AllRacing

Being winless ‘bothers us all’ says Reddick

Tyler Reddick has an opportunity to clinch his spot in the NASCAR Cup Series postseason Saturday night at Richmond Raceway in a way that many wouldn’t have anticipated when the se ason began.

Reddick is the highest driver sitting on the provisional playoff grid without a victory. The 23XI Racing driver can clinch his spot in the postseason with 30 points if there is a repeat winner from the Cup Series field. There is also a scenario where Reddick would need 54 points to clinch, depending on a new winner that is below him in the standings.

Of course, a win would also lock him into the postseason.

The No. 45 team hasn’t been to victory lane since October, when Reddick won at Homestead-Miami Speedway. It was Reddick’s third win of the season, and put him into the championship round.

“It definitely bothers all of us,” said Reddick of not having won in 2025. “It’s important for it to be motivational and motivate yourself to win, but you have to be careful not to let the wave of the drought bring us down as a group. It’s an important balance. You want to put that pressure on to get the job done, but too much and it can swallow you up.”

In the overall championship standings, Reddick sits seventh. The results and performance, however, have been scattered. Reddick has nine top-10 finishes, which is the fewest of any driver inside the top 12 drivers in the standings. However, he has finished all but one race, and his stage point accumulation (157) is fifth best in the series.

Although it is not an unsuccessful season, it is the race wins that matter most. Particularly when it comes to competing for a championship and creating an easier path through the postseason. A race win is worth five playoff points. Reddick, who won the regular season championship in 2024, became intimately familiar with the insurance of playoff points when he advanced through the first two rounds of the postseason despite an 18.1 average finish.

He has one playoff point entering the penultimate regular season race at Richmond Raceway. He acknowledges that the current situation makes for an uphill battle when the playoffs begin.

“Yeah, for sure,” Reddick said. “Have I looked ahead to that yet, though? I’ve understood that, but I haven’t sat and thought about what Darlington and the first round need to look like.

“I acknowledge it’s not going to be as easy. Not that it was easy last year, honestly. But when you have more playoff points, you allow yourself more mistakes.”