NASCAR insiders make case for Tyler Reddick to win NASCAR Cup Series championship

Nobody in the NASCAR Cup Series is stacking quality finishes like Tyler Reddick and with the playoffs rapidly approaching, is the 23XI Racing star the championship favorite?

Reddick certainly has a strong case as following his victory in Monday’s FireKeepers Casino 400 at Michigan, he sits atop the points standings. He has a series-leading 17 top 10s and 11 top 5s and has finished P8 or better in 10 of the last 11 races. Reddick is on fire, and Jordan Bianchi of The Athletic believes that bodes well for his championship chances.

Speaking alongside Jeff Gluck on “The Teardown” podcast Monday, Bianchi named Reddick as one driver who has to be in the championship discussion after flying under the radar all season long.

“I think now that he’s the championship points leader, that elevates your status,” Bianchi said. “… That adds more credence to it. And I think Denny Hamlin had a really good point in his postrace press conference when he said, ‘Hey, this is Week 24. You don’t lead the standings at Week 24 on a fluke.’ This isn’t early season, and you just had a couple good races, whatever. This is sustained consistency week in and week out. And now that you’re the point leader, now that you’re coming off a win, this is gonna put more shine on you. And I think you’re gonna hear a lot about Tyler Reddick in the next few weeks.

Tyler Reddick becoming championship favorite as playoffs approach

“Frankly, if we’re going to make championship picks, he is in that discussion. A year ago, when we made the picks, we both said the same things. Like this team is mistake prone. They can’t stay out of their own way. They have some speed, but they can’t execute — all that’s gone. There are so many reasons to like their chances right now. They’re clicking and should probably be the team like, ‘Can we start the playoffs tomorrow, please?'”

Reddick has quietly gone about his business while drivers such as Kyle Larson, Denny Hamlin and others have grabbed headlines. Yes, those drivers are all championship contenders, but so is Reddick.

And at this stage in the season, is anybody better than him? The numbers certainly don’t say otherwise, as Gluck rattled off.

“I’ve had him No. 1 in my power rankings that I do each week for quite a while now,” Gluck said. “This guy — Tyler Reddick has had five podium finishes, five top 3s, in the last six races. The streak you mentioned is still going, he now has seven straight top 10s. In fact, the only time since Darlington spring that he has finished outside the top-10, was at Iowa. Other than that, Tyler Reddick has not finished worse than eighth since Darlington. This guy is riding a real hot streak. And as you alluded to, he’s still sort of under the radar, oddly.”