23XI Racing exited Fort Worth on Sunday a hungry team despite having two top-ten finishers amongst them. Tyler Reddick and Bubba Wallace ended the 276 laps in fourth and seventh place respectively to add to their positive momentum. Though the results were hard-earned and well-deserved, the drivers sounded least pleased with their runs in the post-race interviews.
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First off, Reddick had a solid chance at winning the race having led 37 laps. Courtesy of some aggressive defending from the race-winner Chase Elliott, he was forced to drop positions and faced a mountain of a challenge in climbing back up. He eventually did that and finished in a commendable fourth place. The result was his fourth consecutive top-10 finish.
In those laps that he led, the taste of victory appears to have left a strong note on him. With quite the disappointment, he told the press as reported by Speedway Digest, “Just kept focusing on the wrong things. All day long, I’d been really aggressively blocking the car behind me going into Turn 1, and it really hurt us going into the center of Turn 2. Just made bad adjustments at the wrong time, and we gave away the race.”
While Reddick was struggling, his teammate Wallace wasn’t having a fun time either. Behind a difficult-to-handle Toyota Camry XSE, he was involved in one of the 16 cautions that popped up in the race. He had an average running position of 16th and still managed to finish in 7th place thanks to relentless pursuits. “I’m worn the hell out – mentally,” he told the press.
He continued, “ Just from clean air to dirty air with the balance – it was just such a big deficit between the two. Never had the confidence to make passes, and that is what you have to do to make moves at the Cup level.” Ultimately, he was thankful to his #23 team for sticking by him through a tough race and gaining a positive result. The result was his consecutive top-ten finish after coming in 4th place in Martinsville.
What’s next for Tyler Reddick and Bubba Wallace after Texas?
The next Cup Series race will be at the treacherous Talladega Superspeedway. Both the drivers have got plenty of momentum in their favor. With 6 top tens in 9 starts this season, Reddick has outdone himself. Wallace too has 4 top tens in 9 starts and has plenty of reason to rejoice for the Talladega track is one of his better ones.
Reddick has already won once in the superspeedway and will hope to add to that tally. The expectations from the duo for team co-owner Denny Hamlin were quite clear heading into the season. He’d underlined on his podcast that he expected both the drivers to run in the top five every week and compete for the win.
This tall ask could very well be the reason behind their dissatisfaction with the Texas result. Hopefully, Talladega will present a better hunting ground.
