Tyler Reddick heads into the Brickyard 400 with plenty of questions after a difficult NASCAR Cup Series practice at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. The 23XI Racing driver finished eighth on the single-lap speed chart, but the result did not match how he felt behind the wheel of the No. 45 Toyota.
Reddick said the car lacked both speed and balance, leaving him and his team searching for answers before qualifying. The recent struggles also come after a strong start to the 2026 season, when he won three straight races and built a big lead in the regular-season standings.
Now, with the NASCAR playoffs getting closer, Reddick hopes the team can solve its issues quickly and return to the level that made it one of the strongest teams earlier this year.
Tyler Reddick Struggles During Indianapolis Practice Before Brickyard 400
Tyler Reddick did not hide his frustration after NASCAR Cup Series practice at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. He said the session felt completely different from previous visits to the famous track.
“The last few years we’ve come here and felt good about what we had and knew where we needed to go from practice into qualifying. Today, I felt like I had never raced here before. Just lost. Struggling to find speed, struggling with the balance of the car. It was like I never raced here before.”
Reddick explained that the problems were not limited to one part of the car. Instead, he said nearly everything needed improvement.
“We’ll try to dive into it, but it just wasn’t a normal practice for me here. I have a lot of questions. There are a lot of things we really need to figure out. I’m having a hard time understanding where we need to go. It’s the handling, the speed—kind of everything. It’s just not where it needs to be.”
Tyler Reddick Looks to End Recent NASCAR Cup Series Slump
Tyler Reddick opened the 2026 NASCAR Cup Series season in dominant form, winning three straight races and collecting five victories during the first part of the year. He also built a 129-point lead in the regular-season standings.
Since then, however, results have gone the wrong way. Last weekend at North Wilkesboro Speedway, Reddick became involved in an incident with Alex Bowman while Bowman entered pit road. Mechanical problems and other on-track incidents have also cost the No. 45 team valuable points.
“It has been a little bit of hit or miss at times. We just have to figure it out.”
He added, “We’ve been going the wrong way for a while, and some of it is just racing. A couple of times we haven’t had the speed that we’ve come to expect out of ourselves. A little bit of both, but a lot of it has been crazy circumstances.”
Tyler Reddick Believes Brickyard 400 Turnaround Is Still Possible
Despite the recent setbacks, Tyler Reddick believes there is still enough time to regain momentum before the NASCAR playoffs begin. He stressed that every race before The Chase is important for building confidence.
“You want to be in the right place, going in the right direction as you start The Chase. We really need to get out of whatever hole we’ve found ourselves in. If we run like we did the first 14 races of the season, absolutely. It’s not over until The Chase starts. We will just keep fighting as hard as we can and not settle for days like today.”
Reddick also pointed to 23XI Racing’s past success at Indianapolis as a reason for optimism. Bubba Wallace won last year’s Brickyard 400, and Reddick said both team cars showed strong speed during parts of that race.
“Yes, Bubba won and had a successful weekend, but we felt good about our car too. Whether it’s his race, our first 30 to 40 laps of last year’s race, we have some good stuff to go through.”
With qualifying still ahead, Reddick and crew chief Billy Scott remain focused on making the right changes and turning a frustrating practice into a stronger Brickyard 400 weekend.
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