NASCAR: Tyler Reddick is a rookie with high expectations
Tyler Reddick is entering his rookie season in the NASCAR Cup Series. But being a rookie is not limiting his expectations for 2020.
Going into 2020, Tyler Reddick will be a NASCAR Cup Series rookie. Reddick’s first full-time season in the Cup Series will come with him behind the wheel of the #8 Chevrolet for Richard Childress Racing.
Reddick does have experience with Richard Childress’s team. He won the Xfinity Series championship last year with the team , and he is still paired with Randall Burnett, who does have some experience as a crew chief in the Cup Series. Burnett was the crew chief for A.J. Allmendinger in 2016 and for seven races in 2017.
Even though it is Reddick’s first year in the Cup Series, he has high expectations. He expects to be up front winning races. Back in 2017, it only took him 15 starts to get his first win the Xfinity Series at Kentucky Speedway.
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Reddick goes into 2020 expecting to win the Cup Series Rookie of the Year Award. He knows he has what it takes to go out there and beat the top guys competing for Rookie of the Year, including fellow “Big 3” members Christopher Bell and Cole Custer of Leavine Family Racing and Stewart-Haas Racing, respectively.
With this being one of the deepest rookie classes ever, it is not going to be easy to take home the Rookie of the Year Award this year.
“We’re going to have to make a round or two into the playoffs to have a chance (at Rookie of the Year),” the 24-year-old Corning, California native told Beyond the Flag.
Along with this being Reddick’s first season in the Cup Series, it is also the first year for the new Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE.
Reddick told Beyond the Flag that Chevrolet has worked really hard on the new Camaro, but that Daytona International Speedway will not be a true test of its strength. Whether or not the new car has improved Chevrolet as a manufacturer will really begin to show at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Auto Club Speedway and Phoenix Raceway.
During the offseason, Reddick was close with teammate Austin Dillon. Dillon, a two-time winner in the Cup Series, has been a big help for Reddick. Both drivers are Xfinity Series champions, so they have similar backgrounds when it comes to their success coming up to the Cup Series. Reddick has also worked with Dillon’s crew chief, Justin Alexander, so there is a lot of familiarity within the whole organization for Reddick.
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Tyler Reddick appears to have the drive to go out and achieve the goals he has set for himself in 2020. To go along with the drive, he has the experience within Richard Childress Racing. There are not too many new faces Reddick has to work with so he has people to turn to for help as he goes throughout his rookie campaign in the NASCAR Cup Series.