Tyler Reddick knows how quickly a NASCAR championship run can unravel.
He’s lived just about every version of it.
There were seasons when simply making the postseason felt like an accomplishment. There were years when he entered as a legitimate championship threat. He’s experienced early exits, deep runs and the pressure that comes when winning a Cup Series title stops feeling hypothetical.
Now Reddick is getting another shot, and this one begins from a position of strength.
The 23XI Racing driver enters NASCAR’s 10-race Chase third in the standings, trailing only Denny Hamlin and Ryan Blaney. He also arrives at Darlington Raceway having already won there this season.
But when Reddick spoke exclusively with MotorBiscuit ahead of Sunday’s Southern 500, he kept returning to something that had little to do with outright speed.
The mistakes are going to happen. The championship may ultimately depend on what happens next.
Tyler Reddick Knows the Chase Won’t Go According to Plan
Reddick doesn’t expect 10 clean races. He doesn’t expect the No. 45 team to execute perfectly every weekend.
Instead, he believes the challenge will be preventing the inevitable bad moments from becoming something bigger.
“The pressure and the stakes certainly go up,” Reddick told MotorBiscuit. “Things have reset and they’ve reset for the final time.”
Reddick pointed to the way errors become magnified as the season winds down.
“The bad days, the mistakes, all those things are going to weigh on you,” he said. “And I think it’s important to have a good mindset through that.”
That becomes particularly important under NASCAR’s revamped Chase format. There are no three-race rounds followed by elimination resets. The 16 championship contenders have 10 races to accumulate points, with the driver who emerges with the most at Homestead-Miami Speedway becoming Cup Series champion.
For Reddick, that changes the equation.
“It’s going to be a different approach than the old Chase format,” he said, pointing to stage points, fastest-lap points and the additional points available for winning.
“We’ve had for a very long period of time where you essentially got to reset every three weeks,” Reddick said. “So, yeah, it’s going to be much different than that.”
The goal isn’t perfection. It’s recovery.
“When you have something not go right, mistakes are made, or just bad decisions, it’s super important to lock in and rebound from it and make the most of that day,” Reddick said.
Darlington Already Taught Reddick How to Fight Through a Bad Day
There may be no better place for Reddick to begin the Chase than Darlington. Not simply because he won there in March, but because of everything it took to finally do it.
“It’s been a long, long drawn-out process at Darlington,” Reddick said. “For years and years, we’ve, you know, even dating back to the first year of the Next Gen car, I mean, so fast right there in contention to win races and we haven’t done it.”
That changed this spring.
Reddick battled an electrical problem, lost several comfort systems inside the car, was sent to the rear after his team changed the battery and later endured a slow pit stop. He still fought his way back to the front and won.
Now he sees lessons in both the races that went right and those that slipped away.
“A lot of lessons to be taken away from each of those, each of those good finishes and even some of the bad ones,” Reddick said.
The Southern 500 will test more than speed. Reddick pointed to the race’s length, numerous pit stops and strategic demands, along with the mental challenge Darlington presents when things inevitably start going wrong.
“At some point, it’s going to be really easy to lose your cool and get mad, lose sight of what’s what the goal is in that moment, where you’re trying to get to,” Reddick said.
His spring victory proved the No. 45 team can recover. “We know how to fight through things at Darlington, that’s for sure,” he said.
Previous Championship Runs Changed Reddick’s Perspective
Reddick didn’t arrive at that mindset overnight.
His earliest Cup postseason appearances came when making the field itself represented progress. Later came seasons when Reddick knew he belonged among the championship contenders.
Then came 2024, when he won the regular-season championship and reached the Championship 4.
“A lot’s changed,” Reddick said when asked what he understands now that he didn’t during those first postseason runs.
This season has provided another education.
“We’ve fought up and down with 11 a lot this year,” Reddick said. “So, we kind of, you know, we’ve been thinking about points all year long.”
The No. 11 belongs to Hamlin, Reddick’s 23XI Racing co-owner and the driver entering the Chase atop the standings.
For Reddick, the lesson isn’t to ignore the pressure. It’s to control it.
“It can be a good pressure now that the Chase is here if you let it be,” Reddick said. “It’s important not to let it overwhelm you or overwhelm your mind and let it cloud your decision making in the moment.”
Reddick Leaves Daytona Wondering What Might Have Been
Reddick enters the Chase after a third-place finish at Daytona that came tantalizingly close to becoming something more.
As Ryan Preece and Zane Smith battled for the victory, Reddick saw an opportunity developing behind them.
“I felt like getting to the lead on the third line was going to work out really, really good down the back,” Reddick said.
He never got to find out. “The crash started and that was it,” he said.
Still, Reddick left Daytona with another strong result and his championship position intact. Now the races that matter most begin.
Reddick Has Watched 23XI Grow Around Him
Reddick will make that title run with an organization he has watched evolve considerably since joining it.
“I just think back to when this all came together, just blown away, humbled, honored that that two individuals like that wanted me to be a part of their future,” Reddick said of driving for Hamlin and Michael Jordan.
He pointed to 23XI’s increased depth, in-house teams and growing developmental operation as signs of how far the organization has come.
“It’s been great watching 23XI grow and continue to get more consistent, have more depth,” Reddick said.
That relationship extends beyond the race track. Reddick also discussed 23XI and Mobil 1’s “We Win You Win” program, which gives fans opportunities to win when a 23XI driver reaches Victory Lane.
“In the Chase, obviously, consistency and all these things are important, but, you know, there’s 15 extra points to be gained on those days that we’re able to win,” Reddick said. “And so it’s a fun little sweepstakes.”
Winning will certainly matter over these next 10 races. But Reddick doesn’t believe everything has to go right to become a champion.
He believes the difference may be what happens when it doesn’t.