"Kyle races with a lot of respect": Tyler Reddick opens up about battling the #8 car he once drove

Tyler Reddick won his first race for the 23XI Racing at the Circuit of the Americas. Reddick's closest competitor in the final laps was Kyle Busch in the #8 Chevrolet he once drove. The #45 driver held off the #8 car en route to his fourth Cup Series victory.

In the final laps, the battle for victory was between Reddick and Busch. The #45 hailed Busch as one of the most respectful drivers on the grid. Reddick praised Busch as he said in the post-race interview:

"Kyle races with a lot of respect. I know he gets a bad rap from a number of fans out there. Pretty much from day one coming into the Cup Series, Kyle and I have raced really, really well around each other for the last couple of years."

He further added:

"I knew he was going to give everything he had. I knew that team would. But certainly you heard him talk about it, right, just the respect in the garage not being what it used to be. He's one of the few drivers that certainly really still races with that honor and integrity and wants to race fair, race hard, race clean."

Tyler Reddick and Kyle Busch seem to have found their footing in their respective teams. Busch entered the 2023 season hoping to emulate Reddick's success in the #8 car. The two-time Cup Series champion got up to speed immediately, driving down the victory lane in his second outing for the team.

While Reddick had a slow start to his season, he seemed at home in the previous races. His consecutive top-five finishes in Phoenix and Atlanta were followed by a brilliant display of speed at COTA culminating in a race win.

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Tyler Reddick leaves Kyle Busch and the rest to dust

In an extended overtime race, Tyler Reddick held off Kyle Busch, who was chasing him for the race win. Both Kyle Busch and William Byron were no match for Reddick's pace as he pulled away at the restarts.

Tyler Reddick was the fastest driver during Sunday's race at COTA, leading 41 of the 75 laps. Reddick also managed to survive three different overtime restarts in a caution-filled race while executing an alternate strategy.

Kyle Busch openly admitted that he was unable to race Reddick for the win. He said in a post-race interview:

"It was a hard-fought battle, I've been trying to emulate the things [Reddick's] done in [this car] last year and try to make me better... I just didn't have enough."

Speaking about the battle, Reddick admitted that with a veteran driver behind him, he was assured of a fair battle. He said:

"I knew he wasn't going to do anything too crazy. There were other cars lined up behind me during the day that I was concerned about a dive bomb or a bump or something like that."