Tyler Reddick continues 23XI’s Kansas streak

Kansas Speedway has become a playground for 23XI Racing since they expanded to a two-car operation in 2022, with the #45 in particular sweeping both dates that year with Kurt Busch and Bubba Wallace. After finishing ninth in May, Tyler Reddick is the third driver to win at the 1.5-mile oval in the #45.

Reddick restarted fifth for overtime set up after Chris Buescher suffered a blown tyre, and stalked the battle between Joey Logano and Erik Jones before completing a three-wide pass for the lead coming to the white flag. The dramatic move shot Reddick to the top while 23XI owner and May winner Denny Hamlin followed on the outside to finish second.

The win locks Reddick into the Round of 12 of the NASCAR Cup Series playoffs.

“Last year was the heartbreaker. Two years ago, we just weren’t great, and we went into Bristol and missed it by a couple, but last year we had those wins. We come to this race a year ago and have a flat while leading and fall out very early. We went into Bristol in a bad spot and then got caught up in a wreck,” recalled Reddick.

“To be able to have a lot of points scored—I’m sure even if we didn’t win today and finished second or third, we would have had a lot of points to lean on going into Bristol, so that was just the goal all along. I want to win races, but we don’t take to take the risks in the first round. I think as we keep going along and we get further in and we don’t have the points to start that some of the cars at the very front of the leaderboard do, we’ll have to get more aggressive, but it was very nice to get five playoff points today and gain a few more as we go on to the next round.”

Hendrick Motorsports was the top team as Kyle Larson and Chase Elliott respectively led 99 and 47 laps while the former won Stage #1, but both started further back in overtime after pitting and were unable to catch up. Stage #2 winner Brad Keselowski had a similar fate as he settled for ninth.

While Reddick and Hamlin maximised their points days, 23XI and Joe Gibbs Racing team-mates Wallace and Martin Truex Jr. are left in a precarious position entering the Round of 16 finale at Bristol after suffering right rear tyre failures. Truex’s tyre went down just three laps into the race and sent him into the turn three wall; after winning the regular season championship, he is on the brink of elimination as he trails Kevin Harvick for the twelfth in the standings by seven points.

After finishing second in Stage #1, Wallace’s day went down in smoke on lap 109. While his team was able to repair the car in time to stay in the race, he ended up thre laps and and finished thirty-second. He is nineteen points below the cut line going into Bristol, where he has struggled with just one top ten in eight Cup starts.

“In hindsight, I should have just pitted, but at that point in time, you just don’t know if the car is really just tight or what’s going on,” commented Truex, “It’s a real shame.”

A day after finishing third in the Xfinity Series race, Sheldon Creed concluded his Cup début in twenty-ninth. The 2020 Truck Series champion was the thirteenth Stadium Super Trucks driver to compete in the Cup Series.

Race results