23XI Racing’s Tyler Reddick comes clean on his Cup debut nightmare: “Wrecking into Jimmie Johnson coming to pit road”

Tyler Reddick, the now-23XI Racing star driver, recently reminisced about his NASCAR Cup Series debut with Richard Childress Racing when he drove the No. 31 Chevrolet part-time. The 29-year-old reflected on not having an ideal premier division start when he wrecked the NASCAR legend Jimmie Johnson coming to the pit road.

Reddick made his first Cup Series start in the 2019 Daytona 500 race for RCR while competing full-time for Richard Childress's organization in the Xfinity Series. Before getting wrecked out in the 'Big One' at Daytona International Speedway, the California native made an uncontrollably hard contact with seven-time Cup Series champion Johnson on the pit road.

In a recent candid interview with NBC Sports journalist Dustin Long, Reddick was among many Cup Series ace drivers who were supposed to highlight the memory from their first-ever Cup start ahead of the 2025 Circuit of the Americas race. To this, the 23XI Racing driver Reddick replied:

"What stands out about it? Wrecking into Jimmie Johnson coming to pit road, that’s pretty much it."

"I remember coming to pit road and someone behind didn’t check up or didn’t mean to get down there behind us and did and ran me over, lifted my rear tires off the ground. Sliding into Jimmie, we crashed on pit road before we make our first green flag stop. Not how you want to start your Cup career," Tyler Reddick added.

NASCAR: Daytona 500 - Source: Imagn

Nevertheless, Tyler Reddick has come a long way from the Cup Series debut setback. Now competing full-time for the Michael Jordan and Denny Hamlin-owned organization, the No. 45 Toyota driver has made a name for himself after winning the 2024 regular series championship.

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"We went on a bit of lull": Tyler Reddick reflects on the underwhelming 2024 playoff performance after the dominant regular season

Earlier this year, Tyler Reddick expressed his honest thoughts after his 2024 regular-season dominance with 23XI Racing. He is currently in his third full-time season with the Toyota roster.

Speaking with Fox Sports journalist Bob Pockrass, Reddick didn't shy away from admitting the lost momentum after a successful regular season campaign. Apart from his only win in the Round of eight that propelled him to the Championship 4 race, Reddick barely managed the No. 45 Toyota to keep in contention for the title run.

"I feel like we had that accomplishment, and we kind of went on a little bit of a lull to start the playoffs," Tyler Reddick said via X. "Just not doing the things that got us that regular season championship. But it wasn't planned this way, but it put us up against some adversity through each of the rounds. And when it came time to advance or go home, we did."

Meanwhile, coming fresh from the 2025 season's third race at Circuit of the Americas, Tyler Reddick started the event on pole and ended the road course race at P3. His finishing inside the top 3 helped him secure his second top-five finish of the season, the first of which came at the Daytona International Speedway, where he secured the second position.