NASCAR Insiders commend Tyler Reddick's 'interesting turnaround' of fortune at Darlington

Tyler Reddick began his playoff campaign with a strong result despite his hopes of making the Round of 16 hanging by a thread at Daytona. Reddick ended up with a second place finish and fell one pass short of the winner, Chase Briscoe, as he battled for the victory until the end.

During the latest episode of the Teardown podcast, Reddick's win was discussed by co-hosts Jeff Gluck and Jordan Bianchi.

Bianchi recalled them talking about Tyler Reddick not having a lot of momentum or their season going in the wrong direction. But at Darlington, the #45's performance reminded the NASCAR Insider of his old self from 2024 when he won the regular season championship.

"This looked like the #45 team from a year ago. Came here even though they had a little bit of damage by the way. Amazing save on lap one. But get through that and they persevere and he almost wins this race and he finishes second and all of a sudden it goes, sweating it out whether you're going to get in the playoffs or not and now he's +35 to the good going to a track at Gateway where they should be pretty strong. So interesting turnaround for a driver and team that I think had a lot of question marks coming in the playoffs," Bianchi described. [47:36]

Jeff Gluck commended Tyler Reddick contending for the win and having a shot at Chase Briscoe towards the end.

He remarked how the #45 driver ended up in 4th spot in the playoff standings after Darlington.

"Suddenly he turned things around for himself really quickly, leaped over the regular season champion by 10 points," Gluck added.

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NASCAR Insiders commends Tyler Reddick's approach in racing against Chase Briscoe for the lead

Talking about Tyler Reddick's late race battle with Chase Briscoe for the lead, Jeff Gluck appreciated the way the two drivers handled themselves in the situation. Gluck said that Reddick 'obviously' wanted to win and did really well for himself.

But his former self might have 'tried to force the issue' or made a mistake or get in the wall while trying to do too much.

"He gave it a great effort on that last corner there to try to do a Hail Mary that was within the realm of reason where he could still save it. But that was a key moment there where he didn't do anything to shoot himself in the foot," he described. [50:22]

Bianchi added to his co-host's point, wondering what the racing would've been like if the stakes were higher, like in an elimination race. He claimed Tyler Reddick was 'smart' and put as much pressure on Briscoe as he could've without trying to cross the line, which would've cost him.

The Teardown's co-host further added that Reddick not taking chances and having a 'survive and advance' mindset is what the Round of 16 is all about.