Michael Jordan’s driver Tyler Reddick makes clear mindset admission going into the championship race day
Tyler Reddick shared his mindset heading to the championship race at Phoenix Raceway. While the race may be his first trip in the championship, Reddick said he would treat it like any other race.
Reddick is a 28-year-old NASCAR Cup Series driver under 23XI Racing, a team co-owned by six-time NBA champ Michael Jordan. Piloting the No. 45 Toyota Camry, the California native qualified for the Championship 4 after winning the Homestead-Miami Round of 8 race. He made up two places on the final lap to take victory and earn a spot in the final four.
Tyler Reddick believes his mind would be clear the morning he wakes up on Sunday’s race. Speaking with SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, Reddick saidL
"I feel like when I wake up on Sunday, I’ll just… almost, I guess… I don’t think there’s going to be much on mind my when I wake up on Sunday. It’s just going to be on what’s at hand… won’t be thinking a lot of things, just, by that point, I feel like it’ll be time to go and go out there and do what we need to do.” [0:12]
When asked about how he could pretend like it’s not a big day, the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series regular-season champion said:
“I don’t think you pretend that it doesn’t mean something. You use the meaningfulness of the moment of this whole path to get here to justify your hard work, like everything you’ve done. But yeah, it’s important to wake up on race day to not be caught up in that moment too much.”
The No. 45 driver concluded by recalling his NASCAR Xfinity Series days when he won two championships in 2018 and 2019.
“I feel like when I’ve done this in my Xfinity days, I just remember waking up, feeling good, not really thinking about a whole lot, just going through the day, and then getting in the car and getting to work.”
Tyler Reddick will go up against Joey Logano, William Byron, and Ryan Blaney in his first championship race. The NASCAR Cup Series Championship from Phoenix Raceway is happening on Sunday, November 10.
Denny Hamlin suggested Tyler Reddick to take advice from a race winner at Phoenix
In the latest episode of the Actions Detrimental podcast, Denny Hamlin said Tyler Reddick should ask for advice from Christopher Bell for the season finale at Phoenix Raceway.
For context, Bell was the most recent race winner on the one-mile oval track, having won the Shriners Children’s 500 last March. As such, Hamlin believes it would be best for his 23XI Racing driver to sit down with his Joe Gibbs Racing teammate for tips and tricks around the track.
When asked whether Tyler Reddick should ask Christopher Bell for advice, Denny 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.” [52:30]
He added:
“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."
Tyler Reddick advancing to the final round also marks 23XI Racing’s first trip in the championship. While the driver has yet to get his first win at Phoenix Raceway, he amassed two top-5 and three top-10 finishes in nine starts.