NASCAR CUP SERIES: KWIK TRIP 250 PRESENTED BY JOCKEY MADE IN AMERICA

July 3, 2022

Tyler Reddick

Press Conference

An Interview with:

THE MODERATOR: We're going to continue to roll with our post-race press conference here at Road America for today's QuikTrip 250 presented by Jockey. Here with now our race winner Tyler Reddick, who we could call the man of the hour, but I think it's been a little bit more than an hour now. Congratulations, Tyler.

We know this one has been a long time coming but one specifically your team has been searching for and hoping for for many races, but especially this year after a lot of runner-up finishes in different situations with kind of heartbreak finishes there at the end. Tell us what it felt like to not only win today but be able to come off that final turn and see the checkered flag and know what that felt like for you inside the car, as well.

TYLER REDDICK: It was just a huge sense of relief. This whole team, we've been at it for a couple years now together, and even some of us back to the Xfinity Series days. That first year together in the Xfinity Series we were able to go out and back up a championship and win a lot of races.

Then we got slapped in the face with the reality of what Cup racing is like, and just I've had to learn a lot over the course of these last three years in the Cup Series as a driver, but I've had some really great people behind me to help me do that, whether that was my crew chief, Josh Wise, Curtis Walls, just a lot of great people getting a lot of time at Chevrolet in the simulator to work on my driving style and just my habits, my mistakes, whatever it might be.

A lot of great people have helped an immense amount along the way, and it's just -- what a crazy ride it's been, and just had to put a lot into it. All of us have. It's really nice to get it finally done.

Q. To beat Chase Elliott on a road course, how much more special does that even make this one?

TYLER REDDICK: I mean, it certainly does. He's been the guy that's won more road courses over the last couple years than anybody, and then you look at who was behind him in Kyle Larson and Ross Chastain, guys that have been really good on road courses, and we've been right there with them a lot of the time over the last I'd say two years, it's just sometimes our agendas have been different.

When we were here last year we were going to go after points and we had to stay out. It was nice to get those stage wins and stage points, but it really put a dampener on us being able to go out and battle with guys like Chase who won this race last year and some of those guys that were able to really battle up at the front at the end of these road course races.

It was kind of nice in some way to be in the spot where we were where points really weren't going to matter that much over the next 10 races. We knew we needed to go out there and win. To kind of just put points aside and put the whole day together like we did and not make the big mistakes and just all day long, it was nice to be coming off pit road right there off the bumper of the 9 car and just me and him go at it and may the best team win, and thankfully it was us today.

Q. Tyler, what was the last lap like for you? Also, has anyone told you that Austin Dillon had a mechanical problem?

TYLER REDDICK: Yeah, I finally heard about that. I think Richard is the first one that told me actually. That was crazy. But I'm glad it didn't bring a caution out for sure. But hey, I would have been ready for it, honestly.

Q. What was the last couple of laps like for you?

TYLER REDDICK: You know, the last five were pretty nice. I'd say from that 10 to 5 range when Chase was kind of closing back in and right there, I was kind of searching within myself what I needed to be doing, that was probably the most stressful part, because I could kind of get away, he would close back in, and I was kind of worried about my brakes fading late, and they kind of would, late in a tire run.

But up until that point in the tire run late, I had been behind somebody else or I'd been on the bumper of another guy, whatever it would be, kind of in dirty air, warmer air, more turbulent air, and that definitely has a factor on -- plays a factor in how your tire temperatures would be, your brake temperatures would be, even your engine temperatures would be.

Being in front, I kind of was playing it a little too safe, honestly, and I realized that my brakes and my car was good and I could push a little harder in the braking zones again, and that allowed me to get out to a comfortable distance. The last five laps were pretty stress free. It was really nice to know that I had that much left in the tank in the car to be able to hold him off and have that gap and then manage it.

Q. Would you have ever expected that your first win would come on a road course?

TYLER REDDICK: Sounds crazy but I honestly thought that's where the first one would come. Last year, honestly. I thought last year it would come here. We had good speed at COTA last year. The rain coming in really kind of was something I wasn't expecting. We got the pole there in the dry there at COTA and then it was just a downpour all day on that Sunday a year ago. It was really disheartening for me because I had a lot yet to learn in damp conditions.

Then the other road courses that we got to, when we came here last year and then Indy we were having to go for points and not just the win.

I felt good about our road courses where we were with the last car, and then when we had the Charlotte Roval test in like October or whatever it was, we were really strong, so I felt really good about our chances this year on road courses, too.

Q. Richard Childress had said this morning he had told you that he thought you were going to win today. I don't know what y'all's pre-race routine normally is, if that's something that happens a lot, or what your reaction was when you got those words from him earlier today.

TYLER REDDICK: He's always had a lot of confidence in me, but it seems like a place like this, and it was obvious last year we had good speed, circumstances just kind of played its part. A lot of the road courses this year, even COTA we ran up at the front and led late, and I thought COTA honestly from the drop of the green we missed it. We weren't as good as we should have been.

The whole team knew that, unfortunately.

But today was a different story. We unloaded in practice, we were strong, and in qualifying we were strong. Just as the race was unfolding we were in a lot of dirty air for the most part and we were able to stay close where other cars would kind of drop off after five, six laps, we could stay right there. That told me we had a great car.

I guess anyways, yes, he had a lot of confidence coming into the day. I had a lot of confidence in the car. I was just stressed and worried about how the race would play out, if we'd have any hiccups, but thankfully we didn't and things went our way.

Q. You've had so many races where you've been in striking distance, on the verge of winning. How have the close calls toughened you as a driver or what kind of impact has that had?

TYLER REDDICK: Yeah, it was a good impact, knowing that in those days where we ran second, there was one or two things that happened that weren't good for us, that could have been avoided or could have been different where we could have maybe had another spot -- could have changed the outcome of a race where we ended up second but we could have been ahead of that guy that won the race at some point in that race if a mistake didn't take place.

Knowing that we'd been that close with the minor mistakes that we have had along the way, we've been so close to just having a mistake-free race a number of times that I know we're capable of it, and it was great to see it play out today where we didn't make those huge mistakes and everything went right.

Q. Tyler, I know this has been a long time coming. I heard your interview with Winston and you said coming here as an Xfinity driver, this changed your career, and you didn't even -- you questioned whether you were man enough to continue as a race car driver because this really tested what you had. I'm just kind of curious, to feel that way four years ago and then to come back and for this to be the place, it's got to hold a special place in your heart.

TYLER REDDICK: It does, because I remember coming here in the 9 car, and I can pretty much run you through the day. We were junk in practice. It was kind of misting out, and I ran my couple laps that I needed to as a rookie, and I'm coming down the back straightaway, and pretty much halfway down the back straightaway, I put it in neutral, I'm just kind of going to coast it back to pit road, and just being the space cadet that I am, I didn't realize I was going way too fast, no engine braking to slow me down, and I just plowed it off into the sand trap off Canada Corner coming in for the laps that I had to make as a rookie and just created a disaster of a day for my whole team.

Then we go out there in qualifying and we're about a 30th place car, and Dave wants me to go out there, Dave Elenz, and wants me to go out there and rerun, and I'm like, I'm going to wreck this thing if I go out there and rerun because I truthfully was going to. I was that far off.

It was just a nightmare of a day. I think I had missed a shift and pretty much put a hole in the rear end cover, and we lost all the grease, the gear grease out of our rear end and slung the axle out of the thing. It was just a disaster of a day. I was just so far off here four years ago that it just had me really questioning if I had what it took.

We walked away from here, Dave really did a good job of getting me back to where I needed to be, and we went to Darlington that next week and we were great in practice. We had a really awesome throwback scheme with -- Tim Richmond throwback, Old Milwaukee on the car, and from that point on in that 9 car, things started to click.

It was about here that things could have went one of two ways. It could have went one way where I was pretty much giving up on the thought of -- I don't think I had it. But I had a lot of good people around me that believed in me, got me back where I needed to be, and from that point on, things have been a lot better. It's really crazy that this is the place I got my first win because this place four years ago had me questioning everything.

Q. When you first came in here, you said it's been a long, wild, crazy ride. I know everything is probably still spinning in your mind with everything that's happened the last hour and a half, but are things coming into focus of what that crazy ride is and what are the images or what are the things that come to mind when you say it's been one long crazy ride that starts to come out and illustrate that in this hour and a half since you've won?

TYLER REDDICK: It's starting to sink in. The nice thing about it is the hard work you put in is what you get out of it. For the last two years especially, I knew that road courses were a weakness for me, and when I say weakness, I mean we'd struggled around 30th, honestly.

To turn it around like we have and continue to put the work in and not just settle for good enough, I mean, a year and a half ago or so we rolled into the beginning of the year, we were way better, and that was great, but it wasn't good enough because we still didn't get the job done. We still didn't win. So we just kept plugging away at it.

It was really inspiring. It made me really look at the other racetracks I wasn't good at and try and figure out what I can do, what we can work on to get better, what are we missing, and it really opened up a part of my brain that I wasn't really even really prepared to use and just was able to not just get better at road courses, get better at the places like Loudon and Martinsville, the short tracks if you will, just the oddball tracks that I wasn't good at, just how do we get better. It was kind of a nice surprise that I could do it at the road courses and was able to kind of carry it and apply it to other places where I was struggling, too.

Q. Obviously it's a lot of things that probably helped you. Was there one particular thing? I know you've worked with Josh and he's had Scott Speed work with you guys. Was that part of the time when you kind of transitioned to being better on the road courses or were you doing that even before you were coming out working with Josh?

TYLER REDDICK: It was all kind of about the same time. Working with Scott and working with Josh has been very beneficial. I've been working with Curtis Walls since I was at Chip Ganassi Racing when he was there, and he's done a lot in really helping me and my mindset, as well. I've had a lot of really great people around me. Then obviously my whole team, going to the simulator at least once a week and working with my engineer Andrew Dickenson and working on stuff -- I think he's -- tire engineer does a lot of stuff at our shop, Byron Daley, he's really done simulator on what I need to do better and just opening my mind up and approaching a corner differently.

Just had a lot of great people that have been willing to put the time and effort in to help me get better, and it's all added up, everyone. You take one part of it out, one person out of the puzzle, we're not here sitting -- I'm not sitting here talking to you about winning this race today.

Q. Talking with Austin Cindric as he was walking up pit road to come and meet you, he said he was all excited, couldn't wait to see you, and you're one of the guys that he really likes and obviously I know you guys had your time at BKR and he says he's just a goofy, weird guy --

TYLER REDDICK: I am. He is, too.

Q. He goes, I'm the same way. What was it like to see him, and that was quite a hug that he gave you in Victory Lane.

TYLER REDDICK: Yeah, I really wanted to go see him after he won the Daytona 500, but I know how crazy and how busy it was. I just appreciate him coming over and seeing me because I wanted to come do the same thing for him when he won the 500, but I knew my whole team was going to be mad as they could get if they were waiting on me because I tried to go see him and whatever it was, so I appreciate him making the time to come see me.

But yeah, there's a lot of great people that I've been teammates with, been friends with. Austin is one of them. Ross Chastain is another, AJ Allmendinger, Brad Keselowski as a boss. I could go down the list. There's so many people that I've worked with at one time or another.

I know if Daniel Hemric was here he would have came and saw me. There's a lot of great people that have done a lot for me, have helped me a lot, and I really appreciate them coming and congratulating me and sharing the moment.

Q. That was quite a hug he gave you.

TYLER REDDICK: Well, and that's what he does. I've seen him give that hug to other people. I think he's given it to me before. That's his deal, he's a big bear hug, pick you off the ground. I don't weigh as heavy as I used to these days. I'm a little bit lighter, so it makes it a little easier for him.

Q. Are you someone that kind of pays attention to history? The first two road courses this year, first time winners. There have been five first-time winners out here in the Xfinity. Do you look at that and say, this is a shot for me?

TYLER REDDICK: Those details, no. But obviously I'm aware of it, but I don't think in a way it plays -- it wasn't a motivating factor for me because I know guys like Chase, guys like Kyle, Ross Chastain, it was no surprise that they were up there and battling for the win today.

So yeah, I mean, we have seen first-time winners happen here, but I knew the guys that are really, really good at maximizing the braking zone and really understand how to kind of piece all these corners together would be up front today, and they were.

It's great that I kind of added to that today, but I knew that I've been watching what they've been doing over the years, obviously with what Chase has been doing over the last couple years and then Kyle comes in with Hendrick and really does a good job on the road courses, and you've see Ross do the same thing this year. Been paying attention to what they're doing, and we've been trying to do a lot of the same things at RCR, and so it was nice to see it pay off and we were able to best them today.

Q. I think we were told it was a spotter that told you, don't look out your mirror, look out your windshield. How many times did you look out the rear view mirror? Did you listen?

TYLER REDDICK: Yeah, I was looking at my mirror, but it certainly affected me a couple times to the negative side. It hurt me a few times. But more than not it was a positive because I could kind of see where he was gaining, where Chase was gaining on me and where I was making gains on him, too.

Using the mirror to a point can help you but it can hurt you, and I kind of experienced both, but it was great to see once he was getting smaller and smaller that I was starting to do the right things and build that gap.

Q. I asked Randall this question: What is it about road course racing that tends to produce so many first-time winners? Like we mentioned the five in the Xfinity here and Ross and Daniel earlier this year. From a driver's perspective is there a rhyme or reason for that? Is that just luck or is there something more to it from your perspective?

TYLER REDDICK: No, I think you look back over the history of time, and 10 years ago you would say road course ringers come in here like AJ, like Marcos Ambrose, Juan Pablo Montoya, they come in here and just make us look like fools. I think that's because as drivers when we only had two of these races a year, we weren't really maximizing, we'd just kind of get to the road courses, kind of like I was a couple years ago, oh, we'll get through it. And you still see it to a point. A lot of the drivers have really done a great job of really figuring out road course racing and maximizing the whole lap and figuring out the braking zones, what they need in their car.

But still to a degree when you see a guy like Daniel go out there and win at Sonoma, you can still just find a whole new level, if you will, in your car and as a driver and just -- if you're on it one day, you're just going to be on it that day. Seeing him go out and win Sonoma the way he did, it wasn't surprising because I know that he's capable of that. That team is capable of that.

But over the last couple years, the drivers, the teams have really been honing in on it, but you still see days where someone just hits it, hits it really good, doesn't make the mistakes, executes their strategy and they win.

Q. The first couple of stages, Chase pulled out to about a five- or six-second lead by the end of the stage. What was the difference in the final stage? Was it merely track position? Did they make an adjustment to your car? What was the difference that allowed you to stay so close?

TYLER REDDICK: Yeah, I think it was just track position. I was behind Kyle and -- somebody else.

Q. Chastain?

TYLER REDDICK: I don't think I was behind Chastain. I think it was Briscoe, yeah. I was behind those guys, and the more traffic you're in the more you're having to work to kind of stay in touch. Chase was able to -- most of the day get out front, have the clean air, manage the brakes, manage his tires pretty well, and just kind of as the race was progressing, I went from being fourth to third as Briscoe stayed out and took the stage points, so I got a spot there. Then was able to pass Kyle in Stage 2, and just -- I just kind of had to pass one car a stage and essentially the further we got, the closer we were.

Yeah, he would get that gap, but I think it was kind of a product of him having clean air the whole time and being able to manage his stuff very well where we were having to battle very hard to get around Chase or get around Kyle.

Q. Once you cleared him through 5 and 6 when you made the pass, were you surprised that he came back at you so hard right after that?

TYLER REDDICK: No, you know, we made a little bit of contact in Turn 6, so I didn't want to totally take away -- he was close enough, and I didn't know if he was upset about the contact or not. I didn't want to take his entire line away. I didn't want to shut the door on him getting a bump, getting me out in the grass, whatever it may be, so I kind of left him some air, if you will. I don't know if I should have done that or not.

But it gave him the run into Turn 8, and I knew that he was going to -- if I went to block him he was probably going to give me the bumper because we made contact earlier, so I left him the lane and just wanted to get through Turn 8 good enough to be at his right side going into the carousel, and thankfully I was, and from there I was able to kind of build a gap and manage it from there.

Q. I asked you like variation of this question back at Speedweeks at Daytona and I asked it because there were a lot of first-time winner last year. We had four coming into today. Over the last two years, seeing guys who had been around for a long time finally get their first win or guys who hadn't been here very long get their first win, and it kind of seemed like you were the only guy still waiting who's been around a while, seeing those guys click those off one after another, after a while did that get to you on any level, that it was like just you left?

TYLER REDDICK: No, no, because it was very obvious that they would go out there and have those days where they just executed all day long. They'd have a good car. They wouldn't make the critical mistakes that you can't afford to make, and they would be in position to capitalize at the end of the race.

I knew if they can do it, we can do it. So if anything it was probably motivating and encouraging. It wasn't demoralizing by any means.

Q. I want to say you had five runner-up finishes before today. What type of person were you those nights after those runner-up finishes? Were you miserable? Would you not have wanted to be around you? How did you react to those?

TYLER REDDICK: I'd say I was pretty miserable, yeah. I don't think Alexa enjoyed being around me when I'd run second place. Yeah, second place isn't a bad place to finish. But we're here to win races. We're here to get those five playoff points. We're here to get into the playoffs.

For me when we run second, the smallest little things over the course of the day, whether it was in Stage 1, the opening laps, Stage 2, whatever it was, one thing could have changed the outcome of that second place. It could have made it a win.

For me, it was very frustrating because I know that there were little things that I did in the race that I could have done better that could have changed that.

Q. So do you obsess over those things? Do you watch it over and over?

TYLER REDDICK: No, I don't obsess, but I go back and I look at it and I realize there were things I could have done differently. Then I try to learn from it and apply it going forward so I don't make those mistakes. Just like yesterday, I drove through -- if I didn't do the Xfinity race yesterday, if I didn't get in that massive pile-up, whatever it was, I wouldn't have learned that I drove through too many boxes leaving unfortunately in the 48 car. I may have made that mistake today. I'm glad I'm getting to get these extra reps in an Xfinity car and learn from those little mistakes that I may make.

Q. You knew right away that you had five before this when it came to runner-up finishes. Is that something that sticks with you where you can list them off and remember how each one played out?

TYLER REDDICK: Well, I can't necessarily list them off, but you hear enough about it on TV, that whether it's -- when you go back and watch a race and try to pick up on some information, whatever it is, it gets talked about. I mean, I'm aware of it, but again, it may be in the heat of the moment, the night after or when you go to bed that night from a second-place finish, yeah, it eats away at you a little bit, but again, I try and look at it, how can I learn from this, how can I learn from Bristol.

Yeah, I got wrecked, but I had a gap and I let him run me back down and get there. I gave him an opportunity. I look at Darlington, I could have done a better job on that restart. I could have had a run on Joey and William, but I kind of got messed up myself.

There's a lot of things I could have done differently over those five second-place finishes I had to where I could have won the race, so I try to look back at that and learn from it. So hopefully when I'm in a position to win a race again, I don't make those same mistakes.

Q. You gave your friend Antonio a shout-out right away. Does he know you're coming in hot? Does he know you're coming to crash the party?

TYLER REDDICK: I feel like he probably has an idea now, yeah. I still haven't looked at my phone, but he told me before I left and came over here that he's going to have a lot of people over for the 4th of July on Sunday and on Monday and that you and Alexa, Bo, everyone can come over and have fun. Normally like last year we would get in late enough that the party is kind of calmed down but they'd want us to come over anyways and they would feed us, we'd eat the leftovers, whatever it is, and we'd help them clean up after it's all said and done.

Q. Now it's going to get a full restock?

TYLER REDDICK: We'll see. I know that they're really excited. I kind of crashed their vow renewals on the off weekend when they were doing that in downtown Mooresville, so I had a lot of fun doing that. They always like it when we kind of crash their party.

Q. This wasn't just your first Cup win, this was Randall's first Cup win. Afterwards you walked down pit road and he got congratulations from a lot of people who were finally happy to see him get it. What did it mean for you that you get to share this moment in the same kind of capacity?

TYLER REDDICK: Well, I mean, it means a lot because I know we both really wanted it. There's a lot of people on our team that really wanted that win. There's a number of people on our team that haven't won in a long time or haven't won ever. They've decided to stick it out with me because they believe in me and they know that we can get it done, and it means a lot to be able to give those their reward that they've been wanting, that they've been holding out for.

THE MODERATOR: BKR Racing, the legacy of that team, yet another winner in Victory Lane. What's it say about the legacy of that team when you see guys like Chase Briscoe and yourself making it to Victory Lane this year, Austin Cindric?

TYLER REDDICK: Yeah, I think it's four out of the five first-time winners were all BKR graduates. Yeah, Brad, Jeremy Thompson, they had a vision. They just saw it in their drivers. Me and Jimmy, we're old BKR boys. We come from the same place. That's also really cool for me. I've got Jimmy back here helping me keep me in check, and we go out here and win our first race together. That's also really cool.

Brad just -- Brad had a vision but there was also something about that place that was really special. There was a lot of great people. They all loved to be there. It was a tight knit family. Just we worked really hard there at BKR, and everyone I know that's ever drove there really loved being there.

THE MODERATOR: Congratulations again on your first NASCAR Cup Series, I'm sure it won't be your last, and good luck next week in Atlanta.