Tyler Riddick explains why he chose to race the 23XI

Tyler Reddick dropped a major announcement ahead of New Hampshire by revealing that he will be leaving Richard Childress Racing after the 2023 Cup Series season to join 23XI Racing. Now he has detailed why he chose this team.

Riddick gave the explanation during an appearance on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio on July 18. He made it clear first that the most important thing for him was to terminate his contract with RCR after the team gave him a trophy series opportunity. Riddick then explained that he chose 23XI Racing after seeing the moves the team made.

“Looking ahead, I really felt strongly about what 23XI was doing in their short time in the Cup series and as a team,” Riddick told Daniel Trotta and Larry McReynolds. “The thing that they keep doing, the people involved, it’s all very exciting. And in the end, yeah, I thought that was the best place for me in the long run and it was really cool to have everyone involved there as excited about me being there as they are.”

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Overturning Chiefs’ Recent Progress at New Hampshire Motor Speedway

GTBubba Wallace (back) and Tyler Riddick (front) race at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.

The first season at 23XI Racing was an inconsistent campaign. Bubba Wallace won his first race in the Cup Series, but also handled a mid-season crew chief change while finishing averaging 19.7.

The second season tells a different story. The two-car team displayed the speed in multiple races, and Kurt Busch scored the team’s second win during the afternoon at Kansas Speedway. Although Wallace witnessed several strong impressions that were hampered by problems on the pit road.

The trip to New Hampshire Motor Speedway on July 17 was the young team’s biggest complete effort. Both Busch and Wallace qualified inside the top 10, and ran close to the front of the group throughout the afternoon while scoring points across all three stages.

Wallace finished third day overall in what was his best career racing finish from start to finish, finishing second in fifth with DraftKings on Toyota’s #23. The first was fifth at Pocono Raceway in 2021. For comparison, Busch finished 10th after stopping in the closing laps and working his way back one lap down with new tyres.

Will this progress continue into the remainder of 2022 and throughout 2023? Riddick doesn’t know the answer, but he believes the team will improve with more time in the Cup series.

Reddick has another focus on 2022 and 2023

News has been made about Reddick, and he will likely face regular questions about his decision in the coming months. However, he will still focus on something else entirely – winning more races and reaching the fourth championship as a member of Richard Childress Racing.

Riddick added while appearing on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio that the timing of the announcement was partly due to the fact that they haven’t made it to the playoffs yet. Team #8 is still in the middle of the regular season, and they’ve already secured a win that punches their ticket to the playoffs.

“We’ve just shown we can win as a group, and none of that has changed – for us internally as a group,” Riddick said. “We know we’re winners, and we know we can do it again. On the flip side, I didn’t want it to be speculation for a long period of time. I wanted it to be there in front of everyone.”

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