Reddick Concedes "We Got Big Problems" After Rough Kansas Outing

"We got big problems," Tyler Reddick anguished after another rough outing in Sunday's NASCAR Cup Series Hollywood Casino 400 at Kansas Speedway, a track where he was expected to snap back into championship form.

While Reddick was able to salvage an 11th-place result out of the day, the driver tanked in the opening portion of the race, which killed any hope he had of collecting all-important Stage Points. After starting the race in the 15th position, Reddick fell to as low as 34th in the 36-car field in the race's opening Stage.

Fortunately, a competition caution on Lap 36, due to practice and qualifying being rained out earlier in the weekend, allowed Reddick to remain on the lead lap and come to pit road for much-needed adjustments to his No. 45 Rockstar Energy Drink Toyota.

While it was a slow and steady climb, Reddick would work himself just outside the top-10 as the checkered flag waved on Stage 2, a Stage he was credited with a 13th-place finish in.

In the final Stage of the race, Reddick worked his way into the top 10 before ultimately fading to an 11th-place finish at the end of the 267-lap contest, which was dominated by Kyle Larson, the series point leader.

After climbing from his No. 45 Toyota on a gutting day, Reddick felt like there was a chance that his car could have been better had practice and qualifying not been canceled at Kansas Speedway. But still doesn't feel like they could have gotten their car good enough to contend for the race win.

“I mean, [practice and qualifying] definitely could have helped us in Stage 1 and Stage 2, but I don’t know if we could have gotten where we needed to be in the race this weekend," Reddick admitted. "I don’t know, it’s just so crazy to be that bad.”

While an 11th-place finish should be seen as a win on a day when Reddick and his No. 45 team were out to lunch early in the event, it's extremely hard to feel that way. After kicking off the Chase with a third-place finish at Darlington Raceway, where it looked like Reddick was ready to finally buck the slumping trend of a miserable summer, the driver has fallen back to Earth in the last three races.

He finished 25th at Gateway, 18th at Bristol, and now 11th at Kansas, a race where he was much worse than an 11th-place runner for the majority of the race.

With six races remaining in the NASCAR Cup Series championship fight, Reddick has fallen to seventh in the Chase Grid standings, and while he can still rally to win a championship, he sits 111 points behind Larson, who has two wins through the opening four races of the Chase and shows no signs of slowing down.

"We just got to figure our own shit out, right now, and not even be worried about that," Reddick said of his placement in the standings.

Dream Season Turned Nightmarish

Early in the season, it looked like 2026 was going to be a dream year for Tyler Reddick, crew chief Billy Scott, and the No. 45 23XI Racing team. It appeared the group could do no wrong, as Reddick, who took his first-ever Daytona 500 win, became the first driver in NASCAR Cup Series history to start a season with three consecutive victories.

It was a staggering start to the season, and after Reddick piled on two more wins to bring his total to five victories through the opening nine races of the season. Ironically, that fifth win of the season came at Kansas Speedway, the same track that Reddick underwhelmed at this past weekend.

After the spring race at Kansas Speedway, it looked like Reddick was going to secure the No. 1 seed in the Chase for sure. And if the No. 45 team could even find any of their early-season success in the Chase, a NASCAR Cup Series championship would be around the corner.

Then came a horrendous summer stretch, which saw Reddick, who had no finishes outside of the top-15 in the opening 14 races of the season, record six finishes of 25th or worse during a nine-race swoon.

He would relinquish the championship lead following a 36th-place finish at Sonoma Raceway. Reddick was never able to recover.

With finishes of 11th, 8th, and 3rd to close out the regular season at Richmond, New Hampshire, and Daytona, it looked like Reddick and the No. 45 team were possibly righting a once-sinking ship. With the three-race surge, Reddick was able to head into the Chase as the No. 3 seed. A far cry from the regular-season championship, but still within striking distance of the championship lead.

After a solid start in the form of a third-place result at Darlington Raceway, Reddick seemed to be in early-season form. But it's all come crashing down, and now the driver is looking to avoid crashing out over the final six races of the season.

Can Reddick and the No. 45 23XI Racing team get it turned around in time to compete for the NASCAR Cup Series title? Or will the 2026 season be remembered more for their late-season collapse than their early-season dominance?

The next chapter of Reddick's 2026 season will be written in Sunday's NASCAR Cup Series South Point 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

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