Tyler Reddick entered the NASCAR Cup Playoffs with the regular season trophy in hand, but the primary rounds weren't what he had hoped for.
After avoiding the chaos in Atlanta and ending sixth, he was twenty sixth at Watkins Glen and twentieth at Bristol. He still advanced to the twelfth round because of quite a few additional points, but doing so again could end his title hopes this weekend at Kansas Speedway.
“It definitely wasn't a good first round for us,” Reddick admitted during a press conference Saturday in Kansas. “Yes, I feel there have been loads of things that contributed to it, but we did a very good job all 12 months and at worst we were still in a position to finish in the highest ten. Some of the handling issues we had on tracks where it's not often an issue for us really reinforced that in the primary round.
“I feel we could still rating decent points, especially within the last two races. We just missed something a bit bit – we made mistakes in qualifying that put us back in first place for me, after which we found ourselves within the box where we now have to get a bit bit desperate or aggressive, in the event you will, to attempt to get some points in it . Yes, we’re able to take a look at the outcomes and understand why we were there. We're not scratching our heads as to why we got off to a nasty start. We know what caused it. Yes, that's what stinks, but you possibly can reset and begin over on this round where we were at the start.
Reddick has reason to be confident. The No. 45 23XI Racing Toyota he drives has won three of the last five Kansas Cup races – with three different drivers! Sam Reddick is the defending winner of this playoff race, winning with a dramatic three-way pass to the white flag.
Tyler Reddick, 23XI Racing, MoneyLion Toyota Camry
Photo: David Rosenblum / NKP / Motorsport Images
However, he was strangely absent from the spring race this 12 months, qualifying fifteenth and ending twentieth. However, we must always not expect a repeat of this poor performance on Sunday.
“A lot of things happened in the race that contributed to this,” Reddick explained. “Especially within the case of our team, we were very close in training, qualifying didn’t go perfectly. I made just a few mistakes that pushed us out of the highest ten. But by way of the race itself, I'd say we were decent.
“I feel we could have finished in the highest five, but we actually hit the wall like I did, starting the race in forty eighth place. [Alex Bowman] it did loads of damage to our automobile and from then on the situation got uncontrolled. We ran over something and put a hole in the ground of the automobile, so loads of things went unsuitable which really hurt the performance.
Starting from the front
Thanks to all of those aspects, Reddick and the team “didn't panic” as they returned to Kansas this weekend. “The other Toyotas did well and we know where they are. We were very close. Last year we had winning speed and we had potential, so we knew we wouldn't have to look at a lot of things you can improve and change coming back.”
Qualifying proved Reddick right when two Joe Gibbs Racing Toyotas blocked the front row. Reddick was only one row behind and qualified fourth.
Similar to the primary round, the subsequent three races include a draft course and a road course, adding one other level of unpredictability to the playoffs.
“It's going to be much more important to have solid racing, and that's what we've been building on for most of this year,” Reddick said of the wild-card aspect of this round. “Yes, it will be nice to leave here with a win and we don't have to worry about the next two, but our strong point is certainly getting top fives and top 10s and scoring a lot of points. If we do that here, we'll be in a position where we're not overly stressed for Talladega and then Roval.”
