Based on his brief experience in the playoffs, Reddick believed the best approach to kick off the 2023 title battle was to take advantage of the speed his No. 45 23XI Racing Toyota team had shown all season.
That meant going into the first three races minimizing mistakes and not putting himself into situations that could end with a win, or if things went wrong, a last place finish.
“The last few years – really, last year was the heartbreaker. Two years ago, we just weren’t great, and we went into Bristol and missed it by a couple (points),” Reddick said. “But last year we had those wins.
“We came to this race a year ago and have a flat while leading and fall out very early. So, we went into Bristol in a bad spot and then got caught up in a wreck.
“I want to win races, but we don’t want to take the risks in the first round.”
For much of Sunday’s race at Kansas Speedway, Reddick was running according to plan.
He had the speed to contend and ran up front most of the race, his team owner, Denny Hamlin, had control of the race on what looked to be a long green-flag run to the finish.
But a late-race caution for a wreck suddenly presented Reddick with an opportunity he felt he needed to capitalize on.
Chris Buescher’s run-in with the wall with less than six laps remaining in the race set up a two-lap overtime and with new tires a big advantage, teams took several different pit strategies.
Daniel Suarez stayed out and inherited the lead while three drivers took on only two new tires. Hamlin and Reddick pit for four new tires.
On the restart, Reddick got a big run and with Erik Jones on the outside and Joey Logano in the middle (and both on two new tires), Reddick dove to the inside off Turn 4 and powered around them to take the lead for the first time in the race.
He then held off Hamlin on the final lap to secure the win, which locked him into the second round of the playoffs regardless of his finish next weekend at Bristol, Tenn.
“With the speed that we bring week-in and week-out, especially in this first round, we can to a degree kind of afford to – I love racing at 105 percent, but like I don’t know if this is the time to do it in this first round,” Reddick said.
“You get an overtime restart, go for it, right? But try and minimize the risk just a little bit. I think for all of us, just pull it back a little bit, let’s have some consistent days. We have enough speed to still get points, and we’re working on that.
“So, I think we go into the Round of 12, we pick it up just a little bit, and as we keep going, we’ll just keep amping it up if we have to.”
