"We have to go in there and do the job" - Reddick
Today at 08:11 PM
In recent NASCAR media chatter, 23XI Racing co-owner Denny Hamlin has spoken of Tyler Reddick's ability to get speed and out of a NASCAR Cup car.
"He just has the ability to get more speed out of a car than others," recent Martinsville winner Hamlin said of Reddick, driver of the No. 35 Monster Energy Toyota Camry SXE. "Thar's the simple way to put it."
Seven races into the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series season, Reddick is seventh position in the driver standings, with early highlights being a runner-up finish in the Daytona 500 and third at the Circuit of The Americas. Ahead of this weekend’s race at Darlington, Reddick reflected on Hamlin’s words.
"I think it's something that, depending on the track that we go to, the tire we have and the style of racing we have, can be a benefit," he said. "I think at some tracks it can work against me if I'm wearing my tires out quicker that those I'm racing around. It's just one of those things that can help you at a number of tracks that we go to, but it can also be hurtful at some of these places. I've had to learn that the hard way at places like Martinsville and some of the short tracks, where I just try and hustle the car and really just hurt our performance over the course of a run. It's a blessing and a curse if you don't know how to manage it. When you have a really good car, it just helps you solidify to qualify at the front, and on the days where you may need to give the car a little bit something extra to try and qualify better on an off day.
"It's a great compliment from Denny and I appreciate it, but I feel like it's just something that, as I continue to do this Cup racing, I need to continue to figure out when and where to use it. It doesn't help everywhere you go."
Winner of the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series regular season championship, Reddick believes he can repeat the feat in 2025.
"I feel like we're capable of it,” he said. “I guess in some ways the first month of racing went better than it has for me in years' past, but I feel in the last three or four weeks we haven't really been getting the job done, unfortunately. Some of it has been mechanical. The last two races, Homestead and Martinsville, were very similar. We were really, really strong on the long run, but not really able to maintain track position on restarts on short runs. We’ve got a little work to do there. I don't know if it is a cause for alarm, but certainly with how the stages have played out for us and getting next to no stage points at all in the last two races, has been tough. Any little mistake can really set you back from having a top five possible day, and the last two weeks we have had those little things along the way that have cost us some track position and put us in that 10th to 15th place range. We have work to do."
Darlington Raceway is the sort of place where Reddick believes he and 23XI can get some momentum rolling.
"Darlington is a place where we should realistically score a 40-point day,” he said. “Even with an average performance. It's an opportunity to get some of those points that I mentioned back we lost over the last three weeks back. And above all else, I think Darlington is a place, time and time again over my Cup career, where I've had a lot of speed and had the potential to win at.
“Yes, there are big expectations, but I believe we are capable at a place like that. Very simply, we just have to go in there and do the job that we are supposed to do."
