NASCAR CUP SERIES: CHAMPIONSHIP

November 10, 2024

Tyler Reddick

Press Conference

An Interview with:

THE MODERATOR: We're now joined by Tyler Reddick, another member of our Championship 4.

Q. Was there any point today where you felt like you were in the mix?

TYLER REDDICK: Yeah, I mean, I feel like Stage 2 when we broke out and got right behind the 24, 22 and 12, I thought, okay, let's see where this goes.

Yeah, over time they kind of got away. I was kind of within range of William and tried to make a move, and it didn't work out. And then settled back in, and yeah, they kind of steadily pulled away over time. That's what kind of happened in Stage 3, as well.

Yeah, we've got to find a little bit more speed, but we made the car better throughout the day. We maintained on pit road. We did all that we could, I think, with it. But certainly yeah, it's tough when they just get further and further away over time.

Q. You got a lot of good people in your corner with Denny and Michael Jordan. What was Michael's message to you after the race, and have you had a chance to speak with Denny yet?

TYLER REDDICK: I didn't talk about Denny yet, but Michael is just proud of the effort of our team all year long. We put up a good fight. We didn't make any mistakes that took ourselves out of it. We fought as hard as we could. We made the car better throughout the day.

We did what we needed to do. Unfortunately we just didn't quite have the speed or quite the restarts we needed to to get ahead and hold those guys up or really put up a fight there at the very, very end.

I felt like if we got restarts, we could make bold moves and most of the time make something out of it. That last one there kind of got outside the 12 and the 9 slid up, and just circumstances. But I feel like with what we could control, we did all we could do.

Q. Tyler, what's the range of emotions today? You wake up knowing you're running for a championship, and then going through a race like that where it seemed -- I would assume you knew pretty early on as you're talking about how far behind you were the other three it was going to be an uphill battle. What was the range of emotions today going through that?

TYLER REDDICK: Yeah, I just stayed focused on what I could control in the race. I knew we were going to get stage cautions. If cautions came up throughout the race, we were going to have an opportunity to fight as hard as we can, which is what we know.

Yeah, I knew kind of early on we needed to make our car better, and I feel like we did that. We did make it better throughout the day. We kept marching our way further forward. It was tough for sure, but we worked way too hard all year long to get in this position and give up. We just fought as hard as we could until the end.

Q. Tyler, what did you learn about yourself through the process of advancing to this Championship 4, winning at Miami? Just going through what this week was and through the process of this race, what did you learn about yourself through all that?

TYLER REDDICK: Yeah, it was a fun process getting ready for this. I felt like myself and the entire team's mindset getting ready for this, we were all in a really good place. I felt like we were in a good place going into the race.

It seemed like that throughout the day. Again, we made the right adjustments to the car and made it better throughout the day.

I thought we were where we needed to be. We've just got to do some digging and try to bring a faster Camry when we come back in the spring and give it another shot.

Q. The late-race battle with Bubba and Bubba came over and congratulated you on the season and said he had fun racing you at the end, how nice is it to have that teammate relationship? Because it seemed like he had a lot of very positive commentary for you.

TYLER REDDICK: Yeah, Bubba was a great help throughout the weekend. Practice was no secret we were off there, and we've worked together like this since I've been here. And for us to be as transparent with one another as we are and be bought into how we do things at 23XI has helped us a lot. It's been a benefit for both of us.

I know it's tough. He's coming in here trying to run his own race. But I appreciate the lengths he was willing to go to helping us in practice, giving us feedback on what his car was doing, what he thinks I could do to make more speed out of my Camry, as well.

It's great that it worked like that, and he knows that the favor would be returned if the situation was reversed. Just great people working together at 23XI. We continue to build in the right direction, and obviously the result wasn't what we wanted today, but I feel like everyone worked really well together all weekend long, and we certainly gave it our best effort.

Q. The answer is probably both, but the mood right now, is that a combination of both just exhaustion from the week or the playoffs but also disappointment? Is it kind of both we're seeing right now?

TYLER REDDICK: Yeah, I think more disappointment. I was ready to go for another 300 laps if it went out that way. But we know what the distance is.

But yeah, I think when you get out of the car, you keep telling yourself in the car, anything can happen, a caution could come, you've got to stay ready, and when the checkered flag finally fell, the year is over, it's time to re-gather yourself, reset, and think about what you need to work on in the off-season to show up better in 2025 than how you left 2024.

Q. What was the message you gave to Martin when you talked to him on pit road after the race?

TYLER REDDICK: Well, I just said it's been a blast racing with him. I know his full-time stuff is done, but I enjoy -- I was just basically telling him, hopefully still see you around the racetrack. He's a great character. It's been fun getting to know him. He stays true to himself.

Then there's obviously all the accomplishments that he's had. I feel like he's someone that races really hard on the racetrack, but he's respected and just an all-around great guy. It's been nice working closer with him since I came to Toyota, and yeah, I can only imagine what the emotions are like for him. But it's been a blast being able to race with somebody that I think will one day be in the Hall of Fame.