{"id":28783,"date":"2019-11-16T19:35:57","date_gmt":"2019-11-17T01:35:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/?p=28783"},"modified":"2019-11-17T10:07:59","modified_gmt":"2019-11-17T16:07:59","slug":"reddicks-second-championship-puts-him-in-elite-company","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/2019\/11\/16\/reddicks-second-championship-puts-him-in-elite-company\/","title":{"rendered":"Reddick’s second championship puts him in elite company"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Tyler Reddick, driver of the #2 Tame the Beast Chevrolet, celebrates in Victory Lane after winning the NASCAR Xfinity Series Ford EcoBoost 300 and the NASCAR Xfinity Series Championship at Homestead-Miami Speedway on November 16, 2019 in Homestead, Florida. (Photo by Sean Gardner\/Getty Images)<\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

By Holly Cain, NASCAR Wire Service<\/em><\/p>\n

HOMESTEAD, Fla. \u2013 From the season\u2019s beginning on the Daytona high banks to Saturday night\u2019s very final laps of racing at Homestead-Miami Speedway the 2019 Xfinity Series championship battle was intense; ultimately coming down to a contest of speed, skill and bravado among a familiar lineup of drivers who combined to win 22 of the season\u2019s 33 races.<\/p>\n

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Tyler Reddick, driver of the #2 Tame the Beast Chevrolet, races during the NASCAR Xfinity Series Ford EcoBoost 300 at Homestead-Miami Speedway on November 16, 2019 in Homestead, Florida. (Photo by Jared C. Tilton\/Getty Images)<\/p><\/div>\n

And for the second consecutive year, it was Californian Tyler Reddick who hoisted a hard-earned Homestead race trophy and celebrated his second straight Xfinity Series championship. He led a race best 84 of the 200 laps Saturday and ultimately prevailed in a good ole NASCAR \u201cslingshot\u201d move that decided an exciting nail-biting lap-by-lap duel in the closing minutes with title challenger Cole Custer.<\/p>\n

Reddick took the lead for good with 19 laps remaining and the checkered flag 1.038-seconds ahead of Stewart-Haas Racing teammates Custer and rookie Chase Briscoe. The other two championship eligible drivers – eight race-winner Christopher Bell and Justin Allgaier finished fifth and 14th, respectively.<\/p>\n

Reddick, 23, becomes only the seventh driver to win back-to-back Xfinity Series championships \u2013 a list that includes some of the sport\u2019s greatest names such as Sam Ard, Larry Pearson and Dale Earnhardt Jr. And Reddick is the first driver to earn the consecutive titles since Ricky Stenhouse Jr. in 2011-12.<\/p>\n

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Tyler Reddick, driver of the #2 Tame the Beast Chevrolet, celebrates with his girlfriend, Alexa De Leon, after winning the NASCAR Xfinity Series Ford EcoBoost 300 and the NASCAR Xfinity Series Championship at Homestead-Miami Speedway on November 16, 2019 in Homestead, Florida. (Photo by Jared C. Tilton\/Getty Images)<\/p><\/div>\n

What also distinguishes Reddick in championship lore is that he is the only driver to earn Xfinity Series titles in back-to-back seasons for two different teams. He earned this season\u2019s championship driving the No. 2 Richard Childress Chevrolet. Last year he drove for the JR Motorsports.<\/p>\n

The joy Reddick showed celebrating this impressive accomplishment was honest and exuberant. And it was hard-earned. This year Reddick, Bell and Custer combined for 21 wins. The veteran Allgaier won at Phoenix last week to secure his chance to chase a championship.<\/p>\n

Last year Reddick\u2019s championship win was considered by many to be an underdog triumph. Although he had been consistent enough to earn a shot in the Championship 4, he had only two career Xfinity wins when he arrived in South Florida last November. This year \u2013 even after switching race teams \u2013 Reddick quickly re-established himself as a championship favorite.<\/p>\n

His winning performances didn\u2019t take anyone by surprise.<\/p>\n

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Tyler Reddick, driver of the #2 Tame the Beast Chevrolet, takes the green flag to start the NASCAR Xfinity Series Ford EcoBoost 300 at Homestead-Miami Speedway on November 16, 2019 in Homestead, Florida. (Photo by Sean Gardner\/Getty Images)<\/p><\/div>\n

While Bell, who drives the No. 20 Toyota for Joe Gibbs Racing, quickly showed himself to be a dominant driver again this year. Custer answered the ante all year himself winning seven times. And Reddick came into Homestead with five wins and the regular season championship \u2013 his 23 top-five and 26 top-10 finishes were most on the season.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was perfect, it came down to us three,” Reddick said of his fellow championship contenders. \u201cAnd that Stage 3 before the caution [flag] we were battling like we have all year long.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was just awesome we were able to come out on top of the deal. It\u2019s been a lot of fun racing them and I\u2019m looking forward to racing them and a lot of other talented drivers on Sunday.”<\/p>\n

That the season finale featured the same kind of competitive zeal that characterized such an ultra-competitive championship run.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Tyler Reddick, driver of the #2 Tame the Beast Chevrolet, celebrates with a burnout after winning the NASCAR Xfinity Series Ford EcoBoost 300 and the NASCAR Xfinity Series Championship at Homestead-Miami Speedway on November 16, 2019 in Homestead, Florida. (Photo by Jared C. Tilton\/Getty Images)<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cIt was on us to give the guy the equipment to contend with,” said his crew chief Randall Burnett. \u201cHe can elevate a car from third or fifth to a win or at least a pretty good shot at it.”<\/p>\n

And that\u2019s exactly what happened Saturday night.<\/p>\n

The win seems the perfect send-off for Reddick, who will move up into the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series driving Childress\u2019s No. 8 Chevrolet. He will join both Custer (No. 41 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford) and Bell (No. 95 Leavine Family Racing Toyota) in what will surely be one of the most talented rookie classes.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think as a driver I learned a lot about myself,” Reddick said of the 2019 season.<\/p>\n

It was the fifth series championship for team owner Richard Childress tying Joe Gibbs Racing for the most season titles in Xfinity Series history.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s an amazing talent and I saw that before he won his first championship, his first race,” his team owner Richard Childress said. \u201cWe\u2019re so excited. I just felt if we could get here we had a great shot at winning the championship and the talent he has I\u2019m excited for next year as I\u2019ve been in a long time.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

  By Holly Cain, NASCAR Wire Service HOMESTEAD, Fla. \u2013 From the season\u2019s beginning on the Daytona high banks to Saturday night\u2019s very final laps of racing at Homestead-Miami Speedway the 2019 Xfinity Series championship battle was intense; ultimately coming down to a contest of speed, skill and bravado among a familiar lineup of drivers […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":676,"featured_media":28777,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[11],"tags":[527,16,181,496],"class_list":["post-28783","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nascar","tag-homestead-miami-speedway","tag-nascar","tag-nascar-xfinity-series","tag-tyler-reddick"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/racedaysa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/HMS_NXS_RaceTrophy_111619-e1574006636580.jpg?fit=640%2C449&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7hzTZ-7uf","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28783","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/676"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28783"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28783\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":28785,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28783\/revisions\/28785"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/28777"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28783"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28783"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28783"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}