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Ryan Reed heads into the NASCAR XFINITY Series playoffs as the No. 6 seed, but the Roush Fenway Racing driver knows he and his team have their work cut out for them if they hope to advance and possibly contend for the championship.
“It’s a tough atmosphere to judge,” Reed told NASCAR.com recently. “You’ll be like, ‘We ran ninth last week, is that going to be good enough (to advance)?’ Well, you have to look at your competition; who did you beat last weekend? That’s where it’s convoluted. There are times where it’s like, ‘We’ve got a shot,’ and times where you think, ‘We’re not going to be around if we don’t get it together.’
“Last year, we didn’t even ask where we stacked up (going into Playoffs) … Next thing you know going into Phoenix (for the final race before the Championship Round) we were seven points out. We ran fifth or sixth there, gave ourselves a real shot, it just didn’t work out. We had a plug wire fall off a couple of weeks before – you can’t have mistakes like that in the playoffs. We finished sixth in points and it was like ‘OK, the 16 team had a shot at this.’
“This year has been a lot different dynamic. Obviously the last few weeks have been on us, we have to clean our mistakes up. I think if we do then we do have a shot at it.”
Reed earned his playoff berth early, winning the season-opening race at Daytona International Speedway for the second time in his career. The remainder of the regular season had been one of ups and downs for the No. 16 team. After a handful of top 10s early in the season, the group has struggled to finish off races heading into the playoffs.
For the first 12 races of the season, RFR fielded two XFINITY Series teams. But a lack of sponsorship led officials to shut down the No. 6 team of driver Darrell Wallace, leaving Reed and the No. 16 group to go it alone.
Any impact wasn’t felt immediately – Reed finished eighth a week after the move. But there have been times when not having a second car has affected Reed’s efforts.
“Maybe weekends like (Bristol) where that’s not my best track and I probably do struggle to get some feedback from there,” he said.
“Talk to any (organization) that is a two-car team … a driver who struggles at a particular track is going to lean on the teammate who is better there. (Bristol) was a good example of where being a two-car team can help.
“But I think overall we do a nice job; we go to figure out how to keep our nose clean, not beat ourselves on pit road and things like that.”
Reed qualified 27th at Bristol and finished 37th. It was the second of three consecutive races the team failed to complete.
The Playoffs, however, provide the opportunity for a fresh start. Race No. 1 for the 2017 title takes place Saturday at Kentucky Speedway (8 p.m. ET, NBCSN).
“I think we have some things to clean up but I think that’s not because we’re a one-car or two-car team,” Reed said. “Because once the race starts, you’re on your own and some of that stuff we beat ourselves, some of it is driver-inflicted. We just have to clean it all up across the board.
“We can lean on our Cup teammates but not like we could before. Today, usually when you see a single-car team it’s still part of a satellite organization or something like that. I do think there is an advantage to having multicar teams or else you wouldn’t see all those groups do it.”
In addition to the XFINITY Series team, Roush Fenway also fields two entries in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series with drivers Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Trevor Bayne.
“This is the absolute hardest, toughest year I’ve ever been a part of,” Reed said. “You’ve got some really good, high-quality teams that are struggling heading into the playoffs. It’s just a tough, tough series right now.”
And even though his own team has struggled more than he anticipated, Reed still feels good about his Playoff chances.
“I don’t consider us an underdog,” he said.