Tyler Reddick: “We got big problems” after 23XI struggles

September 28, 2026

For the first third of the year, everyone thought this was Tyler Reddick championship to lose, but it’s been a downhill slide throughout the summer and into the fall for the driver who opened the year with an unprecedented three straight wins.

At Bristol, he fell off the lead lap early as the No. 45 23XI Racing Toyota had no pace, and he ended up 18th after pushing through it. Kansas was a similar story, free-falling through the field at the start and running 34th at the end of the first run.

The team worked on it and he got all the way back up to fifth before getting into the wall, and then a late-race pit stop stumble dropped him to 11th in the final running order. It’s worth nothing that Reddick won the last Cup race at Kansas, but he never got close to the lead on Sunday.

“Yeah, I mean, we got big problems,” Reddick told a post-race media scrum. “We just gotta figure our own shit out right now, and just not even be worried about that.”

Reddick expressed similar frustrations in his TV interview, telling NASCAR on USA: “Just trying to stay alive. I truly don’t know. That was a lot like last week, but even worse. It’s just very head-scratching how we’re that off…”

When asked by Motorsport.com if they know the cause of these issues, Reddick didn’t have a concrete answer.

“I mean, somewhat, maybe, definitely balance helped us get better today,” explained Reddick. “But even when I feel like, if I had to imagine when our car was at its best, it still wasn’t great — we’re still off.”

The Chase has also featured three practice/qualifying rainouts in the last four races, so teams are entering these races completely blind. Could that be part of what is putting the No. 45 behind?

“I mean, it definitely could have helped us in Stage 1 or Stage 2 (to have qualifying), but I don’t know if we could have got where we needed to be in the race this weekend,” Reddick said in response to Motorsport.com. “I don’t know, it’s just so crazy to be that bad.”

Reddick is now seventh in the championship standings, 111 points back of the lead with his title hopes rapidly slipping away.