Summer Consistency Enters Tyler Reddick, 23XI Racing Into Regular-Season Title Conversation

With only five races until the regular-season championship trophy is handed out at Darlington Raceway, Tyler Reddick has quietly moved himself into the thick of the battle following Sunday’s Great American Getaway 400 at Pocono Raceway.

A sixth-place result – and nine stage points to accompany it – have moved Reddick into third in regular-season point standings, just 15 markers behind current points leader Chase Elliott.

It’s a major swing for Reddick, who after the 12^th event of the season at Kansas Speedway sat sixth in points, nearly 100 points off the driver leading the points at the time. The 23XI Racing hasn’t made these major gains in a flashy way, either, but instead, using an old-school method of consistency – much like what carried Matt Kenseth to the 2003 NASCAR Winston Cup Series championship.

Since Kansas, the Corning, California-native has finished worse than eighth on two occasions. One of those was Darlington, where Reddick led a race-high 174 laps and cut a tire after contact while battling for the win. While the results showed 32^nd, stage points allowed the loss to be mitigated, with the No. 45 collecting points equivalent to a 15^th-place result.

Sadly, for Reddick, this stretch of seven top-eights in eight races did include some heartbreak, particularly with a pair of close-call top-three results at Nashville and Chicago, which led to interviews where the 28-year-old driver sounded particularly anguished.

While that same opportunity wasn’t present Sunday at Pocono Raceway, Reddick and crew chief Billy Scott still made the best of the afternoon, bringing home a sixth-place result for the No. 45 Money Lion Toyota Camry XSE team – and more importantly, a 40-point afternoon, after collecting nine stage points.

“Yeah, most of the day was – Stage 1 and Stage 3 were decent for us,” said Reddick after the race. “Stage 2 was a bit of a struggle. Unfortunately, we just didn’t have any good restarts in the middle portion there and gave up some points. But all in all, it was a solid day, and we closed the gap to the points lead. And obviously, Denny [Hamlin] closed in on us a little bit. Overall, solid day and great points day.”

Reddick’s biggest competitors when it comes to the regular-season championship are Hendrick Motorsports teammates Chase Elliott and Kyle Larson, who sit only three points apart at the top of the heap.

Denny Hamlin, co-owner of 23XI Racing, sits fourth in regular-season points, and courtesy of a second-place run and 19 stage points at Pocono, has managed to take an enormous bite out of the deficit to the Joe Gibbs Racing driver, putting him very much in this battle, as well.

Winning the regular-season championship has a huge impact on the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs, as the winner receives 15 additional playoff points, whereas the runner-up only receives 10, and third-place only eight.

With his single victory at Talladega Superspeedway and three stage wins this season, Reddick has currently only accrued eight playoff points, which with five races remaining in the regular season ranks him sixth among full-time NASCAR Cup Series drivers – behind Christopher Bell, Kyle Larson, Denny Hamlin, William Byron, and Ryan Blaney.

Reddick and the No. 45 Toyota Camry XSE will look to continue an impressive streak of solid finishes heading to Indianapolis Motor Speedway, which, technically, was the site of Reddick’s second NASCAR Cup Series victory – albeit on the road course.