TOYOTA RACING – Tyler Reddick
NASCAR Cup Series Quotes
DARLINGTON, SC (March 21, 2026) – 23XI Racing driver Tyler Reddick was made available to the media on Saturday after winning the pole for the NASCAR Cup Series race from Darlington Raceway.
Tyler Reddick earned his second pole of the season (COTA), and ninth in a Toyota Camry – which ties him with Carl Edwards for sixth all-time in Toyota’s Cup Series history.
Toyota drivers have now won the pole in three of the last four races – COTA and Darlington with Tyler Reddick, and last weekend with Christopher Bell at Las Vegas.
TYLER REDDICK, No. 45 Xfinity Toyota Camry XSE, 23XI Racing
Can you talk about your run and your practice today?
“I feel like the topic, the conversation kind of caught wind, if you will, twi weeks ago or so on how tricky it was going to be, coming into here with, with less downforce and more power, and yeah it was super important to have good work back at Airspeed on the simulator for what adjustments we needed to make for that. I think we all were just a little, I don’t know, honestly uncertain what it was going to look like in practice, and yeah, for us to – we kind of caught the back of the field. They took a long time getting going, so when we were passing cars on one lap older tires, getting going there in practice, I knew we had to be pretty good. So, yeah, it just seems like the handling really stays with our Xfinity Toyota Camry. I knew qualifying was going to be really tough, and a lot of drivers were having trouble finding that that edge, that limit in turn one, and nailed that pretty good, felt really good about the lap going down the back straight away, and I truly think I just kind of underdid it through the center of (turns) 3 and 4, and just felt like I had to get on the gas and get off the corner, and yeah, basically just ran right in the wall. Looks like we’re all good on the damage, but, yeah, to be able to have that kind of a speed in practice and again, in qualifying was awesome to see. That’s what we wanted to come in here and do. We’re typically pretty good on Saturdays here and it really makes our Sundays a lot easier.”
Was there enough of a sample size in practice today to know what is going to happen tomorrow?
“A little early to tell. I don’t know, kind of seemed like there was a little bit less fall off than what we thought there was going to be. So, I think, yeah, obviously we get I get done here, we’ll kind of discuss that and kind of talk about what we want to do directionally with our race car going into the race tomorrow, but it does feel like it was not quite the amount of fall off we thought it would be.”
How much does qualifying on the pole help you at Darlington?
“Yeah, sign me up every time. Yeah, when you can qualify like this at a place like Darlington. I’ve been able to do it a few times over the years here where I kind of just get through the start, get up front, kind of set sail, have fun, learn, explore, and then just dread catching the back of the field (laughter). But yeah, in the past, you know, I think it was 2024. We did this in a similar fashion here and we let a lot of laps. Scored a lot of stage points and that’s what we need to do. So, in my experience, being able to start up front, if we can get off turn four that first lap in the lead, we should be in really good shape to start.”
How much can the tire fall off change the track position when it comes to racing on Sunday?
“I think in practice here, it’s really hard to get a good read on it, because, you know, half the car is on the track, they’re just more clean air out there, and, you know, I was able to run Brad (Keselowski) down and got within like three car lengths and kind of just couldn’t like ran him down and couldn’t do anything with them in practice. But we were basically running the same line, and so I think once you get more cars out there, there’s just less good air out there, and at some point, everyone’s going to kind of experience it. Yeah, on the restarts, getting spread out, after a restart, a lot of cars are in that. So, I do think, yeah, the strategy piece is going to be really important. I think in some ways, based off of practice, like in moments, throughout the race, like it could spread out a little bit more, but then when guys stuff hit that light switch and go loose or go really tight, that’s when you’ll see guys really start to charge through the field or fall through the field. So, I do feel like with the potential of the wear that we thought coming into it and where it was today, that, yeah, the team that can really nail down what the fall off is going to be in the race versus practice, I think is going to have a leg up on the rest of the field, whoever can kind of figure out what that sweet spot’s going to be, when to pit, is it time to stay out and go longer, that sort of thing.”
Can you do 26, 29, laps that you need with the current entire allotment you have? Do you think, like, if you have to, you could go 40 or 50 laps?
“I did 42 in practice, Bob (Pockrass). I’m good to go. They tried to stop me around 30, and I’m like, nah I’m going keep going (laughter). I’m going to go till the cords or I hit something hard. I almost hit something hard about lap 30, but yeah, we made it 42 laps, and I was hanging on for dear life, but I can go 40 in practice.”
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