"There’s no penalty when you have a mistake": Tyler Reddick on his gripes with the NASCAR Next Gen car after Cup race at Homestead

23XI Racing driver Tyler Reddick appeared flustered after the 4EVER 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway, despite securing a third-place finish at the end of the 400-mile race.

Even though Reddick has historically done well at the 1.5-mile race at Homestead, he termed Sunday's race a frustrating one. The #45 Toyota Camry driver was handling a tricky car, unable to ride the walls like the rest of the drivers.

Tyler Reddick suggested that the quirky character of the next-gen car has repeatedly deprived him of his trademark ability to ride the wall.

While the rest of the grid ripped the fence at Homestead, Reddick struggled to do the same, keeping him out of the fight for the win.

“Yeah, it was a frustrating day. I was really hoping we were going to get a little more out of that,” he said to SpeedwayMedia.com. “The finish was what we needed, but we didn’t run as well as we wanted to all day, which was the disappointing part. I don’t know, it’s been a gripe of mine ever since we went to the composite body on the Cup side.”

Before the introduction of the next generation, Kyle Larson and Tyler Reddick had an edge over the rest of the field for the ability to ride the high line at Homestead.

Reddick even won his two Xfinity championships at the track, running close to the outside barriers.

The #45 Toyota driver reckoned the introduction of the next-gen car has allowed more drivers to risk riding the wall without any penalty. However, at the same time, Reddick seems to have lost his mojo with these cars.

“Everyone runs the fence, and there’s no penalty when you have a mistake and hit the wall. Everyone just ran up there and hit it all day long. Gotta be more willing to take that risk in this car as there’s no penalty.”

The third-place finish at Homestead put Tyler Reddick 10 points below the cutline, heading to the elimination race at Martinsville Speedway.

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Tyler Reddick names another hurdle that put him on the back foot

Much of the laps of the 4EVER 400 were run under the green flag, but the final stage provided plenty of chaos, and with it came cautions and ensuing restarts.

Tyler Reddick admitted he didn't get a good launch on a couple of restarts, which left him in a vulnerable position.

Speaking to NBC Sports after the race, he said:

“The balance was really tricky on our McDonald’s Toyota Camry. I just think the biggest thing is we didn’t fire off to go down a couple of restarts, end up in bad spots.”

He reiterated his gripe with the car, adding:

“Some cars running fence, that was the deciding factor. If car was on the fence,… I was kind of stuck.”

The 23XI Racing driver will get a final opportunity to book his berth in the championship four at Martinsville Speedway this Sunday, October 29.