(Cover Photo Credit: Jonathan Bachman/Getty Images)
By Adam Carabine
In case you missed it, StatChat is counting down the days ‘til the 2023 Daytona 500. Every two days, we will have a new article featuring one of the 36 charters of 2022.
15th Place – Tyler Reddick – 2,214 pts
RICHARD CHILDRESS RACING – CHEVROLET
50% Highest Finish Among Teammates at RCR in 2022 – On the surface, without looking any deeper, you may find yourself thinking that of the two RCR drivers this year, Reddick was the more consistent performer over teammate Austin Dillon. However, when you look at the numbers, while Reddick has the edge in wins, they each finished ahead of the other exactly 18 times, or 50% of the time.
2 Points Shy of the Round of 12 – It was an impressive season for Reddick, as he scored his first three Cup Series wins, two of which were surprisingly at road courses. However, when the checkered flag flew at the Bristol Night Race, signalling the end of the first round of the playoffs, Reddick found himself on the outside looking in… by two points. To add insult to injury, he went on to win the next race in Texas, which, had he still been alive in the playoffs, would have guaranteed him a spot in the Round of 8. A disappointing DNF in the previous race, at Kansas likely sealed the deal.
8 DNFs in 2022 – It’s interesting to note that while the season, as a whole, was a success for Tyler Reddick, he still managed to have something take him out of the race eight times in 2022. That number is tied for 2nd worst of all the Cup Series charters. The fact that Reddick was able to make it to the playoffs, let alone nearly make it to the Round of 8 shows that there is definitely some promise there with the young driver. If he can keep his equipment clean, he may be even more of a force to be reckoned with.
503 Laps Led in 2022 – Tyler Reddick spent a good chunk of the season up at the front of the pack. His 503 laps accounted for just over 5% of all the laps run in 2022, which puts him just shy of the Top-10 of all Cup Series charters. If you’re a frequent reader of this series, you’ll recognize a theme in which I say it’s not always important to lead the most laps, just the final one! But it can be a good indicator of success, or at least of a car that has what it takes to lead when the checkered flag comes out.
17.58 – Average Finish in 2022 – In his 3rd full-time Cup Series season, it’s strange to think that Tyler Reddick’s average finish in 2022 was actually his worst of the three. Maybe it’s the bias we feel over seeing 3 wins on the season, but his consistency wasn’t there. His 8 DNFs in 2022 doubled his career total up to that point. His 2021 average finish was over 2.5 spots better (15.00), and he only had 2 DNFs that whole season. Some more consistency will help propel Reddick to the next level.
In what was some of the strangest silly season news, Tyler Reddick was originally announced to be joining 23XI Racing in 2024 – an announcement that came a whole year early. However, once RCR nabbed star free agent Kyle Busch (more on that in two days) to take over the No. 8, Denny Hamlin and 23XI Racing opted to bring Reddick in a year early. Reddick will drive the No. 45 Toyota for 23XI in 2023.
Coming up next in the Countdown to Daytona series – Kyle Busch!
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