23XI Racing driver Tyler Reddick was made available to media after winning the pole for the NASCAR Cup Series event at the Richmond Raceway on Saturday. It is his first pole for Reddick since joining 23XI and Toyota earlier this year. With Bubba Wallace starting fifth, it is second time in team history that 23XI Racing has put two Toyota Camry TRDs inside the top-five starters (Loudon, 2022).
TYLER REDDICK, No. 45 Xfinity 10G Network Toyota Camry TRD, 23XI Racing
Can you talk about the lap?
“I think the real turning point for me was on lap one. I forget, I was acting like I only had one lap in that first round, even though I had two. I knew that lap was going to be really close and I kind of got out of shape out of turn four. I pretty much knew I was going to hit the wall, but I knew I wasn’t going to make the second round with that first lap. I stayed in it, hit the wall pretty good but was able to transfer into the second round with that first lap and saved a lap on those tires. We didn’t have the recovery time that group a had to cool the tires off but running that one lap set us up pretty well for round two. I think a lot of drivers and teams were not generally expecting the pace fall off to be that much. We were able to observe that and have an idea that what we would need for a lap time in round two and it just worked out really, really well. I’m really excited to be on the pole for the first time this year with 23XI. We’ve been really strong when we’ve had the opportunities to qualify this year, and it is nice to get that first pole as a team and just to top it off even more than that, the West Coast Customs Toyota Camry is getting build outside the race track and is going to be at the front of the field tomorrow. I get to make some laps in it as well and now our car is going to be up next to it. That’s also really cool.”
Do you know if the damage will have to be fixed?
“We will see. You hope not, right? We will look it over and see if there is anything super concerning, we will have to address that. We will just see how it goes. I will find out more shortly.”
Can you talk about Toyota’s gains?
“I feel like we’ve been really strong since the year started. Martin (Truex) won the Clash to begin the year – I know that’s very different than most races that we do, but in those first five races it was more of a matter, and we talked more about it as a group the Toyota drivers, we had the speed, but we were kind of giving away these races and these opportunities. All of us have done a better job of executing and closing out and getting those wins. I guess, us, specifically, we haven’t since COTA, but we’ve had pretty good speed and have been pretty consistent at that point. We are just finding our way to victory lane more often. That’s definitely really good to see.”
What are your thoughts going to Indianapolis when it could be the last time on the road course?
“Well, I wouldn’t be so certain that it’s the last time we will race there on the road course. This car really does well on multi-groove race tracks, and there is really only one-and-a-half lanes around the Indy oval, and this car really struggles in direct turbulent air, so until that really gets solved, maybe we try it, right? But, certainly, the better racing will remain on the road course till we find a way with these cars to lose a lot of downforce behind each other. We got to Fontana, we go to Charlotte, a lot of these race tracks where you can really spread out and have good racing, but at Indy, it just really isn’t possible with the layout of the oval. We will see what happens.”
What are your thoughts on making changes to turn one?
“I think the things – I don’t know where it is at – but I wouldn’t be surprised if what we did at Chicago, is kind of what we try to do to help Indy. It worked really well in Chicago, but the conditions kind of lended its hand to not being super chaotic, but the single file restarts with the track conditions – it was really hard to gauge how much that moved restart zone really helped the racing. I guess the Xfinity cars – there track was dry for a good bit, but that certainly allowed others to battle for position into turn one, but they weren’t just stacked on top of each other.”
How important is it to start up front at Richmond?
“I think once the run gets going it is going to be more difficult, but certainly at a place like this, where it becomes really frustrating very quick when you have to pass the same couple of cars frequently throughout the race – so having that number one pit stall, so we have that opportunity to have solid pit stops to leapfrog other cars that we will be racing around all day tomorrow is a huge, good opportunity for us. I wouldn’t necessarily say it is hard to pass, but when you pass or have been passed by a car a number of times, you start to show you hand and tendencies. People will figure out what you are doing, but out of the tracks we go to, it is an easier one for sure, just because how the tire fall off is here.”
Toyota Racing PR
