"If he's smart, he does": Denny Hamlin approves Tyler Reddick taking advice from his teammate ahead of Phoenix
During the recent episode of his podcast, Denny Hamlin spoke about Tyler Reddick relying on information from a JGR underdog for Phoenix. Reddick booked his spot in the Championship 4 after winning Homestead.
He became 23XI Racing's first driver to do so, having already won the NASCAR Regular Season championship earlier this year. But heading into Phoenix, a racetrack he hasn't historically been prolific at, Reddick might need to rely on tips from a Toyota teammate of his, Christopher Bell.
The #20 driver failed to join Reddick after his controversial safety penalty at Martinsville. But interestingly, Bell won at Phoenix earlier this year. And the prospect of him helping the 23XI driver was something Denny Hamlin shared his thoughts on.
As his co-host mentioned Reddick sitting down with Bell to understand his perspective on Phoenix, Hamlin said:
"He should. If he's smart, he does and Tyler's really good about that. He's certainly very good about asking questions to a given driver on whatever track they might be good at to try to find out what he needs to look for. The #20 car had a dominating race car in the spring, came from 20th to 1st on the last restart to win it. So you know I thought the #45 probably was the next best car so they're in the ballpark, they got to find whatever that #20 had in the spring for a balance because that seemed to be the best." [52:30]
Denny Hamlin opens up on what advice he'd give to Tyler Reddick for Phoenix
Having approved the idea of Tyler Reddick taking tips from Christopher Bell for Phoenix, Denny Hamlin opened up on what tips he'd give to his driver. The JGR veteran himself has made multiple appearances in the Championship 4 despite never coming out on the right side of the penultimate race.
At first, when asked if he'd give any tips to Reddick, Hamlin said he won't say that in public and would rather share it with his driver in private.
However, Hamlin did have some advice that he'd want to share with the #45 driver ahead of his first appearance in the Championship 4. He said:
"There's some experience that I can lend to him and on how to really treat the week right and so much of it is about just having fun and enjoying this process and this week and understanding that making the final four is most of the drivers' goals." [53:30]
Hamlin said some things would be out of Reddick's control given the nature of Phoenix being a one race, winner takes all.
But the #11 driver and the co-owner of 23XI Racing circled back to his point of suggesting Tyler Reddick to have fun in the coming week.