1. Tyler Reddick is breaking out before our eyes, but …
It was only a few years back when Tyler Reddick was part of the Big 3 in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, vying for wins and titles with Christopher Bell and Cole Custer. At the time, he felt like the underdog, even after he won the 2018 Xfinity Series championship.
He was more dominant while defending his crown in 2019, but when he was promoted to a full-time Cup Series ride in 2020, Reddick slipped back behind his rivals in the pecking order, as both Custer and Bell found their way to victory lane quicker.
All along, though, Reddick looked like a driver who would eventually come good. After a fee near misses earlier in the 2022 season, he’s done it in impressive fashion, winning twice in the span of five races after taking the checkered flag this past Sunday (July 31) at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course — with a second-place finish at Pocono Raceway thrown in for good measure.
Consistency is still an issue for Reddick and his No. 8 team, as evidenced by the fact that he’s 11th in points, 91 behind Bell. But his two wins on road courses bode well since there are more of those on the Cup Series schedule than ever.
It’s possible Reddick is on the verge of even bigger things, which begs a question …
2. … Is Reddick being too hasty leaving Richard Childress Racing?
Let’s be honest: It’s been quite some time since Richard Childress Racing was relevant. A few wins a season is about all the organization has been able to muster, and occasionally it’s even had one car that wasn’t even in the hunt for wins.
Reddick is driving that car right now, and as we’ve discussed, has already wheeled it to two wins in 2022. It’s possible that he’s a transcendent talent, or it could be that RCR has found something with the Next Gen car that it wasn’t able to muster with the previous Cup Series model. More likely, it’s some combination of the two.
That’s important because when it was first announced that Reddick would leave RCR at the end of the 2023 season to join 23XI Racing, it was widely perceived as a step up that would automatically advance his career. Now? That’s not as clear.
As a group, the 23XI Racing teams have as many wins as Reddick does with his current team. That’s not bad considering it was a one-car effort until 2022, and still in its relative infancy overall. But it’s not like Reddick will be joining an organization that is dominant and just cranking…
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