TOYOTA RACING – Tyler Reddick
NASCAR Cup Series Quotes
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (February 11, 2026) – 23XI Racing driver Tyler Reddick was made available to the media on Wednesday prior to the Daytona 500.
TYLER REDDICK, No. 45 Chumba Casino Toyota Camry XSE, 23XI Racing
You and Jimmie (Johnson) were two cars that did 20 laps in practice today. Do you feel like you got maybe anything more from me now on that amount of time, and what kept you out there as long as you did?
“It’s just kind of our practice plan that we had, you know, coming into the day. Just had us on track for a little bit longer. Certainly, it is always good to get out there and feel the track out. We come here twice a year, and it’s spread out enough to where it does seem like the track has subtle changes. When you come back, more so for this race, I think part of that is just this track gets a lot of laps, a lot of usage from the Rolex, the Roar, and everything that goes into that, so it always does feel like we come back for the 500 versus the summer race, the track does seem to change just a little bit.”
I’m curious, when the team brings in new sponsors, I know there’s interest proactively from them. Does the team ever ask you guys about what brands you already enjoy?
“Yeah, it is important for it to be natural. I think, you know, as far as I understood it, going back to the very beginning, it’s important for the fits to be natural, so that those, the partnership just goes along naturally, you know? For me, it’s kind of how I’ve always done it, you know, if it’s a partner coming in that I don’t necessarily align with or have interest in; I would imagine it would be hard for to work. So, for me, I’ve just always, if it’s come down to something like that, it’s always important that I’m on board with what that brand does or what they sell.”
Second place in Daytona 500 last year. What is your relationship with this race overall?
“Mostly bad. (laughter) It’s been getting better, though. In the big race, I think that was like the first time I actually saw the checkered flag, if I have that right. Something about this race, it just gets derailed at some point and, and I mean, that one did too towards the end. We were in the wrong place at the wrong time when the caution fell, so we’re kind of towards the back, and, yeah, I essentially just waited for the wrecks to happen, not knowing that they would, but just, I guess, having a hunch, and we were able to kind of catch it. That really only got me to the 16th, and then from there, just, me and Willy B (William Bryon), just shoved our way through there, and he just, he ended up winning it. I end up getting clipped by Denny (Hamlin) a little bit, or it would have been a really cool finish.”
I am curious what this offseason was like for you as well. It seemed like it came at a good time, just with everything that you guys were going through at the end of last year?
“Yes, yeah, it did. I was definitely hoping I was going to get everything that I wanted to done and get completely caught up. I’d say about four or five weeks in the offseason, I realized that wasn’t going to happen and just accepting my fate that just things are falling behind on things. So here we are, Daytona ready to go. A lot of things outside racing needs to still get sorted out, but that’s okay.”
How’s family?
“Family’s good. Yeah, that part’s great.”
Tyler, how much contact you’ve had with Michael Jordan in the off-season since the lawsuit and everything got settled and going into the new year, what’s the communication with that?
“Yeah, I’ve gotten to spend a little bit of time with them. We had our Christmas party, which was nice. He actually stayed later then I did. It was time to get home and get back to the kids. So, we were able to enjoy some moments there together. Then he’s always made an effort to be a part of the meetings and communications that the team has in preparation for the year or going into a race or just physically his presence being at a number of races. So, it’s good. He’s made it – MJ (Michael Jordan), Denny (Hamlin), Curtis (Polk) – all the ownership has made it very clear of what the expectations are for a team like this and how we expect to perform, so yeah just help guide us where we need to have our expectations are at for the year.”
You’ve got some core moments together in victory lane. What would it mean for both of you and him into Victory Lane at the biggest race in the sport?
“It’d be huge. He loves winning races, and it’s really cool to win at Talladega, and get to have him experience his first victory lane a couple years ago. He loves winning. Big races are important to him as well as an owner as well as performing consistently well and contending for championships. One way you can start it off is by having a strong SpeedWeeks. It’s cool the last 2 years, whether it was myself or Bubba (Wallace), we’ve been able to win Duels and get the weekend started off right, and hopefully, we’ve both been close, me and Bubba both, but hopefully one of us can get the job done in the 500 and give MJ (Michael Jordan) the experience he’s worked really hard to have.”
Won the regular season championship a couple of years ago. How do you guys head into this year now knowing that a similar stretch of success, at least throughout the course of the Playoffs now, can result in an actual championship and give you guys a Bill France Cup at the end of the year?
“I’ve obviously had my success in the playoff format – in Cup and in the O’Reilly Auto Parts Series as well. So for me, yes, I’ve had my success with that in the past, but I feel like who I am as a Cup driver – consistency has been typically one of my strengths. So, for me, I’m excited about that. I think will be good for me. We already gear for that in what we used to call the regular season, in the season, and when we get into the Chase, that’ll be extremely important, as well.”
Tyler, you scored the most points last year of drafting tracks. How do you feel you’ve kind of evolved at that craft?
“Part of it is getting better driving through the wrecks. Part of it is knowing when they’re about to wreck and not being in it. I’d say the other two parts is race craft on the racetrack and kind of understanding when and where to kind of go and not go and chill, then the last part is a strategy piece. I feel like that’s something we’ve typically had really dialed in, like, on paper, and when the race plays out pretty normally, works out in our favor. But as we have cautions at certain times that really derail that, just understanding that that could be in the picture and trying to always have – be ready for that, to not be caught off guard by that. We’ve done pretty good at all those things, but, I think the biggest thing on that side of it is just finding ways to be there at the end, having a shot at a top-10, having a shot at the top-five, and knocking on door wins at some of these, so just staying in the mix, for us, has been big, and some of the times just staying out of trouble.”
Corey Heim is in the car for 12 races this season. What have you seen from him in the few cup starts that he has made, and what can he deliver to 23XI?
“Growing up, I always used to, I was used to being the young guy and I’m not like old, old yet, but I’ve been doing this a while and he’s a younger guy coming in. So, yeah, how he drives, what he looks for, how he handles his race car, how he manages his race car, all those things is kind of refreshing to get an extra perspective on that. There was a number of races, I think, Kansas was one that really stands out where all of us across the board were having a hard time with our cars, and he actually found a way to manage it better than any of us. So just being able to understand and get the inside perspective on that is useful. I feel like when it comes to finding speed around the top, I’m kind of like the guy that knows how to do it and figure that out. In Kansas, he kind of showed me that, when no one else can hit the bottom if any of us have a shot at hitting the bottom and making it work, he seems to really have a good knack for that. I’m going try and do everything I can to learn from that and mold into what I do.”
Does he rely on you guys for any advice?
“Yeah, oh, yeah. I think that’s one nice thing about what we do at 23XI is its extremely open book. It’s open book with our other Toyota teammates as well. He’s always willing to listen. He’s always willing to explain. That is kind of how we do things at 23CI, whether that’s in our post-race meeting space or in our pre-event meetings that we have. Everyone keeps an open book. People don’t keep things close to the chest.
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