Time and time again, Tyler Reddick continues to show that he excels amid adversity. It may not be pleasant, but he knows how to overcome the unexpected at the oddest times.
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This proved especially true on Sunday evening at Darlington Raceway as he battled through several in-car issues, worked through the field multiple times, and still scored his fourth win in the first six weeks of the season.
"When it comes to here, I'm willing to do anything to win here," Reddick said on Sunday night. "I've been so close so many times. I mean, sounds dramatic, but literally freaking keeps me up at night just the amount of races I've let slip away by one or two little things.
"So as strong as we were and being able to fight through the things we did, I mean, there are just not many — you hope you're able to bring that speed every week, but when you have that car of that potential, you can't let it go to waste. You've got to capitalize."
TYLER REDDICK WINS AT DARLINGTON! pic.twitter.com/gyyVd3biIv
— FOX: NASCAR (@NASCARONFOX) March 22, 2026
Sunday's problems began on the race's opening lap. Reddick started from the pole and cleared teammate Bubba Wallace for the lead, but he began quickly voicing concerns about voltage issues.
The team worried that he had a malfunctioning alternator, so they had him turn off all unnecessary electrical components inside the car. This included his cool suit, something that would have been beneficial on a day when temperatures reached the high 80s.
"I never really run visor up, but I had to because I had nothing coming to me if I had my visor down," Reddick explained. "I mean, I was going to be just cooking and visor fogging up from sweat.
"So, I mean, I was like getting dirt and rubber in my eyes that whole last run, and I just had to kind of deal with that as I ran, you know, just to kind of get some air coming to me."
The team had Reddick pit on a closed road after the opening stage, and they determined that the issue was internal. The only thing they could do was install a larger-capacity battery and hope for the best. The pit stops required to address this issue dropped Reddick to the rear of the field.
Tyler Reddick's cool suit isn't working. pic.twitter.com/8nVJhpgKyc
— FOX: NASCAR (@NASCARONFOX) March 22, 2026
The issues did not solely reside in the electrical side of the car. Reddick lost six spots on his first green flag pit stop due to an issue with the right front tire. This led to a 16.3-second stop.
He then lost time in the final stage after hitting Chris Buescher from behind and turning the No. 17 into the wall. A late pit call from the No. 17 team caused this incident.
Yet, he continued to race. Reddick made his final green flag pit stop on Lap 246. He steadily tracked down Brad Keselowski, who had dominated the race, while erasing a seven-second deficit. He passed the 2012 Cup Series champion on Lap 266 and then went on to win by more than 3.5 seconds.
"Yeah, we kind of got to that difficult point in stage three where we either take it safe and come back down and change the battery again, but give up all our track position, or we stay and basically cut every last thing off that I had running to keep me cool," Reddick said.
"So the final 100 laps were brutally hot. Yeah, when Billy (Scott, crew chief) asked me if I was willing to stay and keep everything off, I was all in because I really, really wanted to win here. With the car as good as we had today, I was willing to take that risk."
In-race problems are nothing new for Reddick. He once raced at Auto Club Speedway without feeling in his leg due to an ill-fitting seat in his Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet. He then won the 2024 regular-season championship for 23XI Racing while racing with an illness.
Last year's playoff race at Darlington Raceway featured an issue on the opening lap. Josh Berry wrecked and hit Reddick, causing significant issues at a time when a good finish mattered more than ever.
"I'm sitting there pretty much wrecked, and we were able to save it," Reddick said about the race in 2025.
"The roof flaps deployed, so we're slow the whole first stage, and we were able to get that down, fixed. Yes, we had damage, but we basically, similar thing, right, had potentially a race-ending issue occur on Lap 1. We just, like, fought through it."
The team encountered early issues but battled through them and scored a runner-up finish behind Chase Briscoe. Instead of falling far below the Round of 12 cutline, Reddick left the track with the second-most points (53).
That race in 2025, much like Sunday night's trip to Darlington Raceway, just further emphasized Reddick's ability to battle through adversity.
"I just, I don't let that stuff really get to me," Reddick said about his past struggles. "It's unfortunate that it's happened a number of times (laughs), but the more it happens, the less and less those things really even affect me at all."
