Tyler Reddick on losing NASCAR points lead: 'That's racing'

Going into June, Tyler Reddick and the No. 45 23XI Racing team hadn't finished worse than 15th all year in a NASCAR Cup Series race. 

That was until Michigan on June 7, when Reddick was caught up in a crash and finished 35th. Then came San Diego, where he battled for the win late but finished 25th after a flat tire with two laps to go. Last week at Sonoma, power-steering issues relegated Reddick to a 36th-place result. 

Even with a runner-up finish to Denny Hamlin at Pocono thrown in, Reddick, who had led the Cup Series standings since his win in the season-opening Daytona 500 on Feb. 15, lost the Cup Series points lead to Hamlin at Sonoma on June 28. He trails Hamlin by a single point entering Sunday's Cup Series race at Chicagoland Speedway. 

Tyler Reddick on June struggles: "That's racing"

"That's racing," Reddick said. "We had a really good start and were reminded how quick things can change. The nice thing for us in all of it is that it seems like the speed is there. Potential is still there. We were just finally served a dose of races not going our way.

"Some of it you could argue was inflicted on ourselves. What we need to have with our cars, with our team, we still do have. We just had a couple of not good points days."

At the very least, Reddick likely begins the Chase for the championship in second, 25 points behind Hamlin. At best, Reddick would have a 25-point lead over Hamlin as the two battle for their first Cup championship. 

There are eight races left in the Cup Series regular season. Reddick currently leads third-place Ryan Blaney by 103 points in the standings entering Sunday's race. 

Quotes provided by NASCAR Media.