fives and eight top 10s. His qualifying efforts have also improved significantly, as has qualified eighth or better for three weeks in a row. At Dover, he collected his fourth finish of 12th or better, with three coming in his last three races.

As the Cup Series heads to Indianapolis Motor Speedway this weekend, the Corning, Calif., native is looking to continue his momentum.

“We’ve gotten to race the Indy road course, and I got to race on the oval a couple years back when I was running in the Xfinity Series. So it was really cool to run the two-and-a-half-mile track with the Next Gen car and see what that was like,” said Reddick, reflecting on the return of the Brickyard 400 last season.

He said the track tendencies of learning how to maneuver the draft stood out in last year’s race. That’s what Kyle Larson did the best, as he was able to win at Indianapolis in 2024.

“Kyle Larson really used that to his advantage last year, and it is going to be interesting to see how much the field has learned from that,” Reddick added. “It is really exhilarating to nail a lap and get it right at a place like that. It is very unforgiving if you miss it, even in a Cup car.”

Reddick was second to Larson last summer in the Brickyard 400, and in his career on the oval previously with Richard Childress Racing, he was eighth in the summer of 2020.

“They are kind of doing what they were doing in the middle of the summer last year where they made that run towards the regular season – while their pace hasn’t been elite, but their finishing hasn’t been elite,” said 23XI co-owner Hamlin of Reddick’s steady improvement.

“They are just executing well, getting the best finishes they can out of their car that day, and that has been the key. Really truthfully, people like him and Chase Elliott making this little run towards the [end of the] regular season has really been largely due to them not beating themselves, and the rest of us just stepping on it.”

Reddick is ranked as the highest driver above the playoff cutline without a win. He is 156 points to the good above the cut and will look to get closer to victory lane this weekend in the Circle City.

Coverage of the 29th Brickyard 400 presented by PPG from Indianapolis begins Sunday, July 27 at 2 p.m. ET on TNT, the IMS Radio Network, and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, channel 90.