Tyler Reddick continues 23XI’s Kansas streak

Kansas Speedway has become a playground for 23XI Racing since they expanded to a two-car operation in 2022, with the #45 in particular sweeping both dates that year with Kurt Busch and Bubba Wallace. After finishing ninth in May, Tyler Reddick is the third driver to win at the 1.5-mile oval in the #45.

Reddick restarted fifth for overtime set up after Chris Buescher suffered a blown tyre, and stalked the battle between Joey Logano and Erik Jones before completing a three-wide pass for the lead coming to the white flag. The dramatic move shot Reddick to the top while 23XI owner and May winner Denny Hamlin followed on the outside to finish second.

The win locks Reddick into the Round of 12 of the NASCAR Cup Series playoffs.

“Last year was the heartbreaker. Two years ago, we just weren’t great, and we went into Bristol and missed it by a couple, but last year we had those wins. We come to this race a year ago and have a flat while leading and fall out very early. We went into Bristol in a bad spot and then got caught up in a wreck,” recalled Reddick.

“To be able to have a lot of points scored—I’m sure even if we didn’t win today and finished second or third, we would have had a lot of points to lean on going into Bristol, so that was just the goal all along. I want to win races, but we don’t take to take the risks in the first round. I think as we keep going along and we get further in and we don’t have the points to start that some of the cars at the very front of the leaderboard do, we’ll have to get more aggressive, but it was very nice to get five playoff points today and gain a few more as we go on to the next round.”

Hendrick Motorsports was the top team as Kyle Larson and Chase Elliott respectively led 99 and 47 laps while the former won Stage #1, but both started further back in overtime after pitting and were unable to catch up. Stage #2 winner Brad Keselowski had a similar fate as he settled for ninth.

While Reddick and Hamlin maximised their points days, 23XI and Joe Gibbs Racing team-mates Wallace and Martin Truex Jr. are left in a precarious position entering the Round of 16 finale at Bristol after suffering right rear tyre failures. Truex’s tyre went down just three laps into the race and sent him into the turn three wall; after winning the regular season championship, he is on the brink of elimination as he trails Kevin Harvick for the twelfth in the standings by seven points.

After finishing second in Stage #1, Wallace’s day went down in smoke on lap 109. While his team was able to repair the car in time to stay in the race, he ended up thre laps and and finished thirty-second. He is nineteen points below the cut line going into Bristol, where he has struggled with just one top ten in eight Cup starts.

“In hindsight, I should have just pitted, but at that point in time, you just don’t know if the car is really just tight or what’s going on,” commented Truex, “It’s a real shame.”

A day after finishing third in the Xfinity Series race, Sheldon Creed concluded his Cup début in twenty-ninth. The 2020 Truck Series champion was the thirteenth Stadium Super Trucks driver to compete in the Cup Series.

Race results

Finish	Start	Number	Driver	Team	Manufacturer	Laps	Status
1	5	45	Tyler Reddick	23XI Racing	Toyota	268	Running
2	14	11	Denny Hamlin	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	268	Running
3	19	43	Erik Jones	Legacy Motor Club	Chevrolet	268	Running
4	2	5	Kyle Larson	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	268	Running
5	11	22	Joey Logano	Team Penske	Ford	268	Running
6	4	9	Chase Elliott^	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	268	Running
7	35	8	Kyle Busch	Richard Childress Racing	Chevrolet	268	Running
8	1	20	Christopher Bell	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	268	Running
9	12	6	Brad Keselowski	RFK Racing	Ford	268	Running
10	23	48	Alex Bowman	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	268	Running
11	20	4	Kevin Harvick	Stewart-Haas Racing	Ford	268	Running
12	17	12	Ryan Blaney	Team Penske	Ford	268	Running
13	6	1	Ross Chastain	Trackhouse Racing Team	Chevrolet	268	Running
14	36	54	Ty Gibbs	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	268	Running
15	9	24	William Byron	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	268	Running
16	15	99	Daniel Suárez	Trackhouse Racing Team	Chevrolet	268	Running
17	25	10	Aric Almirola	Stewart-Haas Racing	Ford	268	Running
18	28	41	Ryan Preece	Stewart-Haas Racing	Ford	268	Running
19	26	14	Chase Briscoe	Stewart-Haas Racing	Ford	268	Running
20	21	42	Carson Hocevar*	Legacy Motor Club	Chevrolet	268	Running
21	30	31	Justin Haley	Kaulig Racing	Chevrolet	268	Running
22	24	7	Corey LaJoie	Spire Motorsports	Chevrolet	268	Running
23	16	47	Ricky Stenhouse Jr.	JTG Daugherty Racing	Chevrolet	268	Running
24	27	51	Cole Custer*	Rick Ware Racing	Ford	268	Running
25	32	38	Todd Gilliland	Front Row Motorsports	Ford	267	Running
26	7	34	Michael McDowell	Front Row Motorsports	Ford	267	Running
27	13	17	Chris Buescher	RFK Racing	Ford	267	Running
28	33	77	Ty Dillon	Spire Motorsports	Chevrolet	267	Running
29	34	78	Sheldon Creed*	Live Fast Motorsports	Chevrolet	266	Running
30	22	16	A.J. Allmendinger	Kaulig Racing	Chevrolet	266	Running
31	18	2	Austin Cindric	Team Penske	Ford	266	Running
32	10	23	Bubba Wallace	23XI Racing	Toyota	264	Running
33	8	3	Austin Dillon	Richard Childress Racing	Chevrolet	259	Running
34	31	15	J.J. Yeley*	Rick Ware Racing	Ford	212	DVP
35	29	21	Harrison Burton	Wood Brothers Racing	Ford	175	DVP
36	3	19	Martin Truex Jr.	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	3	Accident