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It would have been difficult for most to envision just two years ago that Tyler Reddick and 23XI Racing would be atop the standings in late August and among the favorites to win the 2024 Cup Series Championship.

Before July of 2022, Reddick was still winless in the Cup Series in his third full-time season. Road America, however, proved to be his breakthrough, and wins at Indianapolis and Texas later in the season would prove that Reddick’s maiden win wasn’t a fluke.

The garage area wasn’t talking about Reddick’s late-season charge, though. They were focused more on the fact that on July 12, 23XI had announced that they had signed Reddick for 2024, giving the Corning, Calif. native long-term job security and moving 23XI up on the Cup Series totem pole.

Following Kurt Busch’s early retirement due to injury, Reddick’s contract with Richard Childress Racing would be bought out, moving Reddick to the No. 45 Camry a year earlier than expected.

Before Reddick arrived at 23XI in 2023, the young team was considered respectable, but not quite championship caliber. Three wins in two seasons for the team was commendable, but for an organization headed by Denny Hamlin and Michael Jordan, greatness and championships are the only expectation.

Reddick won twice and made the Round of 8 last year while 23XI’s other driver, Bubba Wallace, made the Cup Series playoffs for the first time.

All of the progress made by both Reddick and 23XI has culminated in a dominant 2024 season. Reddick leads the points and has already matched his win total from 2023, with the latest of his two victories coming at Michigan on Monday.

Reddick’s triumph in the Irish Hills marks the 10th time in 11 races that the No. 45 car has finished inside the top-10, with a 22nd-place run at Iowa being the only outlier of a stellar summer stretch.

Seventeen top-10 finishes has propelled Reddick to the Cup Series points lead, and with two regular-season races remaining, 15 playoff points await Reddick should he protect his lead and win the regular-season championship.

What makes Reddick’s 2024 season so interesting is that while not completely out of the blue, nobody could have predicted the tear that the No. 45 team would go on.

Last season was the best of Reddick’s career from a points perspective — he finished sixth in the standings — but it wasn’t championship caliber. Reddick scored only 16 top-10 finishes in 2023, a mark he has already eclipsed through just 24 events this season.

Reddick and 23XI improved steadily over their first few seasons in the Cup Series, but 2024 has been a breakout year for both parties. It’s safe to say that Reddick had high expectations in 2024, but being a championship threat, if not the favorite, has shattered those expectations entirely.

The one asset that Reddick and 23XI lack is “big-game” experience. But if the speed in the No. 45 car remains, there’s no reason why Reddick can’t hoist the Cup at season’s end.

Whether or not Reddick is crowned the regular-season champion after Darlington, the entire field is fully aware that Reddick is to be feared.

Take a feisty young driver and team at your own risk, Cup Series field: there’s no limit to what Reddick can accomplish once the postseason begins.

–Samuel Stubbs, Field Level Media