The last several weeks have been extremely kind to Tyler Reddick. Along with announcing plans to join 23XI Racing beginning in 2024, the California native has won two races with his current team at Richard Childress Racing – the last of them coming this past weekend on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course where he led 38 of 86 laps in his No. 8 RCR Chevrolet.
While Reddick’s first win, which came on the road course at Road America, was prior to his announcement that he would be leaving RCR, this past Sunday’s victory was his first victory since becoming a lame-duck driver. Although Reddick admits that his surprise announcement initially caused some tension within the team, it appears that both driver and team are laser-focused on performing at the highest level possible and not letting any hurt feelings stand in the way of what they’re trying to accomplish in the here and now.
“Nothing has really changed since the announcement other than knowing where I’m going to be in the next year-and-a-half,” Reddick said. “My commitment level, if anything, probably is a little bit higher, but I mean, we’re not talking like it’s a significant amount higher. I just know that we’ve had time to continue to work on our cars and make them better and grow as a team and go in the right direction, and now it’s like, ‘Alright, we have a hard stop. This is the end of the road that we have together.’ For me, that puts, I think, a good amount of pressure on me to just keep finding more.”Reddick has more momentum than just about anyone heading to Michigan – where he’s probably going to need it since his best finish in three Cup Series starts at the 2-mile track is 18th.