With only five races until the regular-season championship trophy is handed
out at Darlington Raceway, Tyler Reddick has quietly moved himself into the
thick of the battle following Sunday’s Great American Getaway 400 at Pocono
Raceway.
A sixth-place result – and nine stage points to accompany it – have moved
Reddick into third in regular-season point standings, just 15 markers behind
current points leader Chase Elliott.

It’s a major swing for Reddick, who after the 12 th  event of the season at
Kansas Speedway sat sixth in points, nearly 100 points off the driver leading
the points at the time. The 23XI Racing hasn’t made these major gains in a
flashy way, either, but instead, using an old-school method of consistency –
much like what carried Matt Kenseth to the 2003 NASCAR Winston Cup
Series championship.
Since Kansas, the Corning, California-native has finished worse than eighth
on two occasions. One of those was Darlington, where Reddick led a race-
high 174 laps and cut a tire after contact while battling for the win. While the
results showed 32 nd , stage points allowed the loss to be mitigated, with the No.
45 collecting points equivalent to a 15 th -place result.
Sadly, for Reddick, this stretch of seven top-eights in eight races did include
some heartbreak, particularly with a pair of close-call top-three results at
Nashville and Chicago, which led to interviews where the 28-year-old driver
sounded particularly anguished. 
While that same opportunity wasn’t present Sunday at Pocono Raceway,
Reddick and crew chief Billy Scott still made the best of the afternoon,
bringing home a sixth-place result for the No. 45 Money Lion Toyota Camry
XSE team – and more importantly, a 40-point afternoon, after collecting nine
stage points.
“Yeah, most of the day was – Stage 1 and Stage 3 were decent for us,” said
Reddick after the race. “Stage 2 was a bit of a struggle. Unfortunately, we just
didn’t have any good restarts in the middle portion there and gave up some
points. But all in all, it was a solid day, and we closed the gap to the points
lead. And obviously, Denny [Hamlin] closed in on us a little bit. Overall, solid
day and great points day.”
Reddick’s biggest competitors when it comes to the regular-season
championship are Hendrick Motorsports teammates Chase Elliott and Kyle
Larson, who sit only three points apart at the top of the heap.
Denny Hamlin, co-owner of 23XI Racing, sits fourth in regular-season points,
and courtesy of a second-place run and 19 stage points at Pocono, has
managed to take an enormous bite out of the deficit to the Joe Gibbs Racing
driver, putting him very much in this battle, as well.

Winning the regular-season championship has a huge impact on the NASCAR
Cup Series Playoffs, as the winner receives 15 additional playoff points,
whereas the runner-up only receives 10, and third-place only eight.
With his single victory at Talladega Superspeedway and three stage wins this
season, Reddick has currently only accrued eight playoff points, which with
five races remaining in the regular season ranks him sixth among full-time
NASCAR Cup Series drivers – behind Christopher Bell, Kyle Larson, Denny
Hamlin, William Byron, and Ryan Blaney.
Reddick and the No. 45 Toyota Camry XSE will look to continue an impressive
streak of solid finishes heading to Indianapolis Motor Speedway, which,
technically, was the site of Reddick’s second NASCAR Cup Series victory –
albeit on the road course.

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