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October 27, 2024

Analysis: Tyler Reddick digs down deep, goes ‘beast mode’ in signature last-lap moment at Homestead


HOMESTEAD, Fla. — When the time came for the now-customary photo op with the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs grid at Homestead-Miami Speedway, Tyler Reddick’s son, Beau, took the sticker with father’s name on it and placed it on the board with precision. The elder Reddick’s name had just become the latest to join Joey Logano’s in the Championship 4 field, and the 28-year-old driver slapped it twice to make it count.

The extra emphasis added an exclamation point to the rambunctious Victory Lane celebration for his 23XI Racing team. Just like his dazzling, winning pass through the sweeping third and fourth turns, Reddick made damn sure it stuck.

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Reddick will be among the four drivers competing for a Cup Series championship for the first time in the Nov. 10 season finale at Phoenix Raceway, converting his bid for a title shot with a remarkable pair of passes that brought him from third place to first, bypassing fellow postseason contenders Denny Hamlin and Ryan Blaney in a nerve-fraying final lap. The victory — his third of the season — came on friendly turf at the South Florida track, a place that produced his pair of Xfinity Series crowns and one that has allowed him to be at his aggressive best.

Watch and marvel. Clarence Reddick’s been doing it ever since his son first turned a wheel in anger at age 4. Nick Payne, his spotter, has had his eyes firmly on the No. 45 Toyota driver’s talent ever since the two joined forces at 23XI in 2023. NBA legend and 23XI co-owner Michael Jordan has taken special delight in celebrating Reddick’s most recent accomplishments, which could soon include the organization’s first championship in two weeks’ time.

“What you saw there was Tyler doing what Tyler does,” Clarence Reddick told NASCAR.com. “They’ve talked about it for years: He’s way better at 130% than he is just running 110. He loves that.”

All saw brilliance from different vantage points at the end of Sunday’s Straight Talk Wireless 400, the middle race in the postseason’s Round of 8. Reddick had benefited when a late caution period for Kyle Larson’s long slide out of a battle with Blaney for the lead had flipped the final stage’s pit strategy. No. 45 crew chief Billy Scott opted to run long before the team’s final scheduled stop, and when the yellow flew, Reddick stayed out to retake the lead. On two-lap-older tires, Reddick slipped briefly in the seven-lap run to the end but somehow summoned the needed momentum by the time the white flag flew.

Clarence Reddick, sitting alongside Jordan on pit road, could only see his son sail off into Turn 1, where the No. 45 Camry dove low and carried enough speed to clear Hamlin’s No. 11 by the time the front-running trio reached the back straight. He couldn’t see his son’s fateful move — a resurgent blast around the top side that foiled Blaney’s feint to the middle lane in the final corners.

“At the end, I wasn’t sure we were getting there, and then all of a sudden, we were there,” Clarence Reddick said. “I watched him come off (Turn) 4 with the lead, and I was surprised as maybe anybody was. I was cheering because I didn’t know that we had ran the wall and passed Ryan. I was thinking at that point when we were going in, it was going to maybe take Ryan and Denny to wrangle it up a little bit and let us get by. But that’s not how it went. He just went beast mode and just wasn’t going to be denied.

“He’s done that here. This is one of his best race tracks. This track, he’s talked about it before. It so rewards his aggression. The more aggressive he gets here, the better things that happen for him.”

Tyler Reddick stands atop his No. 45 Toyota at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
Sean Gardner | Getty Images

Payne watched from the spotters’ stand, a more precarious job than normal this weekend because of a fluke infestation by a swarm of bees on the Homestead-Miami roof. His view of the late-lap proceedings was essential, and he relied on both his instincts and the hunch that even at a slight tire disadvantage, his driver had the goods.

“Man, if there’s anybody who can go up there and make it stick, there’s two people: It’s Tyler and it’s Kyle Larson,” Payne told NASCAR.com. “The moment we were chasing the 12 (Blaney), I kind of knew that, man, this could get pretty big here or it could work out well. It’s one of those high-risk, high-reward things, and thankfully, we kind of took the patient approach and we were just going to eat the fact that we may not get to the line first. As soon as we did that, we got to his right-rear, and I knew the moment we got to his right-rear, it’s a drag race to the line.”

Jordan made his way from his pit-road perch and strolled along the narrow, elevated pit-wall walkway to reach the frontstretch victory celebration. There was a reason that partners Jordan and Hamlin had recruited the California hotshot as they crafted the next stage of 23XI’s evolution, to create more moments like these.

In Reddick, it turns out, Jordan has found a kindred spirit — someone else who can knock down a big shot in the clutch.

“To be able to reward him with the days like we had today, it’s a true honor,” Reddick said of the NBA Hall of Famer. “It was really cool to see how happy he was. We’re all very happy about it. He believed in me. He believes in this team. The people, him, Denny, everybody else, has put together to create what 23XI is. He’s put a lot toward it. It’s really cool in these critical moments to be able to deliver for him and for everybody else that’s a part of the team.”

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Reddick had shoved aside several weeks of adversity, ever since he gutted out a valiant performance over Labor Day to seal the Regular Season Championship by a single point. Since then, the playoffs have presented a rocky road, including a wild rollover crash last weekend at Las Vegas that left him facing a 30-point deficit to the elimination line heading into Sunday’s 400-miler.

Sunday, all those hurdles were set aside with a winning ticket.

“Man, we’re chipping away at it. Tough times don’t last, tough people do, and we said that all week, and that’s kind of been our mantra through this,” Payne said. “It’s been tough. We’ve tried things, we’ve had some success, we failed. We’ve done a lot of things this year, and these guys just don’t give up. Pit crew, crew guys, engineers, everybody at Airspeed. It’s a testament to everything they’ve done. They work their tails off, week in, week out, every single week, and I’m just fortunate to be a small part of it.”

Reddick’s journey now includes a first-ever Championship 4 berth — both for him and his 23XI group. The opportunity to hoist the Bill France Cup comes in two weeks at Phoenix Raceway, a place where he’ll race two-time champion Logano and two other hopefuls for the Cup Series title. Those slots will be decided in next Sunday’s Round of 8 finale at Martinsville Speedway.

The 2024 campaign has already been a season of great achievement for Reddick, who has risen higher on the postseason ladder than ever before. He now has a signature moment at Homestead-Miami to thank for that chance.

“We have a shot to win the regular season and win that — that’s only going to amp that up further,” Clarence Reddick said. “I mean, he will be charged there. It’ll be just like when you saw the last lap here. So it means a lot. It’s great to reach this level, you know? I mean, I felt like we could always get to Cup, even that’s hard to do, sure. But to be able to be significant in it, I’m very proud of him. I’ve always told him all his life, he’s the best, and so I keep cheerleading for him all the time, but it’s incredible.”

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