Unable to join the meeting at first due to a computer/phone error, Tyler Reddick humorously joked he was glad nobody could see him. He was smiling and energetic through his entire event with the press today.
It didn't take long for him to get into the big details that make him feel like he is a true contender for the playoffs. In short, the first round of the playoffs which he states he believes will be good luck. "It’s good. The nice thing is that we’re going back to a venue — well, let me think about this. I mean, in a way we’ve been to all three of these tracks already this year, the third Bristol. Obviously a little dustier for some reason the first time we were there earlier this year.The speed we had early at this race at Darlington in the beginning of summer, if you will, was really promising to know we were that good and still have missed the mark on where our car needed to be by that much. Yeah, I’m excited for sure going into that race. But even more excited, after all the chaos and everything kind of had passed at Daytona, we knew we were in, that night leading into the next morning, Bob is taking a guess at where everyone is going to start. Oh, my gosh, this fifth-place finish was not only good to finally finish fifth, in the top 5 at Daytona, but it looks like it’s going to help our starting position at Darlington where there’s only I think 13 points between myself and sixth right now. I think we’re going to see a lot of shake-up just right away in how tight everybody is, how it’s going to spread out just in this first race at Darlington. We’re going to try to take advantage of that."
He wasn't discouraged by any negative press that he has received, either. He had this to say when asked about his philosophy on being the 16th entry in the playoffs...of 16. "For most of this year, especially once we got it rolling the way it needed to be, we were running inside the top 10 a lot, having shots, one pit stop or one decision here or there away from top 5s, which unfortunately haven’t had a lot of those this year. But we’ve been right there. Little details will either make or break this Playoff run for us."
His poise and great attitude will contribute to what I believe will be a strong run overall. His final thoughts on the day were the following. "I thought we handled that situation as well as we could. It makes us even more prepared and ready for this first round, the rounds after, if we can do our part and get there."
