Tyler Reddick shared his thoughts on losing ground to Denny Hamlin after Sunday’s Great Getaway 400 at Pocono Raceway. The 23XI Racing driver is now only 19 points ahead of his team owner.
Hamlin has won three wins from three poles in a row, making it four wins in the last five weeks, including the All-Star race. The eight-time Pocono winner took a huge bite out of Reddick’s lead that was once over 100 points.
Moreover, the No.11 team has been on point with the pit stops, while JGR teammate Chase Briscoe aided Hamlin with a timely push on the final restart. Reddick, on the other hand, is looking at a tight battle for the regular-season title.
“It was nice while it lasted, I guess, to be in that spot where we didn’t have to hurt ourselves in the following stage by going for the stage points. We’ll see how it plays out at San Diego and Sonoma. Billy [Scott] and (everyone) are going to have some tough decisions to make when it comes to strategy at the stage ends, who is going to go for what,” he said in a post-race interview. (via RACER)
“We’ll see how it goes,” he continued, “If we do a good job of bringing good speed to San Diego, like we bring to the Chicago street course, we should put ourselves in position to hopefully net even or gain a little bit of ground.”
Tyler Reddick has been traditionally good on road courses. One of his five wins this season came at Circuit of The Americas, where he beat the likes of road course ace Shane van Gisbergen.
Next up, NASCAR heads to its maiden race at the San Diego Naval Coronado Base, followed by Sonoma Raceway. Reddick has a stage win and two top-10s at Sonoma. Hamlin has largely struggled on road courses, but he came close to a win at Sonoma back in 2016.
However, Hamlin’s results in the Next Gen Era don’t offer much hope, as he finished outside the top-30 in three out of four races.
Tyler Reddick admits to hard-hitting reality despite runner-up finish
Tyler Reddick went from fifth to second on the final few laps at Pocono. He inherited second place after Denny Hamlin’s teammate, Christopher Bell, ran out of gas on the white flag.
Reddick, however, finished outside the top 10 in both stages, while Hamlin won Stage 1. The JGR driver ultimately went home with a mammoth 67-point haul, and Reddick had to settle for 35.
Reflecting upon the same, Reddick said (via NBC sports),
“If (Denny Hamlin) wasn’t the winner, you could consider this a good day. Thirty-five points just aren’t enough right now.”
Denny Hamlin is one win away from Tyler Reddick’s five-win tally. Sunday’s win placed him ninth on the All-time wins list, surpassing the late Kyle Busch.
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