Tyler Reddick looks forward to Sunday’s Hollywood Casino 400 Presented by ESPN BET at Kansas Speedway starting from the fourth position. (Photo: Cole Penning | The Podium Finish)
KANSAS CITY, Kan. — Tyler Reddick enters Sunday’s Hollywood Casino 400 Presented by ESPN Bet at Kansas Speedway in a quietly confident place.
The 28-year-old Corning, California native enters the first race of the Round of 12 as the defending race winner and regular season champion. He starts fourth, a position better than where he qualified in last year’s race.
However, Reddick felt like his performance in May’s AdventHealth 400 did not live up to expectations for his 23XI Racing team.
“There was a lot of things that happened in the race that contributed to that,” Reddick said. “Specifically for our team, we were very close in practice, qualifying didn’t exactly go perfect. Made some mistakes on my end that put us out of the top 10. But as for the race itself, yeah, I’d say we were decent. I think we could’ve ran top five but certainly hitting the wall the way I did to start the race racing the 48 [Alex Bowman] did a lot of damage to our car and from there it spiraled out of control.
“We ran something over and put a hole in the floor in the car so just a lot of things went wrong to really hurt the performance. Certainly, seeing some of the tire wear that we had that others didn’t there was some things that we learned there. I think the finish wasn’t great, but as we prepared for this coming weekend, we weren’t panicked or any kind of freak out coming back here because the other Toyotas ran good, and we know where they’re at. And we’ve been very close. We’ve had winning speed and had that potential in year’s past, so we knew that we weren’t going to have to look at a lot of things to improve and change coming back.”
There were some similarities for Reddick with his spring Kansas outing and Round of 16 performances. Finishing sixth in the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs opener at Atlanta, he fell to 27th at Watkins Glen and 20th at Bristol.
“It’s there. Well, we’ll see shortly, I think it’s there. It was definitely not a good first round for us,” he reflected. “Yeah, I think a number of things played into that, but we’ve done a really good job all year long of at our worst being able to still get a top 10 out of it. Some of the handling issues that we had at tracks where normally it’s not an issue for us really set that in stone for the first round. I think we still could’ve scored decent points especially the last two races.
“We were just missing things a little bit – made mistakes in qualifying on my behalf that put us back there and then were in that box where we have to get a little desperate or aggressive, if you will, to try and get some points out of it. Yeah, we’re able to look at the results and understand why we were there. We’re not scratching our heads as to why we ran that bad. We know what caused it. Yeah, it is what it is. It stinks, but you get to reset and start over for this round where we were at the beginning.”
Reddick and crew chief Billy Scott have been steady and consistent in the first 29 races of the season. With wins at Talladega and Michigan, 11 top fives and 19 top 10s, the driver of the No. 45 DraftKings Toyota Supra XSE entry has run 99.46% of the laps run this year.
Tyler Reddick’s distinct No. 45 DraftKings Toyota Supra XSE entry will be one of the frontrunners in Sunday’s Hollywood Casino 400 Presented by ESPN Bet at Kansas Speedway. (Photo: Cole Penning | The Podium Finish)
Adaptability has been part of Reddick’s MO with success in the Cup Series, particularly since pairing with Scott. Even with Kansas hosting its customary second race of the season and postseason spot, he understands how track conditions can change in over four months.
“When the race happens isn’t necessarily a factor, it’s just the temperature of the weekend. Is it cloudy? Is it sunny? What’s the air temperature? What’s the track temperature? Is it going to be humid? Is it going to be dry? All those things kind of change it more so than the time of year,” he offered. “And typically, further into the year, yeah, it’s normally a little bit cooler, but that’s all of the information we know coming into it and have already adjusted for.
“I don’t necessarily think it moves the needle on what you bring setup wise, but it can kind of dictate where you start with the balance of your race car compared to the spring races.”
Like Kyle Larson, a versatile driver who succeeds in stock cars and dirt track vehicles, Reddick considered why he and drivers from this discipline thrive in Cup.
“I’ve only been a part of small chapters of it. I’ve only done this for a few years, but it certainly seems like from a fan’s perspective – my perspective as a fan growing up – there was less reward for taking a risk and I feel like now that just continues to elevate,” Reddick said. “So, for us, when we come from dirt racing, we’re used to making aggressive moves, dealing with aggressive race tracks, if you will, at times too and just having to go out there and in the first lap or two find it.
“You get three or four laps in warm up or practice and you gotta go run a lap in qualifying. Just our nature, our upbringing, really kind of primed us for how this car races today. You hear Kyle [Larson] talk about it right at Bristol — 100% of all you’ve got for 500 laps at Bristol.”
Time is of the essence not only with pace but the plan of attack on the track. Perhaps that is why Reddick is one of the first drivers who come to mind each race weekend, especially at a track like Kansas Speedway.
“That’s just kind of the mindset we had growing up as drivers was just to always push the issue,” Reddick shared. “I remember the last time I did go run some dirt, it was like wow, my mindset has really shifted. We’re used to having 40 or 50 laps opening stage or 20 or 30 laps in practice to really feel what you have, and when you go dirt racing, you need to find it in two laps.
“A lot of times, your races are 20 to 30 laps, maybe 50 in some of the bigger ones. You just don’t have the time or the luxury of time that you do here. It does really seem like the dirt racing mindset has applied well to this car I feel.”
