By David Morgan, Associate Editor
CONCORD, N.C. – Tyler Reddick has had the weight of the world on his shoulders in recent weeks, but on Saturday at Charlotte Motor Speedway, got a bit of a reprieve by winning the pole for the Bank of America ROVAL 400.
The driver of the No. 45 23XI Racing Toyota lapped around the 2.28-mile, 17-turn road course in one minute, 25.939 seconds to jump to the top of the scoring pylon and snag the pole over road course ace Shane van Gisbergen, who will join him on the outside of the front row.
Reddick comes into the weekend sitting 29-points below the cut-off line and likely in need of a win to be able to advance on. He explained after qualifying that it will be a tough task battling with van Gisbergen to score the win, but he and his team are up for the challenge when the green flag drops on Sunday.
“I think what you would define a long run – the long run seems like it comes quick with the way these tires go away. I believe he was the standout in that regard, on long run pace, so, I will try to look at what I’m doing with the car,” said Reddick of the game plan between now and Sunday’s race.
“We’ll try to look at what we can change on the car to see what more we can kind of do to help that. Outside of that, I thought my car handled pretty well over the course of the long run. We just have to just look through everything and see if there’s anything more there that we can find to help us.
“I mean, I think we’re okay when you look at the field minus the 88 (Shane van Gisbergen), but yeah, Shane’s obviously very good at what he does, he’s proven that this year in other years with this car. For us, we’ve got to kind of figure out how we can close that gap. It’s a pretty big one, but we’re up for that challenge.”
Denny Hamlin, who co-owns Reddick’s car at 23XI, explained that the pole will give Reddick’s team some additional options to go for the win as they look to dethrone van Gisbergen and punch their ticket to the next round.
“I think it was a great qualifying run,” Hamlin said. “I certainly think it will be a challenge if the race goes into a long run. I think SVG has a considerable advantage, but an earned advantage, not a given, but you never know. These things you just never know. But certainly it sets ’em up for lots of options in that first stage.”
Ty Gibbs, Kyle Larson (P), and Chris Buescher will round out the top-five starters, followed by Michael McDowell, Christopher Bell (P), Chase Briscoe (P), A.J. Allmendinger, and Ross Chastain (P).
The remainder of the NASCAR Cup Series Playoff drivers not among the top-10 starters include Ryan Blaney, who is already locked in via his New Hampshire win in 11th, Bubba Wallace in 12th, William Byron in 13th, Denny Hamlin in 14th, and last week’s winner Chase Elliott in 15th.
Joey Logano will start in 17th place, with his Team Penske teammate Austin Cindric in 19th.
Family First
While the weekend at Charlotte has started off on the right foot for Reddick, sometimes there are bigger things in life than racing.
A week ago, ahead of the race at Kansas Speedway, Reddick and his wife made public a health battle that their youngest son, Rookie, is dealing with as the four-month-old has been showing signs of heart failure that has landed him in the hospital in the care of the doctors at Levine Children’s Hospital in Charlotte.
Reddick stayed to race at Kansas, where he finished seventh, but since the checkered flag fell, has kept his attention on his family in the days since.
Now back at the race track in Charlotte, Reddick will rightly so have the majority of his attention on his family and let the things on the race track play out however fate decides.
“For me, this weekend where we’re at in points and everything, it just is what it is,” said Reddick.
“I’m out there and give my best effort while I’m here certainly, but yeah, for me, just this week, the elimination, everything that’s happening in the racing world is taken the back seat as it should.”
Reddick explained that things are looking up for his son in his health battle, but there is still a long road ahead for them before they are truly out of the woods.
“Healthier is probably not the right word, but I’ve never seen him happier. His color looks good, he’s gained weight. A lot of things are going well,” Reddick said. “But yeah, all that being said, some of the tougher moments are definitely ahead.
“We’re definitely not in the clear. There’s some things that we’ve got to get through first. So, on one hand I’m really happy and just, it makes me feel great that he’s doing much better right now. But certainly, there’s some things that have to, we have some hurdles we have to get through first before we’re even thinking about leaving the hospital or thinking about what comes next.
“So to some degree, yeah, it feels good to be where we’re at right now, but on others, yeah, there’s a lot of serious stuff that still needs to be resolved.”
He added that it was a tough call to stay and race in Kansas last weekend and made the decision in concert with his wife, but admitted that he was more than ready to get on the plane and come home after the checkered flag fell.
“I agree with my wife it’s the hardest thing that I’ve had to go through that she’s ever gone through in her life,” Reddick said.
“Certainly being away [at Kansas] wasn’t ideal. That was a decision me and her came to conclusion on when I was in Kansas again, he was going in the right direction. Yes, like I said, big things ahead that we have to fix, but for the right now, that past weekend he was stable and going in the right direction.
“So yeah, it was difficult to stay and race on Sunday, but we were on the same page about it and yeah, I just wanted to get off that plane so bad on Sunday night and get back the hospital. And yeah, for my wife especially too, I mean it’s just for her, it’s been a tough situation for a while.
“We’ve been been exploring options, exploring, trying to understand what exactly is going wrong and just my wife eventually just said, you know what? I just need to take him to Levine [Children’s Hospital] and see what’s going on. And I’m glad she trusted her gut and did that.”
Since the news broke, Reddick also explained that he has been inundated with thoughts and prayers from his fellow competitors and others from across the industry and expressed his gratitude for everyone that has provided support for him and his family.
“It’s been very impactful, very meaningful. I’ve never been in a situation like this before, but I’ve seen it,” Reddick said.
“I’ve heard about it coming into this sport, how just the racing community really is there for one another. And yeah, I’ve firsthand seen that myself appear over the last little bit over a week. I’ve really seen that just countless individuals have helped out, countless individuals have reached out, provided support, whatever it might be. So yeah, it’s been really eye-opening.”
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