LONG POND — Tyler Reddick finished eighth or better in six of his last seven NASCAR Cup Series races, including second last week in the Chicago Street Race.

He looks to continue that roll this weekend at Pocono Raceway.

Overall, the driver of the No. 45 Toyota of 23XI Racing, the team co-owned by Michael Jordan and Denny Hamlin, has only one win — at Talladega in April — along with eight top-five and 13 top-10 finishes in 20 races. He ranks third in the point standings.

“Wins are very important, they’re hard to come by. Our whole team definitely wishes we had more of those,” Reddick said. “The good thing is we’re leading the field in top 10s. We’ve had a few days get away from us. I’ve made some critical errors on days we would have easily finished second or third, pushed the issue and finished outside the top 30.

Reddick said it’s an honor to drive for the team co-owned by Jordan and Hamlin.

“It’s crazy to think only a handful of years ago that Michael and Denny started this thing and for us to be making the progress we are,” Reddick said. “Top five in points, contending for wins. It’s been a good start to this team’s existence in NASCAR. Those two have high expectations and it puts good pressure on us to continue to improve and push the envelope. We’re going to continue to work on it and find ways to win these races.”

A win could come this weekend, given his recent hot streak and the fact that Reddick finished second in the Cup race at the 2.5-mile triangular track each of the last two years. He was runner-up to Chase Elliott in 2022 and to Hamlin in 2023.

Being comfortable is the biggest key at Pocono, according to Reddick.

“With the three different corners, you can never really get your car right and be perfect in all three. You have to have some sort of compromise,” he said. “The engineers and crew chiefs figure out which corner makes the most sense to give up the most. So for me, my ability to be comfortable being uncomfortable has helped me have some success there. Obviously no wins, but we’ve had our fair share of opportunities. It just hasn’t happened yet.”

In six Cup starts at Pocono, he has three top-10s and an average finishing position of 14.8. He also ran two Xfinity Series races there in 2018 and 2019 and finished ninth and second, respectively. And, he made three Trucks Series starts there from 2014-16 with his best effort being a third place in 2015.

“I feel like, right away, I really enjoyed the place,” Reddick said. “Turn 1 was the corner that took me the longest to get OK at. The tunnel turn is a corner that I really enjoy. I enjoyed it in Trucks with how aggressive you can be through there and the Xfinity cars, you were just kind of hanging it out going through there. It’s a sketchy corner but one we’ve still been able, in my experiences, to stay aggressive through the tunnel turn.”

Thanks to his win at Talladega, Reddick is locked into the playoffs over the season’s final 10 races. It is the third straight season he has qualified for the postseason. He was eliminated in the Round of 16 in 2022 and the Round of 8 in 2023.

To be considered a championship contender this season, Reddick feels he and his team need to improve their performance on short tracks.

“In the bulk of the playoffs we have a lot of tracks that we’ve proven to be strong at,” Reddick said. “We obviously have a little bit more work to do on our short track or flat, intermediate-style track. Your Phoenixes, Loudons, Gateways, Iowas, Richmonds. Martinsville, too. We have something to be desired there. But the rest of the pieces are in really good shape. It’s there, we just have to keep searching for it.”

He hopes to find it this weekend at Pocono.

Practice for the Cup Series is scheduled for Saturday at noon with qualifying to follow at 12:45 p.m. The Great American Getaway 400 is scheduled to get the green flag Sunday at 2:30 p.m.

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