"They've been one of the strongest teams": Tyler Reddick hypes up Bubba Wallace heading into the final stretch of regular season

Tyler Reddick found himself directly and indirectly attached to last week's controversial end to the Richmond race. The 23XI Racing driver finished the race in 2nd place after the winner, Austin Dillon, took out Joey Logano and 23XI's co-owner Denny Hamlin.

But when NASCAR penalized Dillon and took away his playoff berth, Reddick's teammate Bubba Wallace found himself in a much better spot on the playoff standings.

Both aspects of the recent notable events in the sport were put in front of Tyler Reddick ahead of Michigan. A reporter asked Reddick about his thoughts on where 'the line' is for a driver in a situation such as the one Dillon found himself in last Sunday.

"It's different for everybody but never going to right hook somebody to win a race, that's for sure," Reddick said via Frontstretch [2:25].

He was subsequently asked that given Hamlin's involvement at Richmond, and Wallace being the beneficiary of the penalty, was the atmosphere different in the shop or was it business as usual?

"I think it could've went either way. It wasn't going to affect #23's mindset so they're in a good spot, they've been running really solid over the past five weeks, they've been one of the strongest teams consistently speaking, both of us have been. So I think it's going to take a lot more than that to deter the mindset of 23XI," Reddick described.

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Was Bubba Wallace relieved after Austin Dillon's penalty?

During a pre-race press conference at the Michigan International Speedway on Saturday, August 17, Wallace was asked whether he was relieved with Dillon's penalty. Because of Dillon's win booking his place in the playoffs, Wallace's hopes to make it into post-season for the second year in a row took a big hit.

However, after NASCAR announced the penalty, Wallace's bid to make the playoffs looked strong again. It's worth mentioning that Wallace is currently +3 above the cutline in 16th place.

“Yes. It definitely helps us out. We are still only in by three, but [there are] still four spots [left] instead of the three. Definitely a relief there, but it is still going to be a dogfight. I said that after the race – it is going to be a dogfight for the next three weeks. [We are] still not safe but there is an extra spot open now," Wallace replied when asked if he was relieved after hearing news about the penalty.

As for what his hopes are for the upcoming race at Michigan, where he scored his first career pole and finished in 2nd place behind Kevin Harvick in 2022, Wallace claimed that he remembers that race vividly and hoped to replicate such a result.

The #23 driver hoped to have a good weekend on a track where his team usually expects to dominate; even though last year, they couldn't do so as he ended up finishing in 18th place.