What started as a dream season has quickly turned into a nightmare for Tyler Reddick.
The driver of the No. 45 23XI Racing Toyota began the season with a Daytona 500 win. He followed that crown jewel victory with a back-to-back wins at EchoPark Speedway and Circuit of the Americas then, pocketed two more first place results following that. Since the race at Michigan International Speedway however, it seems the magic for this team has disappeared.
When Reddick was caught in an incident on Lap 83 in the Irish Hills, it began a stretch of six tough races for the Corning, CA, native across nine weekends. During the following race at the San Diego Street Course, the 23XI Racing driver cut a tire with two laps to go, crossing the start-finish line in 25th. Then, at Sonoma Raceway, power-steering issues plagued the car, resulting in a 36th-place finish.
Chicagoland Speedway wasn’t any better. The No. 45 suffered severe radiator and oil-cooler damage, ending his day in 38th. Greener pastures appeared to be on the horizon after an eighth-place finish at EchoPark. However, North Wilkesboro Speedway brought the poor luck right back after Alex Bowman, who was heading to pit road from the top lane of the racetrack, came down onto Reddick’s car, wrecking both drivers. The contact caused steering damage to the No. 45, leading to a 30th-place finish.
That brings us to Iowa Speedway where a mistake heading into Turn 1 caused Reddick’s machine to wreck, collecting Erik Jones in the process on Lap 4. The damage sustained was enough to end both driver’s day.
There's trouble on Lap 4!
Reddick and Jones are in the wall. pic.twitter.com/Le5XO7B5XS
— NASCAR (@NASCAR) August 9, 2026
“Just gut-wrenching on a lot of levels,” said Reddick via the broadcast. “I thought we kind of figured out what we needed to do for the race today, and I made a killer mistake.”
“I just lost the car, honestly,” he continued. “It just snapped on me. If I’m by myself, I probably can save it. Just unfortunate that we ran out of room, got into him [Jones] and we both wrecked. It’s not ideal. Unacceptable, really. It’s one thing to wreck myself, but taking out a Toyota teammate is not what I’m supposed to do.”
Across the past nine race weekends, Reddick has posted an average finish of 24.2, a stark departure from the first nine races of the season, when he averaged a fifth-place finish. The team can breathe a sigh of relief knowing they still hold a healthy advantage above the cutline. However, the points continue to slip away, and with just three races remaining before the Chase, maintaining a top-three position in the standings could be a tall ask. When the No. 45 team looks back on how their regular season ends, the overarching thought will undoubtedly be: What could have been?
