Basketball legend Michael Jordan had his fair share of clutch moments throughout his Hall of Fame NBA career.
From buzzer-beater, game-winning shots to overcoming illness to will his team to victory, Jordan’s mentality and talent was a difference maker.
As a co-owner of 23XI Racing, his drivers are beginning to display that same grit on the race track.
Looking back at Darlington (S.C.) Raceway in September, Tyler Reddick withstood an illness throughout the Southern 500 to rally his No. 45 Toyota team to a regular season championship.
Fast-forward to Sunday at Homestead-Miami Speedway and Reddick was money when it mattered most.
As It Happened
The second-year 23XI driver entered the Straight Talk Wireless 400 30 points out of the Championship 4 following a flip the prior week at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. A pole on Saturday was positive, but 400 miles lied ahead.
Reddick snagged first-place stage points in the first segment and placed fourth in Stage Two.
With under 20 laps to go and on a different pit strategy, Reddick’s No. 45 team elected to go long on the final stint in hopes of a caution flag. That didn’t come as Reddick pit from the lead with under 15 laps to go, pinning him at the tail end of the field. However, he remained on the lead lap.
Four laps later, Kyle Larson spun while attempting to pass race leader Ryan Blaney, creating the caution flag Reddick needed.
To his surprise, that’d vault Reddick to the point on the restart with only four-lap older tires than the rest of the field.
“When we went long, I didn’t know how that was going to play out,” Reddick said. “I was worried that caution wasn’t going to come. We pit, lose a lap. Oh, damn. We get back on the lead lap. I was not expecting it, right? Nick (Payne, spotter) says caution. Great, we’re at the back, whatever else.
“It was like, ‘Yeah, we’re going to stay out.’
“I was like, ‘Oh, s— (expletive), we’re going to stay out? We’re going to figure this out (smiling).’”
While a four-wide split in the middle of turns one and two on the final restart saw Reddick fall to fourth.
“I saw Denny (Hamlin) get to my outside,” Reddick said. “That wasn’t great. We settled in there. I didn’t know how bad we were going to bleed.”
The bleeding stopped momentarily as Reddick regained his composure with seven laps to go.
Reddick’s boss, Joe Gibbs Racing driver Denny Hamlin, led the race until Blaney got around the driver of the No. 11 with two laps to go.
With the white flag waving, Reddick was in tow with the leaders despite having slightly older tires.
“It didn’t truly feel like we were at a big tire deficit,” Reddick said. “You come to this place, you know tires are a premium. Early in the race we saw the 8, a number of other cars, on three-, four-lap tires stay out and get their doors blown off.
“I was completely shocked we were able to stay in the mix like we were.”
Thus that set up his first move, an inside dart on Hamlin. It worked coming off turn two as Blaney was still less than a car length ahead.
“I made the right guess. I got the bottom. I got clean air. I got up in front of the 11,” Reddick explained. “I had a good run on the 12. I was just blown away that I had that kind of momentum going into turn three.”
His momentum carried the No. 45 Toyota to the high side of the track and he swept past the No. 12 Team Penske Ford with ease.
From there, Reddick was the first to the checkered flag with a ticket punched to the Championship 4.
“I thought there was no way the 12 was going to leave, Blaney, was going to leave me the outside,” Reddick said. “He must have thought that I was just going to absolutely dive bomb it off in there to try to get around him.
“Once I saw him kind of shade down, I hit the gas and forgot about everything else. Came out on the other side in the lead.
“It was just crazy.”
As the Cup Series heads to the final Round of 8 race at Martinsville (Va.) Speedway, Reddick and 23XI will be focused forward on prepping for a title chase at Phoenix Raceway on Nov. 10.