Two-time winner in 2015 stays close to two-time champ Matt Crafton
DES MOINES, IOWA — Tyler Reddick started racing go-karts when he was 4, which may or may not seem like a long time ago considering the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series driver is just 19. But one thing is for sure, Reddick has come a long way from those humble beginnings in Corning, California, a town of about 8,000 along Interstate 5 between Sacramento and Redding where Reddick said there was plenty of space to do all sorts of things outdoors.
Now Reddick is trying to go door-to-door with two-time defending champion Matt Crafton as the series heads to Iowa Speedway for Friday’s American Ethanol 200 (8:30 p.m. ET, FOX Sports 1, MRN, SiriusXM). Reddick, who drives the No. 19 Ford for Brad Keselowski Racing, is just 12 points behind ThorSport’s Crafton and has two wins, five top fives and six top-10 finishes compared with Crafton’s three wins, six top fives and seven top-10s.
The youngster has done a good job of keeping up with the wily veteran, but can the success continue during a key summer stretch that will set up the race for the title in the fall?
On Thursday, Reddick was at the Baker Boys & Girls Club at Amos Hiatt Middle School in Des Moines. He and fellow drivers John Hunter Nemechek, Ben Kennedy and Timothy Peters were interacting with children and teaching them about NASCAR. Reddick and Nemechek were in front of the school, snapping photos with some of the students, when the question came up whether Reddick was ready for a pressure-packed championship run.
Thanks to @USCellular for supplying today’s tablets to share #AccelerationNation with the @BGCA_Clubs! pic.twitter.com/hULdmNK9Fe
— Iowa Speedway (@iowaspeedway) June 18, 2015
“Confidence-wise I knew going into it that we were going to have a shot at winning a championship and some races this year,” Reddick said. “But until it happens, it’s pretty unreal to see it happen. You know you can do it, but to actually see it and partake in it, that is pretty special.”
Reddick entered this season with 17 Truck Series starts, including nine top-10 finishes and two poles, but he had yet to register a victory. He got his first win in the season-opener at Daytona International Speedway and followed it up with another at Dover International Speedway. The wins have made Reddick feel confident, but the second didn’t come without some drama.
In the Dover race, Reddick had a run-in with Jennifer Jo Cobb, who thought Reddick wrecked her. Cobb got out of her truck to show Reddick her displeasure and subsequently was fined $5,000 and put on NASCAR probation through the end of the year.
RELATED: Cobb calls out Reddick, earns fine, probation for leaving truck
Since the incident, which occurred on May 29 in the Lucas Oil 200, Reddick says Cobb has not spoken to him about it.
“I think we both know what happened,” Reddick said. “She thinks that I hit the back of her vehicle, but it was backed into the wall so there was obviously going to be damage there. I watched the XFINITY and Cup races from that weekend, and you didn’t have to have any contact with anybody — and if the car behind would run up on the car in front of you, the car in front would get loose naturally. I’m assuming that’s what happened.”
While Cobb went home disappointed, Reddick ended up in Victory Lane. Then after an 11th-place finish at Texas, Reddick had another shot at victory last week at Gateway Motorsports Park near St. Louis. However, a faulty restart opened the door for Cole Custer to charge to the front and get the win.
WATCH: Custer takes advantage of Reddick’s poor restart at Gateway
“Every race I run, I get better, and I learn more,” Reddick said of his performance last week. “And I learn from my mistakes.”
But a blip like last week, if one could call an eighth-place finish a blip, hasn’t dulled the shine of Reddick’s career progression.
“It’s a dream come true,” Reddick said. “Never knew (when I started at 4) that I would be racing still to this day at this level, so it’s been quite an experience.”