Reddick and his No. 45 23XI Racing Toyota team was one of the top performing drivers in the first round of the 2023 playoffs. He earned a win at Kansas – which locked him into the Round of 12 – a runner-up finish at Darlington, S.C., and his worst effort was 15th last Saturday night at Bristol.
As a title contender, you can’t ask for much more in terms of performance on the track but in the weeks ahead, Reddick believes a tough summer stretch of bad finishes could provide a roadblock to advancing to the Championship 4.
“Looking back on the Round of 16 for us, we did not have a strong run at Bristol, obviously, but when you look at the round itself, Kyle Larson scored the most points and we still scored the second-most,” Reddick, 27, said Tuesday.
“Because of our lack of playoff points compared to the guys at the top of the leaderboard, we have to outperform them by a good bit. But still, to be able to bank that many points over the first three races was a really great start.”
Reddick’s had quite the rollercoaster season.
He opened the year wrecking out of the first two races, then locked himself into the playoffs with a victory at Circuit of the Americas in the sixth race of the season.
With the ship righted and building for a playoff run, Reddick’s progress took a hit with a string of five consecutive races with finishes of 27th or worse.
Since then, Reddick has had only two finishes worse than 16th.
“One thing that is a great takeaway from Bristol is I feel like that race for us was the worst we’ve been in probably two or three months. Honestly, maybe even more than that,” Reddick said.
“As bad as that sounds, for one of our worst days to still be able to lock in a 15th, I think is a good thing for us. As we keep going through these rounds, the goal is to win races – that goes without saying – but it’s about having smooth days and somewhat consistent finishes.
“So, if we can stay in the top 15 in each of these races in this next round regardless of a win, I think we’ll be in good shape to make it through to the Round of 8 and obviously it gets a little tricker there, right?”
No margin for error
That’s where Reddick believes his team’s lack of playoff points compared to drivers like William Byron, Denny Hamlin and Martin Truex Jr. could become problematic.
Between now and then, Reddick says his team needs to try to collect as many playoff points as possible to help put themselves on a more even playing field with their competition.
“If we can get (playoff points), we need to, for sure. Having really a disastrous summer set us back in a number of ways,” Reddick said. “I feel like we missed out on some opportunities to win but we also gave away so many points that easily would have had us in the top five (of the standings) when the playoffs kicked off.
“It’s all said and done, obviously. There isn’t anything we can do about it now. But thankfully, we have speed and that should help us make up that gap if we can continue to bring that to the race track.”
Contending for stage and race wins remains Reddick and his team’s top priority.
“Really, until you get to Phoenix, it's about maximizing your days and if you have speed, it’s nice to just be able to focus on that,” he said.
“If you don’t have speed, I feel like you have to get creative to try to survive the rounds. Having the speed that we do we just operate as usual, and we should be in good shape in the Round of 12.
“In the Round of 8, that is where it will get more interesting for sure.”
