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Tyler Reddick: 2025 NASCAR Driver Profile
Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images

[Editor’s note: The following article is from Athlon Sports’ 2025 Racing Annual magazine. Order your copy online today, or buy one at retail racks and newsstands nationwide.]

Tyler Reddick’s risky decision to jump from Richard Childress Racing to 23XI Racing two years ago continues to pay dividends, and he was rewarded in 2024 with a career year in more ways than one.

Like Christopher Bell, Reddick ended last season with three wins while recording personal bests in top-5 finishes (12), top-10 finishes (21), laps led (597), and average finish (13.2). He beat Kyle Larson by one point to earn his first regular-season championship, and the exclamation point on Reddick’s season was his improbable last lap at Homestead in October, passing both Denny Hamlin and Ryan Blaney on older tires to win and send the No. 45 team to the Championship 4.

Team co-owner Denny Hamlin’s plan was to have 23XI established as a championship contender by year five, and Reddick’s heroics have put those plans one year ahead of schedule. While it didn’t end with a title for the No. 45 team, 2024 was a season of new heights for Reddick that could easily be expanded upon this year.

Tyler Reddick 2024 stats

Starts Wins Top 5s Top 10s Poles DNF

36

3

12

21

3

4

Arguably the biggest leap taken was his ability to bring the car home to solid finishes on a consistent basis. Reddick had a 2024 summer stretch of seven consecutive top-six results highlighted by a win at Michigan International Speedway, and that stretch ultimately propelled him to the regular season crown. His consistency hit a rough patch in the playoffs, though, with six finishes of 20th or worse in the final 10 races. However, he used playoff points and the Homestead win to his advantage, doing more than enough to advance to the finale.

The California native won at two intermediate tracks and a superspeedway while also contending for wins at Darlington, Indianapolis, and a variety of road courses. It’s a baseline of success that left him ending the season with the right attitude.

“It’s time to re-gather yourself, reset, and think about what you need to work on in the offseason,” Reddick said last November after finishing fourth in the championship. “To show up better in 2025 than how you left 2024.”

On paper, the stability is in place to do that. Reddick returns with crew chief Billy Scott for a third consecutive year, a pairing that has produced five wins since its inception. And with starting spots guaranteed in the ongoing 23XI vs. NASCAR lawsuit, there is no added qualifying-day anxiety. And what Reddick has shown time and again is an ability to rise to the occasion during complicated and less-than-ideal situations.

After the shocking midseason announcement, Reddick would depart RCR for 23XI in 2022, he was left with an awkward, lame duck half season, one which ultimately culminated in a messy divorce. He continued to shine despite the internal turmoil, scoring two wins for RCR before leaving his contract a year early. Last year presented a similar story, as he came up clutch at Homestead in the midst of 23XI’s legal battles against the sanctioning body itself. He also put his body on the line in the Southern 500, doing just enough to clinch the regular season title with a top-10 finish despite dealing with serious illness throughout the race.

If there is an Achilles heel for Reddick, it’s short tracks, with only five top 10s in 27 Cup starts on tracks shorter than one mile. He has an average finish north of 20th at Martinsville Speedway, and with that track’s position as the Round of 8 finale, it leaves him vulnerable.

Another challenge is that Homestead thriller has been removed from the playoffs in favor of a date in early March. Also gone is Watkins Glen International, meaning the three-time road course winner will only have one road course in this year’s playoffs.

Tyler Reddick career stats

Years Starts Wins Top 5s Top 10s Poles

6

182

8

38

78

9

But Reddick has a balanced pedigree with the rest of the schedule. He is one of the best road racers in the field, plus he’s a threat on 1.5-mile tracks of all shapes and sizes. He broke through with his first win on a superspeedway at Talladega in April and made flat-track noise in March with 68 laps led at Phoenix.

The newest Cup Series stars have taken approximately five to six years to establish themselves as elite drivers, and Reddick is riding the same trajectory alongside Bell and William Byron. Even with 23XI’s off-track drama, Reddick will rise above it all and return as a title contender in 2025.

The Tyler Reddick file

Car: No. 45 Toyota

Team: 23XI Racing

Crew chief: Billy Sott

Years with current team: 3

Best points finish: 4 (2024)

Hometown: Corning, California

Born: Jan. 11, 1996

Scouting report

Anonymous takes from drivers, crew chiefs, and assorted industry insiders:

“Reddick is an extremely talented, extremely clean racer,” one Cup driver says. “He’s always balls-to-the-wall.” Another states that, “I don’t have anything bad to say about Tyler Reddick. He does everything the right way. He’s a future champion if he continues progressing at this rate.”

“In my opinion, he’s a future superstar and maybe the most talented driver in the field,” says one broadcaster. He continued that, similar to how Kyle Larson’s open wheel dirt background serves him well in NASCAR, Reddick’s dirt Late Model background has given him incredible car control.

“I’m not sure he isn’t better, pound-for-pound, than Larson.”

A team owner heaped nothing but praise on the defending regular season champion: “He’s just a great guy. He is so gracious in defeat – and that might be his only problem. I watch him in victory lane and it’s like he just proved to himself that he can do this. And then, when he doesn’t win, he holds himself accountable to the point where it’s like self-deprecation. It’s OK to be a badass and carry yourself like one”

“Reddick was single handedly the best hire 23XI Racing could have made,” opines one beat writer. “Think about it: If someone else gets him, or he stays at Richard Childress Racing, we might not even be talking about 23XI as this rising program. It was a transformational hire.”

This article first appeared on Athlon Sports and was syndicated with permission.

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