Can teamwork make a championship dream work for Tyler Reddick and 23XI?

This Sunday, 23XI Racing’s Tyler Reddick will race for the highest honor in NASCAR: the Cup Series championship. He’s one of four drivers — along with Joey Logano, William Byron, and defending champion Ryan Blaney — who survived every elimination in the NASCAR playoffs, and now, one race remains. The highest finisher among those four after 312 laps at Phoenix Raceway wins the championship, whether they win the 40-car race or not. 

A vital part of Reddick’s championship bid is his race team. The crews working on his No. 45 car and teammate Bubba Wallace’s No. 23 all have the same goal: win the title for 23XI.

“I would say 90% of our weekend is focused on making sure they’re getting everything that they need,” JR Houston, an engineer on Wallace’s car, told Motorsport. “If we find something that makes the car faster, we tell them about it, then we both get faster. If they get everything they need, we are going to perform well, and vice versa.”

Teamwork has been a hot topic at Phoenix this weekend, since all four drivers racing for the championship have teammates who aren’t. That lets the playoff and non-playoff cars on each team try out car setups and driving techniques to see which ones work best, which is critical when one race decides the title. 

While cars on some NASCAR teams operate more individually all year, Houston said 23XI works in lockstep. The team brings similar cars to the track for both drivers, so feedback on car setup and driving technique can benefit both. That mattered already this weekend, when Wallace ran the 11th-best time in practice and Reddick ran 21st — behind the other three championship contenders. Blaney’s No. 12 car led the session. 

“In practice, Bubba was a little more comfortable with the car,” Houston said. “We debriefed for an hour about how the cars felt different, and because they’re so similar, we know that it’s the drivers making the difference. By being similar, we can teach each other.” 

Teamwork makes the dream work?

This weekend, there’s an extra layer of help: Denny Hamlin, co-owner of 23XI and driver of the No. 11 car for fellow Toyota team Joe Gibbs Racing. Hamlin made the penultimate round of the playoffs, but got eliminated last weekend when the field went from eight drivers to four. 

That makes Reddick the only…