Kyle Petty had nothing but praise for the confidence Tyler Reddick drove with on the last lap during the GEICO 500 at Talladega Superspeedway.
The No. 45 wheelman steadied his car and drove through the wreckage ahead of him, all the way to victory lane, when the odds were stacked against him. Petty believes it took a lot of guts for Reddick to stay in the gas, and even compared his mindset to that of his team-owner’s in Michael Jordan.
“If there’s a brick wall in front of you stay in the gas, especially on the last lap. We saw that from Tyler Reddick. We saw on the last lap, Michael McDowell make a block gone bad on the outside. He comes back across the racetrack and it goes double bad, and it causes the big one. But that’s not what I want to talk about. I want to talk about Tyler Reddick,” Petty started, via his race recap. “When you see that in-car camera, that focus and dedication, and that commitment to the hole that wasn’t there then was there. I can’t explain that from a driver standpoint. What that means, and what you have to do to get to that point. Tyler Reddick got there yesterday.
“It was a Jordan-esque type of performance, where he was so focused, he knew nothing that was going on. He was the ball. That was the basket. He drove through there, and laid it up in there. But what we saw also yesterday was that commitment, and a future greatness that we’re gonna see from Tyler Reddick, I do believe.”
Evidently, Petty believes Reddick’s mindset will eventually translate to some championships for the No. 45 wheelman. It’s tough to argue with that sentiment, as Reddick is proving he can get wins on basically any track in the Cup Series.
Continuing, Petty also elaborated on why it was so special for NASCAR as a whole to see Jordan celebrating in victory lane, as it’ll bring the sport into a whole different light among casual viewers.
“We also saw Michael Jordan go to victory lane. That’s huge for me. That is huge for this sport,” Petty added. “When we go back to last week, and we see our most popular driver Chase Elliott go to victory lane. I think everybody thought, ‘What a great day for the sport. What a great day. Our Mr. Popularity is back in victory lane.’ But to have an iconic basketball player, an iconic individual like Michael Jordan, go to victory lane the following week. His first trip, with his team, 23XI. With his driver, Tyler Reddick, is a huge moment for this sport.
“It’ll be played out on sports pages, and on TV all across America today, you can count on it. Thank you Tyler Reddick and Michael Jordan.”
Alas, it was Michael Jordan’s first in-person trip to victory lane, but as long as Tyler Reddick is in the No. 45 Toyota, we’re willing to bet it’ll be far from his last. The driver has arrived, and he’s not going anywhere but up.
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