If there’s one theme from Tyler Reddick’s 2024 season, it’s speed. The 23XI Racing driver showed a lot of it, epitomized by the huge move to the outside of Ryan Blaney at Homestead-Miami that earned him the win and locked him into the Championship 4.
Reddick seemed to be up front just about every weekend, particularly throughout the summer, as he enjoyed a real breakout season behind the wheel of the No. 45 and drove to his first-ever Championship 4 appearance in the Cup Series.
Unfortunately, the team never had enough speed at Phoenix Raceway for the Championship 4 itself. It wasn’t for lack of trying, though. After qualifying tenth and hanging around the back of the top ten for much of the race, Reddick and crew made adjustments and fought hard.
“I just stayed focused on what I could control in the race,” Reddick described. “I knew kind of early on we needed to make our car better, and I feel like we did that. We did make it better throughout the day. We kept marching our way further forward. It was tough for sure, but we worked way too hard all year long to get in this position and give up. We just fought as hard as we could until the end.”
He was particularly able to take advantage of stage cautions as a chance to make bigger changes and catch up to the front of the pack. Reddick finished seventh in Stage 1 and was brought back in contention in the restart to begin the second stage with a bold four-wide move around the outside. However, he just wasn’t able to hold onto the track position once he got it.
“I mean, I feel like Stage 2 when we broke out and got right behind the 24, 22 and 12, I thought, okay, let’s see where this goes. Yeah, over time they kind of got away,” Reddick described.
“I was kind of within range of William and tried to make a move, and it didn’t work out. And then settled back in, and yeah, they kind of steadily pulled away over time. That’s what kind of happened in Stage 3, as well,” he added.
“Yeah, we’ve got to find a little bit more speed, but we made the car better throughout the day. We maintained on pit road. We did all that we could, I think, with it. But certainly yeah, it’s tough when they just get further and further away over time,” he admitted.
The most important thing is the two team owners he has in his corner. Reddick said that both Denny Hamlin and Michael Jordan believed in him throughout the season. Jordan himself was at the track and congratulated Reddick and crew on the effort.
“I didn’t talk to Denny yet, but Michael is just proud of the effort of our team all year long,” Reddick said. “We put up a good fight.”
It certainly was a strong effort all year long, culminating in three wins and twelve top-five finishes. Even through the disappointment of missing out on the championship, Reddick was able to focus on that.
“It was good year for us. Won in the right moments, just hoping for a little bit more of that magic today and wasn’t meant to be,” he concluded.
- Tyler Reddick Just Wasn’t Fast Enough at Phoenix - November 10, 2024
- William Byron Just Needed ‘A Little Bit More’ for a First Championship - November 10, 2024
- Can this NASCAR season get any crazier in the final race at Phoenix? - November 7, 2024