From regular season Champ to Playoff pressure Tyler Reddick battles for survival in Round of 12

TALLADEGA, AL - OCTOBER 05: Tyler Reddick (#45 23XI Racing Nasty Beast Toyota) during qualifications for the NASCAR Cup Series YellaWood 500 race on October 5, 2024 at the Talladega Superspeedway in Talladega, Alabama. (Photo by David J. Griffin/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
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23XI Racing’s Tyler Reddick won the regular season championship by a single point over Hendrick Motorsports’ Kyle Larson posting a two-win regular season that included victories at Talladega this spring and Michigan this summer. He won a coveted 15-point Playoff bonus with that regular season title, but even so, the 28-year old Californian comes into this weekend’s race ranked ninth – four points below the cutoff line with two races remaining in this Round of 12.

Reddick insisted Saturday that qualifying and pit stall will be especially important this weekend as he races to become one of the eight drivers advancing to the next round. He’s had only a single top-10 in the four Playoff races and been 20th or worse in the other three. He sits ninth in the standings, four points behind former series champions, Chase Elliott and Joey Logano.

“I think for us, we kinda know what we need to do to get toward the front from the back during a green flag cycle, but we’ll just be ready for anything,’’ said Reddick, driver of the No. 45 23XI Racing Toyota. “You never know how the race is going to play out on the track, the pace of the field can determine what your options are. But we have a good understanding of what we need to do depending on what plays out on that strategy part of it.

“If we do our jobs we’ll be at the front of the field.’’

Reddick starts 14th Sunday.

Holly Cain, NASCAR Wire Service
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