The sudden announcement of Tyler Reddick’s move to 23XI Racing took the NASCAR community by surprise just days after his first victory in the Cup series.
Reddick move came as a shock to many, especially Reddick’s current team owner Richard Childress. Childress was not pleased about the announcement based on his response in a recent statement.
The 26-year-old said his decision should not have been a “total shock” to team owner Richard Childress.
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Richard Childress admitted that the biggest surprise for him was the fact that his team only came to know about the move just an hour before the announcement which he finds disrespectful to each and every individual around RCR that got Tyler Reddick where he is now.
“The biggest surprise was when he came to us less than one hour before the announcement: Richard Childress said. I don’t think it showed any respect for his race team or everyone who got him where he is. Less than one hour before the announcement? A lot of stuff swirls around an 18-month announcement,”
“The biggest thing is you should come to me respectfully and say, ‘Hey, I’ve signed, I want to do something, how do you think we should make a joint announcement?’ None of that happened. I’m not upset he’s going wherever he’s going. But the way it was handled was very unprofessional,” Richard Childress added.
Tyler Reddick will officially join 23XI Racing in the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series season, team co-owner Denny Hamlin confirmed on Tuesday.
“I have a contract with him in 2023. He’ll be at RCR in 2023,” the owner said. When Pockrass pointed out that he didn’t say the No. 8 car specifically, Childress coyly replied: “You said that, not me.”
“Next year is a long time off,” Childress concluded. “I committed to his team to give them everything they needed to win the championship and to go out in 2023 and give them everything they need to win the championship. I’ve committed that to our race team.”
Tyler Reddick is a two-time Xfinity champion. He won the series crown in 2018 with JRM and i2019 with RCR.