WELCOME, N.C. – NASCAR Xfinity Series points leader Tyler Reddick will return to the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series with Richard Childress Racing at Kansas Speedway on May 11.
Reddick, who is coming off his first Xfinity Series win of the season at Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway, will again pilot the No. 31 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 as he makes his second career Cup Series appearance and first since the season-opening Daytona 500 in February.
The news was first revealed on NBCSN’s NASCAR America.
“We’ve been working on this for a while, and I’m really pumped to announce that I’ll be back in the Cup Series for RCR at Kansas,” said Reddick. “As everyone is well aware, I had my fair share of struggles last year, throughout the regular season. At that point, it wasn’t looking good and I didn’t know what was going to happen for my career. Luckily, though, we were able to turn things around at the beginning of the playoffs and it’s continued.
“Ever since that turnaround, we’ve been running really well, and I feel like that getting two poles and now having the monkey come off our back with the win at Talladega … I feel like that has all helped with my goal of trying to get back in the Cup car.”
The 23-year-old Reddick has seven top-five and eight top-10 finishes in nine races this season, and his average finish of 4.9 is more than two positions higher than any other full-time competitor in the Xfinity Series through the first quarter.
Reddick will return to the Xfinity Series this weekend at Dover (Del.) Int’l Speedway, but he has plenty of positives to look to as he prepares for his Cup Series return at Kansas.
In two Xfinity Series starts at Kansas, Reddick has a pole and a pair of top-five finishes to his credit, leading laps during both races.
However, the Kansas event is the last Cup Series start on Reddick’s calendar – for now.
“We’ll be working on some stuff, and the details of that will follow as it comes closer to us,” Reddick noted. “For now, this is the main announcement, and even though Kansas is a place I’ve had my fair share of brushes with the wall, it’s a place I really enjoy racing.
“I like running the top there, and hopefully with this new aero package we’ll be able to do that and have some fun along the way.”