Editor’s note: This continues the series of season reviews for select 2022 NASCAR Cup Series drivers.
See more: Bubba Wallace, Erik Jones, Martin Truex Jr., Alex Bowman, Kevin Harvick, Kyle Busch, Austin Cindric, Austin Dillon, Daniel Suárez, Chris Buescher, Chase Briscoe
Driver: Tyler Reddick
Car: No. 8 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet Camaro ZL1
Crew chief: Randall Burnett
Final 2022 ranking: 14th
Key stats: 3 wins, 10 top fives, 15 top 10s, 3 poles, 503 laps led
How 2022 ended: Reddick had one of the more promising prospectives entering the 2022 Cup postseason, but his playoff run was cut short in the Round of 16 after wrecking out at Kansas and falling numerous laps down in the elimination race at Bristol. The brief playoff tenure defined Reddick’s season in general that saw him run at the front of the pack. However, a handful of results went the wrong way, most notably in the second race of the year, where the No. 8 led a race-high 90 laps at Auto Club Speedway but suffered a flat tire with just under 50 to go that parachuted Reddick to a 24th-place run. Reddick collected his third victory during the Round of 12 to cap off a three-win season.
Best race: Road America on July 3. A handful of races could take this spot due to Reddick’s ability to run up front. However, not many could have guessed the third-year driver to develop into a road-course ace in 2022, but that’s exactly what happened. Not only did Reddick lead 16 of 62 laps en route to his first career Cup win, but he also outdueled a known virtuoso on the left and right-hand turns in Chase Elliott.
RELATED: Tyler Reddick holds off Elliott, seals first Cup Series win at Road America
Other season highlights: Reddick picked up two more wins following his maiden victory at Road America. He outclassed the field on the Indianapolis road course to become the first multi-time winner in a season for Richard Childress Racing since Kevin Harvick in 2013 (four). Reddick would then lead 70 laps en route to a Texas win in the Round of 12 of the Cup Series Playoffs and finish the season as one of just five drivers with three or more wins in 2022.
Stat to know: A -8.1 difference in start-to-finish position. Of full-time Cup drivers this past season, Reddick owned the second-best average start at 9.5. However, his average finish sat at just 17.6, which summed up his roller coaster of a season that ended with three finishes of 23rd or worse and included two back-to-back 35th-place finishes (Homestead-Miami Speedway and Martinsville Speedway in Round of 8). Reddick’s playoff elimination was also brought on by finishes of 35th and 25th at Kansas and Bristol, respectively. He started inside the top five 15 times this season and finished outside the top 10 in six of those races.
Quotable: “I’m really excited about next year. It is nice to know, like, hey, this is what the future is going to hold. I’m going to get to go over there earlier than I planned and just start working on those things that myself and a lot of the ownership over there had talked about wanting to do and why we wanted to get together.”
RELATED: Tyler Reddick to join 23XI Racing in 2023, one year earlier than planned
Looking ahead: Three wins would equate to a successful season for any driver, but after an early exit in the postseason, the focus and expectation for Reddick when he shifts over to 23XI Racing will be on advancing through a playoff run and limiting some of the errors that led to his -8.1 difference from average start to average finish. Reddick should be able to find Victory Lane multiple times again in 2023 with a prospective outlook of reaching the Championship 4.