Denny Hamlin himself was dragged into the chaos 10 laps from the finish of Sunday’s Daytona 500, taking Christopher Bell with him. A push from his 23XI Racing driver, Corey Heim, went wrong, sending Hamlin into the wall before collecting the No. 20 running next to him. Yet when the race ended and the checkered flag waved, Hamlin still found a glimmer of hope, as his team’s driver, Tyler Reddick, stood in victory lane.
Hamlinknows how far the team has come over the last year and a half with the antitrust lawsuit hanging over their heads, and he knows the weight that Reddick carried off the track with his son. Through it all, he watched the No. 45 driver evolve during the offseason. During workshop discussions and discussions with the team, Hamlin noticed a change in Reddick’s mindset.
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This change, in his eyes, paved the way to victory. “From my perspective, the offseason is usually where I spend the most time at the 23XI. Obviously, this offseason, I wasn’t able to spend as much time there as I wanted. But I talked to a lot of people in the shop, and they felt like Tyler had changed his approach, not his approach…his outlook was really optimistic, very committed to righting wrongs and wanting to get better this offseason.”
“We had a meeting with everyone in the competition a few weeks ago, a few weeks ago. I’m looking over there, Tyler’s the only one taking notes, and he was really excited. That’s what we expect from him. I knew it four or five years ago, every time I talked to him for the first time, hey, I need you here. So I just knew his ceiling was so, so high.” he added.
Last year, Hamlin kept his expectations in check, letting the results speak for themselves. But now he believes a victory like this, right off the bat, can ease a burden. Reddickthe shoulders. Once that pressure is released, Hamlin hopes Reddick can unleash like he always has. That fluid style is what attracted Hamlin and the team in the first place: the guy runs on instinct.
Hamlin’s take on Reddick’s championship chances
Hamlin has long sung Reddick’s praises and made it clear he sees more in the tank. When pressed on title chances, the 23XI Race The co-owner highlighted Reddick’s talent for extracting speed from a car, sometimes in a way that even he can’t match. It may appear on a single lap, but the speed is there.
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Hamlin added that when a team finds someone who can harness that kind of raw ability, the next step is to add polish. Smear the craft with racing, pass on the lessons of years of trial and error, and suddenly the puzzle starts to come together. In his mind, this mix can shape a driver who has all the tools to aim for a championship.
Road races have taken a larger part of the NASCAR schedule in recent years, although the numbers are decreasing this season. Despite this, Reddick holds his own there and can run with the pack. Hamlin believes Reddick ticks all the boxes for a title run, not only in terms of growth, but also by showing up and delivering on every track on the schedule.
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