Toyota GAZOO Racing – Tyler Reddick
NASCAR Cup Series Quotes
INDIANAPOLIS (July 25, 2025) – 23XI Racing driver Tyler Reddick was made available to the media on Friday prior to practice for the NASCAR Cup Series race at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
TYLER REDDICK, No. 45 Xfinity Mobile Toyota Camry XSE, 23XI Racing
What’s been the mindset for the Toyota teams coming into this weekend?
“I’d say we’re all kind of curious last year coming here, how we’re going to stack it up and I honestly can’t remember where the others were, but where we were at from the start of practice all the way throughout. In qualifying last year first round, (we) didn’t fully put the whole lap together but round two we did, so yeah, it was really nice to see that kind of speed out of our cars here. Typically, with bigger tracks and intermediates, we’ve been strong at, so we did feel good about it. We raced fairly well. I think getting going in the race last year, being out front, the balance wasn’t quite what I wanted for the lead. We were able to kind of work on that throughout the race and then obviously, you know people short filing for the end I guess, and the fuel strategy just came into play. We never really had clean air to close off the race but were still fairly strong and able to drive up to the front. The pivotal moment in all that was just, I remember passing somebody, we were like 12th or something, got off turn two poorly and here came the No. 5 (Kyle Larson), he went by and got to the front first. Missed opportunity, but speed and handling it seems like, given what we had last year, how close it was, we feel good about this weekend on our end.”
How has Denny Hamlin helped you as a driver?
“He (has a) very high racing IQ. I feel like the last couple years, he’s done more sharing of that with everybody, with the platforms that he uses. For me, he’s really helped me understand short track racing. There’s been days, weekends over my career. whether it’s been in a Truck, an Xfinity car or a Cup car – Gen 6 and Next Gen. We show up and are fast, I don’t necessarily know all the ins and outs of it, but I feel like between him (Denny Hamlin) and Bubba Wallace, my teammate as well, they helped me better understand what to look for in my car, how to approach the race, how to manage the tires and just put the race together. I feel like that’s showing up in places like Richmond, Martinsville, it seems like it’s close to not quite there yet sometimes we can run good. But yeah, he’s helped me become a more well-rounded driver and for me, I think back couple years ago when I came over here (23XI Racing), it was fun to work with him and Bubba to get better road courses. We were just in Chicago and Bubba was fastest in practice, and the last couple of years, Denny has been able to get some poles on road course courses too, so it’s been fun to share our strengths and work on the weaknesses together.”
What memories of your 2022 victory on the road course come back when you return to Indianapolis Motor Speedway?
“It feels like it was 10 years ago, but it was three years ago! Yeah, it was a really fun weekend. That year, we were on the road course, so knew were going to be fast and being able to have the speed that we did all weekend long was a huge asset. Being able to throw all the strategy plays together and everything still hold out to get the win was awesome. For me, this is the track that, you know unfortunately, I’ve never been here to watch the Indy 500 growing up or the Brickyard 400 growing up. When I was younger, we were always racing dirt somewhere else, but (it’s) just really a prestigious place and be able to get the job done, kiss the bricks. Yeah, probably one of my favorite victory lane moments.”
With the points position you’re currently in, how aggressive will you be in going for a win?
“I wish it was that simple, honestly. It feels like everybody out there, if six, seven cars are happy, the other 30 will be mixing it up regardless. So yeah, I feel like to win this race, you kind of have to push the issues with strategy, you have to be aggressive. I feel like that is something that we really haven’t backed down from at all over the course of this year. We saw this play out that way last year. People were being really aggressive on the last stop. I think whether you’re going to score points or run well in win a race-mentality has to be very similar, which is nice for us. If you want to score points, you have to run up front. If you want to win the race, you have to run up front. I don’t feel like it’s that complex on our end. We just focus on being quick in practice, qualifying well. I don’t know if flipping stages is going to be something for Sunday, but from the driver’s seat and the crew chiefs’ standpoint, it’s almost straightforward.”
How does the mindset change returning to Iowa this year?
“When you go back somewhere for a second time, you have notes, you have a lot of information that you’re able to go through, whether it’s your own notes, your teammates notes. We’re able to see, look back on what worked, what didn’t. I think that race in particular, everyone was concerned with the tires, seemingly failing. As we saw in the race though, that was pretty much not an issue. So that’s notes being take taken, right? You know when you go into that for the first time, you have that in practice, you’re going to react to it you’re going to play it a little bit safe for the race and kind of saw it worked out. I feel good about it. Thought we were really strong in practice there last year. The race kind of played out in a way where, if we would’ve stop with what we were doing, I think we would have been up there to the front all night.”
How do you think the Iowa Speedway surface evolved over the course of the race last year?
“It was actually starting to do it in practice little bit. You start at the very bottom of the repaved corners. Drivers were working their way up to the top of repaved corners, so I expect similar things to happen. A lot of moving around on the repaved portions of the corner. There were times and what not where you can kind of actually get up above it and make it work, but very specific scenarios. It’s very tricky now, you’re accelerating and slowing down on the old surface, and it does not have a lot of grip, and you kind of have to riffle it off into the corner and hope you get it to the to the fresh asphalt every time. It’s pretty fun and exhilarating, honestly, if you go there and trying to get the speed, just the control you just feel like, you know, free diving I guess or something like that every time you go into the corner. I enjoyed last year for sure.”
Why do you enjoy racing at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway so much?
“I loved racing the road course. That was a lot of fun. The oval here, there’s a lot of history tied to it. What makes this place special, Kyle (Larson) even said it before, is just the history of this of this race track. How long it’s long it’s been here, all the big moments that have happened here. Yeah, for me it’s the history.”
Do you feel like you’re safe to make the Playoffs?
“Honestly for us, making the playoffs is the minimum requirement. This team, the performance we bring to the race track, whether it’s our pit crew, our cars or how we strategize the race. For us, yeah, it’s crazy to even think we’re worried about just making the Playoffs. To be in the Playoffs, you have to make it. But for us it’s more so about ‘okay, we’re in it, great, but we need Playoff points, all these things just doesn’t necessarily work out, so ultimately, that means that when it does get started, we’re just going to have to run you know 20 or 30 spots better than some of the guys that were around each round. We’re kind of asking for some help along the way too, and some strong teams making mistakes. So don’t love the spot we’re in for that reason. Feel good about making the playoffs, but for me and this team, it’s not about just making the Playoffs, it’s about going far in the playoffs. It’s about making it to the Championship 4 and competing for championships. That’s what it’s about.”
How important is it for NASCAR to have a race at San Diego and Southern California?
“For me, I think it’s extremely important for us to be in Southern California. I was obviously very partial and very much a huge fan of Fontana. From the first time I ever went there, to the first time I ever got to race there, and love that race track. The fans that are in Southern California, the car culture in Southern California I feel like it’s just it’s an easy layout for us to be in that area and have fans come to the race. So, I’m glad we’re doing what we’re doing, going to San Diego. I was one of those that grew up in California and my parents didn’t like going to L.A. (Los Angeles) and they didn’t like going to San Francisco, so I couldn’t see a lot of these great cities that the California has. The last few years traveling and seeing places recently, I’m so excited to go to San Diego for the first time. Excited to explore the city and see what it’s going to be about.”
What do you think the difference is in being aggressive on strategy in races like this?
“I mean it’s hard to figure out where that line is every week. But when it’s all said and done, you’re able to see where that line lays. It seems like, at Pocono, in the end, it worked out for the teams that tried it. But a lot of these race tracks, more and more often it seems like, teams that push the issue on fuel or different strategies, end up finding their way to the front. It’s a difficult line to balance. I feel like when you’re a 15th-place bar or a 10th-place car at best, you have less to lose for sure. So that’s something we tried to manage. From when we’re making our decisions around the race, it’s a difficult thing, right? When you have a car that’s capable of winning to take huge risk on strategy that has a small chance of working. But for us at Homestead, we’re you know running fourth and we needed to win. ‘Okay, we’ll run long and hope for a caution.’ When you’re left with not much to lose, that’s when you’re able to throw that out. It seemed like more and more often, the cars that are in that six to 12 conversation are going for it more than they probably have in the past and it’s continuing to work out.”
What about Denny Hamlin continues to amaze you at where he’s at in his career?
“Yeah, there’s a number of things. His preparation is up there for sure. Again, his racing awareness. I also feel like when it comes to understanding what qualities you want your car to have, to be able to identify those. Whether that’s in the sim or in practice. Some of these mile-and-a-halfs that we go to, whether it’s like (Las) Vegas or is another, you’ll be in practice and feel like ‘Oh, what’s going on?’ If you go talk to him, he’s like ‘I think it’s this and here’s what you need for the race.’ He’s just a very smart racer, he takes great notes. He uses his resources to his advantage. He just knows what he wants with the experience that he has in a race car, communicating that to his team and finding that.”
How would you describe the season so far with the expectations 23XI Racing has?
“Unfortunately, when those opportunities have been there (to win), we haven’t executed. We’ve made a mistake, we’ve done something along the way that either makes that much more difficult to win or takes out of it. So that’s just kind of the name of the game. These races and teams that don’t make the mistakes. Even this past weekend in Dover, I was extremely strong and made a couple mistakes along the way. That’s just that’s just kind of how it goes. With how close the cars are and how good the competition is. With how close everything is, those mistakes hurt you so much more. It’s just extremely important to go out there do your job and execute.”
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