Tag: 23XI Racing

Court denies expedited discovery motion for 23XI, Front Row

23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports have had their motion for expedited discovery denied by the court. The request was filed earlier this month on the heels of the motion for preliminary injunction that was filed. The teams were seeking immediate …

23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports have had their motion for expedited discovery denied by the court.

The request was filed earlier this month on the heels of the motion for preliminary injunction that was filed. The teams were seeking immediate access to documents and files from NASCAR CEO Jim France, Lesa France Kennedy, Ben Kennedy, Steve O’Donnell, Steve Phelps and Scott Prime. The requests concerned the 2025 charter agreement, the negotiation process, the take-it-or-leave-it final offer made to teams in September, exclusivity NASCAR has with racetracks, acquisition of the ARCA Menards Series, and specific provisions in the charter agreement.

In his ruling, United States District Judge Frank D. Whitney laid out multiple factors for the decision. First, the court determined the request would not be as the team’s proposed of “narrowly tailored” and a “minimal burden to Defendants.” The requests for production were also seen as overly broad as it spanned eight years.

As written in the ruling, “More critically, though, Plaintiffs seek all of this information within five days of a Court order granting their motion for expedited discovery … a timeframe that would put a significant burden on Defendants. Accordingly, this factor weighs heavily against granting the motion.”

Secondly was the issue of irreparable harm, which the teams had to show existed if the expedited discovery was not granted. The teams, however, had acknowledged they could show a likelihood of harm done. It was seen by the court that the Plaintiffs conceded that they didn’t need the expedited discovery as it pertains to the preliminary injunction.

“Plaintiffs do not address the potential irreparable harm caused by the risk of loss of evidence if this Court does not permit expedited discovery,” the ruling states. “Defendants state in their response that they ‘have implemented a litigation hold that preserves relevant materials, including those requested by Plaintiffs.’ Accordingly. This consideration also weighs against granting Plaintiffs’ motion.”

Thursday, the motion was denied. The preliminary injunction hearing is scheduled for Monday, Nov. 4.

23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports filed the preliminary injunction to race as chartered teams in 2025 while the antitrust case goes through the legal system.

Reddick wins tooth and nail fight at Homestead to advance to Cup Series Championship 4

Tyler Reddick is headed to the Championship 4 to compete for the NASCAR Cup Series championship after a third-to-first last lap drive to win Sunday at Homestead-Miami Speedway. Reddick wrapped the bottom around Turns 1 and 2 and completed a pass on …

Tyler Reddick is headed to the Championship 4 to compete for the NASCAR Cup Series championship after a third-to-first last lap drive to win Sunday at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

Reddick wrapped the bottom around Turns 1 and 2 and completed a pass on boss Denny Hamlin for second position on corner exit on the white flag lap. The 23XI Racing driver then drove around the outside of leader Ryan Blaney to make the winning pass through Turns 3 and 4. The victory capped off a day where Reddick started from the pole, won the first stage, and led a race high 97 laps.

 

It is the first time Reddick will compete for the Cup Series championship.

“We were backed in a corner, man; we had no other choice,” Reddick said. “I know we were on a tire deficit, and here at Homestead that’s a death sentence, but I don’t care. We did what it took to win this race [and] we’re fighting for a championship.”

Blaney finished second and Hamlin, who won the second stage, finished third. Hamlin was leading with two laps to go before Blaney took the top spot in Turns 3 and 4 coming to the white flag.

“I couldn’t believe it,” Reddick said of the winning pass on Blaney. “I just knew I needed to get even with him on his right-side door; I didn’t care what he did. He raced me clean. I appreciate it. I’m really, really excited that we’re going to have a shot at this championship.”

The run to the finish was seven laps after a caution for a Kyle Larson spin. Larson was racing Blaney for the lead when he spun trying to squeeze in the middle of Blaney and Austin Dillon in Turn 3.

Reddick stayed on track and inherited the race lead having run long on the previous fuel run. Blaney led Hamlin and Chase Elliott off pit road.

“Billy [Scott] made a call that looked a little scary because we were going to run out of gas,” 23XI co-owner Michel Jordan said of the pit strategy. “We knew we needed a caution at the end and anything can happen after that. As you can see, Denny was up there, and the little kid drove his [butt] off. I’m proud of him.

“He just let go, he just went for it, and I’m glad. We needed it.”

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On the final restart, Hamlin took the lead by going to the top in Turns 1 and 2. He drove around Reddick and Elliott, who restarted on the front row. Blaney and Reddick settled into second and third place before the frantic run to the finish.

“It’s obvious disappointment,” Blaney said. “I had a great shot to win and I didn’t have a very good last lap. Man, I thought I got into [Turn] 3 hard and [Reddick] just blitzed it off in there and it stuck for him, which is pretty impressive. I hate we gave one away there like that. I don’t know if we gave it away; we got the lead back after losing it on the restart and the last lap just didn’t really play out for us.

“It definitely stinks. I appreciate everybody on the [No.] 12 team for bringing a really fast race car. We had a great shot to go to Phoenix, and still got one more chance, so we still have to look forward to that.”

Christopher Bell finished fourth and Elliott completed the top five. William Byron finished sixth; Alex Bowman, seventh; AJ Allmendinger, eighth and Carson Hocevar, ninth. Ryan Preece rounded out the top 10.

Larson finished 13th. He was scored third after his spin but lost six spots on pit road when his Hendrick Motorsports team had to knock a diffuser flap back in place. The spin was the second incident of the day for him, after hitting the wall on lap 48 because of a flat right rear tire.

Joey Logano was the lowest finishing playoff driver in 28th position, but he’s under no pressure after clinching his spot in the championship race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

There were 33 lead changes among 11 drivers in Sunday’s Straight Talk Wire 400, plus six caution flags.

The four drivers out of a transfer spot going into the final elimination race at Martinsville Speedway (Nov. 3, 2 p.m. ET) are Larson, Hamlin, Blaney, and Elliott. Larson is at a seven-point deficit while Hamlin is behind 18 points, Blaney is behind 38, and Elliott the furthest behind at 43 points.

RESULTS

NASCAR fights back against 23XI, Front Row injunction request

NASCAR submitted its rebuttal to the injunction requested by 23XI and Front Row Motorsports on Wednesday evening. The two teams have asked to be allowed to continue to race with charters in 2025 while their antitrust lawsuit against the series …

NASCAR submitted its rebuttal to the injunction requested by 23XI and Front Row Motorsports on Wednesday evening. The two teams have asked to be allowed to continue to race with charters in 2025 while their antitrust lawsuit against the series awaits resolution.

The disagreement stems from negotiations over the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series Charter Agreement, which stretched over two years before culminating in what the series said was its final offer in late August. 23XI and Front Row Motorsports were the only teams that allowed the deadline to pass without signing, and they followed up earlier this month by filing a preliminary injunction that, if granted, would allow them to maintain their Charter status with the associated benefits next year.

In NASCAR’s rebuttal this week, it accused the two teams of “an attempt to force NASCAR into a contract on Plaintiffs’ preferred terms,” and said that their request “falls far short of meeting the demanding standard required for obtaining a mandatory injunction.

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“The Motion seeks to change the status quo, not maintain it; is about money, not irreparable harm; and fails to show a likelihood of success on the merits. This lawsuit is not about protecting competition; it’s a bid by Plaintiffs to secure more money than they could through arm’s-length negotiations. The Motion should be denied.”

Going further, the series described the team’s request as “a masterclass in contradiction,” noting that the two teams describe the 2025 Charter as anti-competitive “despite it being the product of collective negotiations by racing teams that secured guaranteed Cup Series race spots and a far larger share of NASCAR’s media revenues.” It also noted that the teams are asking the court to force NASCAR to grant them the very terms that they rejected at the time of the signing deadline, and that they had never raised a complaint during the two-year negotiation period, during which they were operating under the previous 2016 Charter Agreement.

“These contradictions expose Plaintiffs’ motive: to use this Court to extract more money and better contractual terms from NASCAR,” the series said in its filing.

Elsewhere in the rebuttal, NASCAR highlights what it says is evidence of extended cooperation with the teams over decades, and references the concessions it made during the most recent charter negotiations, including a bump in the team’s share of media revenue.

It claims it also offered to extend the term of the charters but declined to make them permanent, prompting the teams to boycott a Team Owner Council meeting in early April. From that point, NASCAR negotiated with teams and their lawyers on an individual basis. Upon making its self-described “final offer” with an Aug. 31 deadline, 13 teams representing 32 charters signed on. 23XI and Front Row did not, despite being given additional time.

23XI and Front Row both field two charter entries and have each agreed to purchase a third from Stewart-Haas Racing, although NASCAR said neither team has filed a request for those charters to be transferred into their ownership.

In closing its rebuttal, NASCAR argued that “Plaintiffs’ requested relief would cause real harm to NASCAR and the 32 Charter holders.

“Teams must budget for next season, and NASCAR needs to calculate and communicate to teams the prize money available for each race. NASCAR cannot simply reissue 2025 charters without affecting charter teams and other stakeholders, especially since Plaintiffs’ refusal to sign the 2025
charters increased prize amounts for Charter and open teams alike.

“Moreover, forcing NASCAR into an unwanted contract goes against the public interest.”

The injunction hearing is scheduled to take place on Nov.4.

Reddick’s wild ride in Vegas puts him on the back foot for Homestead

Tyler Reddick went for a familiar move Sunday at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, but it backfired and resulted in a rollover on the frontstretch – then he drove away from the crash scene. On lap 89 of the South Point 400, Reddick took a run he had in the …

Tyler Reddick went for a familiar move Sunday at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, but it backfired and resulted in a rollover on the frontstretch — then he drove away from the crash scene.

On lap 89 of the South Point 400, Reddick took a run he had in the far outside lane off Turn 4 and got to the outside of Chase Elliott and Martin Truex Jr. The hole closed quickly as everyone came together, with Reddick bouncing off the wall and Chase Elliott near simultaneously. He then continued down the track and hit the right side of Brad Keselowski’s car.

Reddick’s No. 45 Toyota then spun through the grass and, when it hit the pavement of the quarter-mile track, was sent into a full flip before landing on its wheels. Once the car was done sliding, Reddick was back on the throttle and drove to his pit stall, but the team quickly realized the suspension was broken and the day was over.

 

“I figured there was a toe link or something like that bent,” Reddick said. “I didn’t know the left front was broke. I got into the stall and realized I didn’t have brakes, and I was like, ‘OK, this can’t be good,’ so I was hoping that we could have fixed it.

“I was ready to keep going. But the car was just absolutely destroyed.”

The incident happened as he was running inside the top five and it was less than 10 minutes after he won the first stage.

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“You just have to be aggressive on restarts,” Reddick said. “It’s how the Next Gen racing has been from the beginning. I saw them both have a moment, and I just had to [make a] split second decision. You have to be aggressive on the restart; it’s hard to pass after a while.

“Being myself on a mile-and-a-half, being aggressive – by the time I realized I was in trouble, [Truex] started sliding and [Elliott] was coming up, and I was pretty much already on their outside at that point, with nowhere to really go. I needed to make the decision earlier when I saw them sliding to be more conservative to avoid an incident. It’s just not who I am, but it is unfortunate. It took us out of the race. We had a really, really fast Jordan Brand Toyota Camry [and] probably would have been in the mix all race long. But we will go to Homestead, a place where I have had to get it done before and go for it there.”

Reddick began the round 10 points above the cutline. He is now sixth and 30 points below a transfer spot, with Homestead-Miami Speedway and Martinsville Speedway filling out the round.

“We can still have a good day at Homestead and be in the mix in Martinsville,” Reddick said. “Ideally, it would have been nice to win today. It would be nice to win next week, and that’s what we will focus on, but thankfully we got 10 stage points in Stage 1, and it’s not like we’re absolutely out of it on points yet. We’re going to have to be perfect from here on out, probably.”

Reddick leads Cup practice at Las Vegas, Blaney crashes

Tyler Reddick was fastest in NASCAR Cup Series practice Saturday at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, while fellow championship contender Ryan Blaney was relegated to a backup car. Reddick (P) topped the board at 183.187mph (29.478s). The fast time was set …

Tyler Reddick was fastest in NASCAR Cup Series practice Saturday at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, while fellow championship contender Ryan Blaney was relegated to a backup car.

Reddick (P) topped the board at 183.187mph (29.478s). The fast time was set during Reddick’s fifth lap on the track.

Martin Truex Jr. was second fastest at 182.723mph; Ty Gibbs was third at 182.519mph; Ross Chastain, fourth at 182.402mph and Carson Hocevar completed the top five at 182.315 mph.

Bubba Wallace was sixth at 182.156mph; Zane Smith, seventh at 182.057mph; Ricky Stenhouse Jr., eighth at 182.05 mph; Kyle Larson (P), ninth at 181.941mph and Alex Bowman rounded out the top 10 at 181.861mph.

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Larson is the defending South Point 400 race winner.

William Byron (P) was 11th fastest at 181.781mph; Christopher Bell (P), 13th at 181.702mph; Denny Hamlin (P), 18th at 181.427mph and Chase Elliott (P) was 20th at 181.269mph.

Joey Logano (P) was 30th fastest at 179.892mph, and Blaney was the slowest playoff driver, having only completed one lap. The left rear tire on Blaney’s car went down because of a puncture in Turn 1, which spun his Ford Mustang around and sent it into the outside wall with contact on the driver’s side.

Blaney will be in a backup car for Sunday’s race. He was the only incident in practice.

Martin Truex Jr. was fastest in the best 10 consecutive lap average. It was Truex over Reddick, Chastain, Elliott, and Larson.

There are 37 drivers entered in Sunday’s race.

(P) denotes Playoff driver

NASCAR asks for 23XI, Front Row motion to be denied; calls lawsuit ‘meritless’

NASCAR has asked for the expedited discovery motion filed by 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports to be denied. The 22-page response to the motion was filed by NASCAR on Wednesday. In asking for the motion to be denied, NASCAR claims it is a …

NASCAR has asked for the expedited discovery motion filed by 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports to be denied.

The 22-page response to the motion was filed by NASCAR on Wednesday. In asking for the motion to be denied, NASCAR claims it is a one-sided, non-reciprocal request for relief more akin to a motion to compel.

NASCAR, in its response to the plaintiffs’ motion, opens by saying, “Plaintiffs have filed a meritless suit against NASCAR alleging baseless antitrust claims in order to obtain commercial agreements they previously rejected, and to attempt to extort more favorable contract terms.” The commercial agreements would be the 2025 Charter Agreement the two organizations did not sign, which NASCAR goes on to say is no longer available.

It also says, “The deadline for Plaintiffs to sign 2025 Charter Agreements expired weeks ago, and NASCAR has taken steps, consistent with its contractual obligations to other Charter Teams, to plan for a season with only 32 Charters. Plaintiffs do not need these Charter Agreements to race, and indeed have stated publicly that they will be racing in NASCAR regardless.”

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23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports have plans to field three full-time chartered entries next season. It would be an expansion for both organizations, which are fielding two cars. The additional charter for each would come from Stewart-Haas Racing, which is shutting down.

The two organizations filed a motion for expedited discovery with its preliminary injunction request on Oct. 9. As the antitrust lawsuit against NASCAR proceeds, 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports want to race as charter teams in 2025.

In the motion for expedited discovery, the organizations asked to receive immediate access to documents and files discussing the mandatory release provision in the 2025 Charter Agreement; documents discussing NASCAR’s decision to end negotiating with the Team Negotiating Committee and only negotiate with individual racing teams for the 2025 Charter Agreement; and documents discussing NASCAR’s decision to present to the teams a take-it-or-leave-it final proposal for the 2025 Charter Agreement.

“Plaintiffs’ overreaching requests belie their true aim: to use the antitrust discovery process as a weapon,” NASCAR’s filing claims. In turn, NASCAR laid out four arguments: the plaintiffs fail to demonstrate a likelihood of irreparable harm; plaintiffs’ expansive requests are not narrowly tailored to the preliminary injunction; the plaintiffs do not identify any information that is at risk of destruction; the procedural posture and timing of plaintiffs’ motion do not support expedited discovery.

However, if the court rules in favor of the expedited discovery motion, NASCAR has asked that the discovery be reciprocal and limited to non-privileged documents that are directly related to the issue raised in the preliminary injunction request.

Hard work at Charlotte Roval pays off for Reddick and 23XI

Tyler Reddick wouldn’t say Sunday was the drive of his career, but he acknowledged he certainly had to fight to make the next round of the NASCAR Cup Series playoffs. Reddick advanced by four points over Joey Logano. But the regular season champion …

Tyler Reddick wouldn’t say Sunday was the drive of his career, but he acknowledged he certainly had to fight to make the next round of the NASCAR Cup Series playoffs.

Reddick advanced by four points over Joey Logano. But the regular season champion wound up having a dramatic day at the Charlotte Roval after colliding with his boss, Denny Hamlin, going into Turn 7 on lap 31 when the field stacked up behind a spinning Austin Dillon. Reddick was hot on the brakes when his car hit the left side of Hamlin’s and went airborne.

The incident damaged the toe link of his Toyota. Reddick fell to 37th place after initially pitting and the rest of the afternoon saw more pit stops for repairs, having to drive through the field.

“I’m hurtin’ now,” Reddick said. “I got pretty airborne, right? It felt pretty crazy. My neck is probably a little sore, but there are a lot of good curbs you can go out there and jump; I was having to get aggressive and try to find speed. The car was still pretty good but it took all the repair work that everyone put in to finally get it somewhat drivable again.

“It was definitely a lot different from what we had in the beginning of the race. I think the track would have really come to what our car was in Stage 1, but just to get it back to where we were and be able to make passes was a good effort.”

Reddick had been 14 points to the good entering the day, but after winning the first stage (which gave him 10 more), the incident in the second stage kept him out of the points. Logano earned 17 points between the first two stages.

“I’m behind [Martin Truex Jr.] and I can’t see much,” Reddick said of what happened in Turn 7. “I was just trying to get to the inside of [Truex], and I get inside [him] and my eyes open up more. I can see the apex of the corner. The [No.] 3 is spun around and everybody is on the brakes stopping.

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“You’re expecting everyone to take that corner somewhat normally but as soon as I could see what was happening ahead, everyone was hitting the brakes and stopping to avoid a spin. It was the wrong place at the wrong time for us.”

In the final stage, Reddick was mathematically below the cutline as the points were updated in real-time. However, the final caution with 29 laps to go allowed him to come to pit road for fresh tires.

He restarted 26th as Logano ran sixth. Then the march began.

Reddick was 24th with 25 laps to go and Logano was fifth. He was 23rd with 24 laps to go, 22nd with 23 laps to go, 21st with 22 laps to go and Logano was still fifth. The No. 45 was then 20th with 21 laps to go and Logano lost a spot, dropping to sixth.

With 20 laps to go, Reddick was 19th. At 18 laps to go, he was 17th (and the gap was then down to four points). He took 15th on the next lap, narrowing the gap to two points. Four laps later, he shrunk that gap to just one point by taking 14th.

At 11 to go, Reddick held station and Logano lost another spot, dropping to seventh, tying the two on the cutline. With nine to go, Reddick was 12th, giving him a two-point advantage. In two more laps, he picked up a further point on Logano when he took 11th place.

Logano then lost a further spot before the checkered flag, putting the final points gap at four.

“With how my car was driving before that pit stop, I was a bit unsure,” Reddick said of getting back through the field. “But we kept making adjustments to the car.”

Two teams file injunction against NASCAR

23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports filed a preliminary injunction to race as chartered NASCAR Cup Series teams in 2025 as the legal process continues with the antitrust case filed against NASCAR. “The 23XI and Front Row Motorsports teams are …

23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports filed a preliminary injunction to race as chartered NASCAR Cup Series teams in 2025 as the legal process continues with the antitrust case filed against NASCAR.

“The 23XI and Front Row Motorsports teams are fully committed to competing in next year’s Cup Series,” a joint statement said. “Today’s procedural filing is the next step in advancing our case against NASCAR and their monopolistic practices while protecting our drivers, race teams, and sponsors by establishing our legal right to run in 2025.”

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Cup Series teams who have charters receive significantly more money than Open teams. 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports are also in the process of expanding their operations to three cars next season.

The antitrust case, which accuses NASCAR of unlawful monopolization, was filed Oct. 2 in North Carolina. 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports were the only two organizations that did not sign the 2025 Charter Agreement.

In addition to the preliminary injunction, the teams also filed a motion for expedited discovery to receive immediate access to documents and files from NASCAR CEO Jim France, Lesa France Kennedy, Ben Kennedy, Steve O’Donnell, Steve Phelps and Scott Prime. The information the teams are seeking documents discussing the mandatory release provision in the 2025 charter agreement; documents discussing NASCAR’s decision to end negotiating with the Team Negotiating Committee and only negotiate with individual racing teams for the 2025 charter agreement; and documents discussing NASCAR’s decision to present to the teams a take-it-or-leave-it final proposal for the 2025 charter agreement.

Michael McDowell of Front Row Motorsports. Rusty Jarrett / Motorsport Images

The motion also included seeking documents and files related to NASCAR’s exclusive contracts with racetracks, its acquisitions of the ARCA Menards Series, and the provision in the charter agreement that restricts teams from competing in non-NASCAR sanctioned events as well as teams being unable to use Next Gen parts and pieces in non-NASCAR sanctioned events.

“NASCAR’s dominant control over racing is not because of its superior skill or business acumen, but rather its history of exclusionary acts and restrictive agreements that have stifled competition through its monopoly power,” said Jeffrey Kessler of Winston & Strawn, the lead counsel for 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports. “We believe our expedited discovery requests of NASCAR and the France family will shed light on their anticompetitive practices and support a preliminary injunction ruling that 23XI and Front Row Motorsports have a legally protected right to race next year while our antitrust case proceeds in Court.”

NASCAR has not commented on the lawsuit.

23XI Racing, Front Row Motorsports request injunction to keep racing in 2025

23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports have requested an injunction to keep racing as chartered organizations in 2025.

[autotag]23XI Racing[/autotag] and [autotag]Front Row Motorsports[/autotag] filed an antitrust lawsuit against NASCAR last week, and more news came out on Wednesday morning. In a joint statement, 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports announced they have filed a preliminary injunction to continue racing in 2025 as chartered organizations while the case moves forward.

“The 23XI and Front Row Motorsports teams are fully committed to competing in next year’s Cup Series,” 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports said in a joint statement. “Today’s procedural filing is the next step in advancing our case against NASCAR and their monopolistic practices, while protecting our drivers, race teams, and sponsors by establishing our legal right to run in 2025.”

The two teams are also asking the court to grant them immediate access to several documents related to the 2025 charter agreement and the process around it. NASCAR has not commented on the lawsuit to this point. 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports hope to continue racing despite its lawsuit against NASCAR, as the former looks to win the Cup Series title in 2024.

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“Days of Thunder” moment was good fortune for Reddick

Tyler Reddick went through a movie scene at Talladega Superspeedway but emerged with his NASCAR Cup Series playoff hopes intact. The regular-season champion faced being out of a transfer spot as the laps wound down Sunday afternoon. It would have …

Tyler Reddick went through a movie scene at Talladega Superspeedway but emerged with his NASCAR Cup Series playoff hopes intact.

The regular-season champion faced being out of a transfer spot as the laps wound down Sunday afternoon. It would have put him in a fight to advance going into the final race of the round, but then came the largest crash in Cup Series history with five laps to go. Reddick was involved in the crash, but his No. 45 Toyota remained on track and he finished 20th – ahead of six of his fellow championship contenders.

“I was in it, for sure,” Reddick said of the crash. “I was spinning around backward, and hit front and back. It felt like some Days of Thunder stuff. It was not fun. It was a lot of wrecked cars.”

Reddick was approximately five points below the cutline before the crash, yet left Talladega with an advantage of 14 points.

“That was [a change in fortune],” he admitted. “I didn’t know where we were when that happened at first, but to see it turn out the way it did was a good thing. If we can take a 20th place finish and gain on the cut, I think you take that every time.”

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Sunday was not Reddick’s best showing, as he earned only five stage points and averaged an 18th-place running position. But that has been the theme of the postseason for his 23XI Racing team. After finishing sixth in the opener at Atlanta Motor Speedway, Reddick finished 20th or worse in the last four races.

It led to him admitting to the concern in his camp before arriving at Talladega. The speed he showed late in the regular season hasn’t been there, nor has the team executed well, but he’s still above the cutline, and Reddick feels confident he’ll control his destiny at the Charlotte road course.

“The last time we really showed up with any kind of speed was a road course,” Reddick said. “I know at Watkins Glen it really went off the rails. The surface [at Charlotte] isn’t changing, the tires aren’t changing, and those are all knowns that we’ve raced on and had good speed on. The last time we ran on this tire that we’re taking to the Roval was Sonoma, and we ran up front for a majority of that race.

“I feel good about it. The changes to the course — typically, anytime something changes on any type of track, it helps me, I feel like. It levels the field a little bit. It should be good for us.”