KANSAS CITY, Kan. — Don‘t blame 23XI Racing driver Tyler Reddick if he‘s nostalgic about his team‘s past performance at Kansas Speedway.
In 2022, when NASCAR transitioned to the Gen 7 car in the NASCAR Cup Series, 23XI swept the two Kansas events, with Kurt Busch winning in the spring and Bubba Wallace in the fall.
After Joe Gibbs Racing driver (and 23XI co-owner) Denny Hamlin triumphed in the spring race of 2023, Reddick put 23XI in Victory Lane for the third time in four races and Toyota for the fourth straight time.
KANSAS: Sun., 3 p.m. ET (USA) | At-track photos
Since then, Chevrolet drivers — Kyle Larson in particular — have dominated at the track. At 23 points below the current elimination line and 11th of the 12 postseason contenders chasing a spot in the Round of 8 in the NASCAR Cup Playoffs, Reddick needs a turnaround on Sunday (3 p.m. ET, USA Network, HBO Max, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, NBC Sports App).
“We had a stretch here where it was a 23XI Toyota or a Toyota car in general, we had a pretty good record here to be able to win races,” Reddick said. “I look at the last two or three times we‘ve been here; we‘ve been missing a little bit of something.
“The car changes, the Goodyear tires change, so naturally you‘ve got to keep up with it. I think it‘s fair to be nervous. There‘s a lot that weighs on this weekend that it’s super important for us to either win or run top five all day and score a lot of points.”
The return to a 1.5-mile speedway for the first time since the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte in May is cause for optimism, as far as Reddick is concerned.
“You look at other mile and-a-half tracks this year, and we‘ve brought cars capable of winning races at those tracks,” Reddick said. “It‘s been since Charlotte Motor Speedway (that) we‘ve had a true mile and-a-half race, so there‘s been a lot of time for things to change, for people to catch up and people to fall behind.
“I think that just adds to the nerves of the weekend to see how we perform when we get to the race track.”
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