Tyler Reddick has made the quantum leap from can’t miss kid to Cup Series contender in his first full season with 23XI Racing.

NASCAR’s latest fan favorite from Corning, Calif., is the operator of the No. 45 Monster Energy Toyota Camry and he’s off to a stellar start to the campaign. Reddick was sixth in the Cup Series driver ratings with 473 points in 16 starts going into the road course event at Sonoma Raceway.

Reddick punched his ticket to the Cup Series playoffs with a fortunate first-place finish at Talladega Superspeedway on April 21. Reddick was in third place when he deftly maneuvered around a muti-vehicle crash to take the checkered flag by 0.208 seconds.

“For us, it is good to know that we are in the playoffs and you have differing track types in the first round,” said Reddick. “But no matter how many points you can get, you can still go out in the first round.

“Over the course of my career I have made the playoffs different ways. I have pointed my way in and also had multiple wins and plenty of playoff points going in. The round of 16 had gotten me a few times in my career and I’ve learned from those moments to not take it for granted.

“Everyone on this team understands that you have stay focused and be aggressive all year long. You can never have enough playoff points.”

Reddick had several pieces fall into place two years ago that got him to this trajectory point in his career. Reddick was a two-time NASCAR Xfinity Series champion at work building a Cup Series resume when he was invited to join a selectively procured band of racers formed by an NBA icon and a stalwart Cup Series operator.

Crossing Jordan

The Sporting Kingdom of Jordan was in its NASCAR infancy in the summer of 2022 and looking to expand its brand beyond reliable playoff racer Bubba Wallace and aging superstar Kurt Busch.

Hall of Fame basketball player Michael Jordan and 54-time Cup Series winner Denny Hamlin, the co-founders of upstart 23XI Racing, did a significant piece of empire building when they signed Reddick on July 16, 2022. That blockbuster transaction took place during the week of the Ambetter 301 Cup Series race at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.

The move was viewed as an unprecedented preemptive strike because Reddick would have been the most sought-after free agent in the Cup Series after the 2023 season.

Reddick, at the time, was under contract to Richard Childress Racing through the 2023 season. But when Kyle Busch defected from Joe Gibbs Racing to RCR after 15 seasons with “The Coach,” Reddick became expendable and was free to sign on with 23XI early.

Ironically, Reddick took over the No. 45 full time in 2023 from Kurt Busch, Kyle’s older brother and a two-time winner at New Hampshire who retired after a Hall of Fame career.

“We announced that future partnership at New Hampshire pretty well ahead of time,” said Reddick. “It was kind of unprecedented at the time for a team and a driver to do so and I was expecting this (2024) to be my first year of competition with them.

“But things unfolded quickly in racing as it so often does sometimes. Kurt Busch got hurt and 23XI was looking to get a hold of me early and RCR wanted to get rid of me. Putting that together, we got a year head start on our pathway into the future to bring 23XI from a new team to a championship contending team.”

Making Magic

On June 23, Reddick will make his fifth Cup Series appearance at New Hampshire Motor Speedway in Loudon, N.H., with the running of the USA Today 301.

In his four previous races, Reddick has placed sixth, eighth and 13th twice, but he feels the No. 45 has top five potential under the direction of new crew chief Billy Scott.

The Magic Mile is a short race on a low banked four turn oval that can play tricks on a race car and makes passing difficult. That combination of factors makes New Hampshire a crew chief’s race because the decisions made in the box have an overreaching effect on the outcome. Reddick has confidence Scott will make the right calls on pit stops, cautions, fuel and tires.

“Billy Scott and everybody on the 45 team are helping me to be a better driver and I believe it is starting to show, especially in year two where we’ve been fighting adversity and come out with top 10’s and top five finishes,” he said.

“He’s been trying to figure out how crazy and different a driver that I am. I think our relationship is in a great spot and we have a good understanding of where our mindsets are going into a race weekend.

“He does a terrific job managing the No. 45 team and putting us in fast race cars and obviously, we have been very happy with one another so far.”