Getty Tyler Reddick and Denny Hamlin talk before race.
Moments after Tyler Reddick exited his car in the March 3 NASCAR Cup Series race in Las Vegas, where he battled Kyle Larson for the win but came up just short and finished second, he wasn’t happy and couldn’t hide his frustrations during his post-race remarks, cussing on national television while calling out the team’s pit road issues, which have been problematic since he arrived at 23XI Racing before the 2023 season.
Just 24 hours later, Reddick’s team co-owner, Denny Hamlin addressed the situation on his “Actions Detrimental” podcast.
“This is the new team blues and this is why, as smart as Justin (Marks) is, he just bought a team that already had good pit crews,” Hamlin said, referring to the Trackhouse co-owner purchasing Chip Ganassi Racing. “When I had to start this damn thing from scratch, I had nobody.
“Anybody that’s really really good, they’re under long contracts. These teams lock these guys up for years and years and so you got nobody. You got to find talent within the field somewhere that’s got experience or you try to get some young guys that are very inexperienced. And this is just part of starting a team and trying to do this on your own.
“Generally speaking, yes, this is a topic this weekend and it’s the hot topic for sure, but it’s a process. It f****** sucks. I know it sucks. It’s keeping the 23XI guys out of Victory Lane. No question about it, there was at least two or three victories that Tyler should have had last year but he didn’t get an opportunity because we messed up for him on pit road.”
Denny Hamlin Provides Timeline for Change
Several minutes later in the show the Joe Gibbs Racing driver revealed that there were several new pit crew members brought in for both cars before the 2024 season and again mentioned how it was a process. He also then provided a timeline for when that process might produce better results.
“Second sucks, that’s for sure.”
Tyler Reddick was frustrated not having any options to try and get around Kyle Larson at Las Vegas, and about having another rough day on pit road.
“Our pit facility itself, where we’ll do pit stops, that’s not even going to be done until probably July,” Hamlin said of the new 23XI Racing headquarters called Airspeed. “So we’re still at JGR right now and when we’re at JGR we get limited time. We don’t get as much time as the others because we’re not the house guys.
“We’re having to share facilities. We’re building our own and it’s going to be absolutely freaking amazing, just like the actual Airspeed is, and headquarters. But it takes time. So for the next six months, we’re just going to grind this out until we get some more reps at our own spot.”
Denny Hamlin Called Out Reddick on Podcast Recently Discussing Uncomfortable Topic
While Hamlin’s comments aren’t what Reddick wants to hear because it potentially means more issues on pit road for the foreseeable future before things do get better, the 28-year-old driver can take comfort in knowing his boss’s latest remarks about him focused on the racing action, unlike the February 26 podcast when he discussed the uncomfortable subject of peeing in a firesuit during a race and unexpectedly dragged the No. 45 driver into the conversation.
Hamlin candidly admitted that the Atlanta race was the first time in his career that he had ever relieved himself during a race. While talking about his experience, the three-time Daytona 500 champion surprisingly brought up others who’ve done the deed with regularity.
“I know many drivers do this on a regular basis and I never understood how they could do it because I’ve tried and my body says no way I’m releasing right now,” he acknowledged. “Evidently, Carl Edwards used to do it every week. I think Tyler Reddick does it every week.”
Tyler Reddick has been getting a lot of publicity on Hamlin’s podcast recently and not necessarily the kind he expected or wanted. But, as the old saying goes: “There’s no such thing as bad publicity.”