Monday’s NASCAR Cup Series race at Michigan International Speedway ended with Tyler Reddick collecting his second win of the 2024 season. The victory allowed him to bypass Kyle Larson atop the points table and position himself as the favorite to win the regular season championship. What this and his recent streak of excellent finishes means is that he has emerged as a top star in the sport as of late.
Advertisement
His average finishing position in the last seven races is 3.29. This is the best seven-race average for any driver since Kyle Larson’s dominance in the summer of 2021. It is noteworthy that Larson’s run ended with 10 race wins and a championship that year. Additionally, this is also the first time that a 23XI Racing driver leads the points table in the outfit’s four-year history.
Tyler Reddick has won at Michigan, keeping is incredible streak of finishes alive.
Reddick has an average finish of 3.29 over the last 7 races, the best 7-race run by ANY driver since Kyle Larson in the Summer of 2021 pic.twitter.com/ZfH2sudG2L
— Trey Ryan (@TreyRyan99) August 19, 2024
With two victories in 24 races, he has already crossed his top-five and top-ten total from last year, with 11 and 17 to his name respectively, along with 472 laps led this season. “It’s been a really fun year from that aspect this year,” he said post the race. “Watching us climb up through the rankings and the points standings, if you will, continue to have really solid races.”
Racing for the Michael Jordan-Denny Hamlin partnership is something that pushes Reddick to perform better every week. Hamlin had set the expectations at the beginning of the season by underlining that he expected his team and drivers to finish inside the top five every single week considering the advanced resources they had. Reddick has more than fulfilled that demand.
Why Reddick and 23XI Racing are a match made in heaven
Reddick was initially set to join 23XI Racing only in 2024. However, the now #45 Toyota Camry XSE driver decided to leave Richard Childress Racing early in 2023 with 23XI Racing offering him better contract prospects. This has allowed the team to build a winning culture around Reddick as he finds his championship ways with the team. He was already a two-time Xfinity Series champion and when he became available, Hamlin knew that he was the one who would become the next big star in the Cup Series.
“I saw week in and week out, racing against both their cars, the speed they bring to the table, the culture that they have at 23XI,” Reddick says of his decision to join. “It’s important to me. It takes everything to have a really good team.”
More than a year on, he has proven to be one of the best signings made in modern-day NASCAR. All eyes will be on him in the playoffs, for he may be the one who brings Jordan and Hamlin their maiden championship as team owners.
