NASCAR CUP SERIES
PLAYOFF MEDIA DAY
TEAM CHEVY PRESS CONF. TRANSCRIPT
AUGUST 31, 2021
TYLER REDDICK, NO. 8 RICHARD CHILDRESS RACING CAMARO ZL1 1LE, Teleconference Transcript:
THE MODERATOR: We’re going to get right into questions here for Tyler Reddick.
Q. These first three tracks are ones where you’ve consistently fought for top 10s, top 5s. What is your confidence level heading into your first Playoffs?
TYLER REDDICK: It’s good. The nice thing is that we’re going back to a venue — well, let me think about this. I mean, in a way we’ve been to all three of these tracks already this year, the third Bristol. Obviously a little dustier for some reason the first time we were there earlier this year.
The speed we had early at this race at Darlington in the beginning of summer, if you will, was really promising to know we were that good and still have missed the mark on where our car needed to be by that much.
Yeah, I’m excited for sure going into that race. But even more excited, after all the chaos and everything kind of had passed at Daytona, we knew we were in, that night leading into the next morning, Bob is taking a guess at where everyone is going to start.
Oh, my gosh, this fifth-place finish was not only good to finally finish fifth, in the top 5 at Daytona, but it looks like it’s going to help our starting position at Darlington where there’s only I think 13 points between myself and sixth right now.
I think we’re going to see a lot of shake-up just right away in how tight everybody is, how it’s going to spread out just in this first race at Darlington. We’re going to try to take advantage of that.
Q. I know you weren’t in the Playoffs last year. Did you notice anything competitively or with intensity as a driver that maybe you can expect this time around, if there was something different?
TYLER REDDICK: Well, out of the competition or…
Q. Yeah. I mean, does the intensity level raise up? Do you feel that as a driver, something you actually experience that you can sense around you that can help you this year, if at all?
TYLER REDDICK: Yes and no. I think I experienced this for sure when we ran the Southern 500 last year. We at times were racing, especially the first round for sure, we were racing around a lot of Playoff cars all night long at Darlington, and Bristol especially once we were up in the top 5. We aren’t racing for what those guys are, but we’re still racing to try and have a good finish for our progress and everything like that.
So I think the intensity’s there whether you’re in the Playoffs or not. When you’re a Playoff driver, you’re racing really hard with those other Playoff drivers. It seemed like the guys outside of the Playoffs understand what is going on, but they’re still going to race hard for their season. The give-and-take, the mark has moved a little bit from where it is in the regular season up until that point.
But I’d say either way you have it, it’s just shaped a little bit differently whether you’re in the Playoffs or not. Last year when I wasn’t, I felt like the Playoff drivers – as they should – were racing hard for every single spot. Essentially this one or two points at the end of the year ultimately doesn’t dictate whether I make the next round or not.
So it is different, but I wouldn’t say it’s more intense. It’s just the intensity level is with a certain group of drivers on one side and another in the Playoffs.
Q. Entering Michigan you said you believed the No. 8 team was running well enough to potentially reach the Round of 8 if you got into the Playoffs. Now that you’re in, do you feel the consistency you’ve shown over the summer can get you that far or do you feel like you’re going to need a win somewhere in the first two rounds to reach the Round of 8 and go from there?
TYLER REDDICK: I would say at this moment looking at how everything’s seeded, if you will, only 13 points as of right now separate myself to I believe it’s sixth. I hope I got that number right. So it’s pretty tight. Again, that can change in one stage, one race, one part of these three-race rounds in this Playoff system.
We’re obviously going to see new winners. We’re going to see three winners this round of the Playoffs and three winners in the Round of 12. That can certainly shake up those numbers and where we’re at in comparison.
When you think about that 13-point gap right now over three races, I feel like we’ve been able to be consistent and gain a lot of points just over really a lot of the field over the course of the summer.
Yeah, you look at these three last races for myself, not exactly the most consistent, for sure. Michigan, flat out just made poor decisions. It happens from time to time. It’s a nice little reality check, if you will, before the Playoffs started of, Okay, this is why we need to really stay on the plan that we have.
So, yeah, I feel good about it still. I mean, everyone’s working really hard to set themselves up to really go out of the gates in the Playoffs. Obviously, everyone’s going to be probably a little bit faster or different than they’ve been the last two months. So, speed out of some cars, out of some drivers, may be different now.
I still feel good about it, but you never know until you’re in it for sure.
Q. The naysayers, I’m sure you’ve heard: Last man in, first man out. How would you respond to that? Is your strategy going to be to maximize points as much as you can or go all out for the win?
TYLER REDDICK: I mean, I would say to win races you need to be relevant all day long. The only places you can really pop in and steal wins, when fuel mileage has come into play in the past on superspeedways. To win those races, you before winning races you need to score a lot of points and be running up front.
For most of this year, especially once we got it rolling the way it needed to be, we were running inside the top 10 a lot, having shots, one pit stop or one decision here or there away from top 5s, which unfortunately haven’t had a lot of those this year. But we’ve been right there. Little details will either make or break this Playoff run for us.
But I like where we’ve been going. I still feel like we’re still just improving, but we’re right where we need to be for the right time at the start of this.
Certainly don’t feel like looking at how we’ve ran that we will be the first out. Again, it’s not just a race against 15 other competitors, you’re racing yourself.
Now that we’re in these Playoffs, certainly it will be a lot easier to allow the pressure to get to us. But I’m not going to lie, Saturday was one of the most pressure-packed nights of my life and I thought we handled it pretty well. Some may argue that I needed to just be out the back, let everything happen. But I can’t get so caught up in Austin that I forget there’s eight or nine drivers up there that could have won and knocked us out.
I thought we handled that situation as well as we could. It makes us even more prepared and ready for this first round, the rounds after, if we can do our part and get there.
THE MODERATOR: Thank you, Tyler.
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