Newlywed Tyler Reddick ready to plug back in

23XI Racing’s Tyler Reddick, who got married during the recent two-week break, comes into Richmond still very much in the hunt for the NASCAR Cup Series regular season championship – only 15 points behind leader Kyle Larson and five points behind second place Chase Elliott. He said he was “completely unplugged” from racing during the recent down time.

“For us, I wasn’t really necessarily worried about it,’’ Reddick said of Richmond. “We were coming back to a track where when things are right and we’re not having issues with the car we run top five. I’m just really thankful for that kind of team that really helps me to kind of step away from it and not feel like we’re going to be behind when we get back to the race track.”

Reddick, who only earned his first top-10 (10th place) in eight Richmond starts in March, added, “I feel like the amount of speed that we’ve been able to take to these short tracks and still be lacking little things like the balance not being right and having other issues with the car and still getting the finishes that we are and having the speed that we do, makes me remain hopeful that when we do get it right that we’ll be right where we belong.’’

He won pole position and led 81 laps (his only laps led at the track) in this Fall race last year. He will start 10th Sunday.