NORTH WILKESBORO, N.C. — Moments after parking his No. 45 Toyota on pit road and calling it a night at North Wilkesboro Speedway, Tyler Reddick was hit with regret.
“I should’ve been more aggressive,” Reddick said.
But Reddick’s opportunity had already come to a close, his third-place result cemented with the wave of the checkered flag. The first NASCAR Cup Series race at North Wilkesboro since 1996 was over.
He finished two positions shy of the $1 million win, with Kyle Larson dominating the All-Star Race and Reddick’s 23XI Racing teammate Bubba Wallace coming in second. Under the speedway lights, the 27-year-old reflected on his shortcomings.
According to Reddick, it took about 50 laps to find a rhythm on the .625-mile track once the green flag waved — which, for the No. 45 driver, was 50 laps too late.
He was ahead of Larson in the early laps, as both drivers started outside the top 15, but a mistake from Reddick allowed the No. 5 to slip by. Their varying pit strategies — with Larson pitting under caution on lap 15 and Reddick taking a pit stop on lap 18 — also came into play.
Back on pit road, Reddick audibly wondered what could’ve happened if he would’ve done things different — be it tire strategy or aggression. But ultimately, the reasons for his post-race regret were also the reasons he appreciated NASCAR’s return to North Wilkesboro.
“We were hunting the bottom. If you were better, you could still kind of get in there and move the guy out of the way. You put drivers in a position where, OK, if this guy gets me and moves me in the wrong spot, I could lose four or five spots,” Reddick said. “It made the race a lot more about strategy and how hard you push.
“Very much like what NASCAR racing, I feel like, used to be.”
The 23XI Racing driver was treated to an early taste of the aged surface at North Wilkesboro when he took part in a tire test at the speedway, held on March 21. Though some anticipated that the track experience would give Reddick an advantage over the field, he admitted that the oval had undergone several changes since he’d last seen it.
“They patched it quite a bit,” Reddick said. “The pace and the falloff was a lot more before they had all those newer areas where they put in that sealer. Without those grip strips right around the bottom, I feel like the falloff would really go a lot more.”
Reddick’s surprise at the lack of passing during the race was minimal, as it’s been the going trend when the series visits a short track. But while the bottom groove reigned supreme at North Wilkesboro, the No. 45 driver felt that it still required drivers to flex their capabilities.
“Once the tires really got age to it, it didn’t matter whether you had the track position or not. If you didn’t do a good job and if your car wasn’t balanced right, you were either going to go forward or you were going to go backward,” he said.
Luckily, Reddick went forward, charging from a 20th-place start to third at the finish line.