At San Diego, Corey Heim made the Cup Series breakthrough that everyone had been anticipating. But for a moment, it looked like it might slip away because of his own teammate. What followed afterward didn’t involve excuses. Rather, it was one of the most brutally honest post-race interviews of Tyler Reddick’s career.

“This wasn’t a good day. I certainly overdid it and ran him in the wall and initiated contact and everything. So yeah, just not the way to race a teammate. I just apologized. He raced me really clean. He got the lead fair and square. Just overdid it,” Reddick said during the post-race media interaction.

Neither Heim nor Reddick spent the early part of the race looking like contenders for the win. Heim started 13th, fell back to 20th. Meanwhile, Reddick started from the rear after unapproved adjustments following a spin in Saturday’s qualifying session. So, Shane van Gisbergen looked all set to take away the win once again, that is, until lap 32.

A restart led to a multi-car crash and triggered the first red flag at Naval Base Coronado, collecting nine cars, including SVG’s. Now, anyone could win, and 23XI took the most advantage of how things turned out. Reddick took the lead, with Heim close behind.

Everyone knows Reddick needed the win after several factors had chipped away at his advantage in the driver’s standings. And Heim, too, had enough to prove, so he began closing in until the 23XI pair separated itself from the rest of the field. Heim tried to get ahead of Reddick as he exited Turn 3, but Reddick didn’t let that happen.

“I thought he was kind of playing with me,” Heim said. “Five to go came. Time to put some pressure on him, see if I could get him to make a mistake.”

The two then arrived side-by-side at Turn 5, and that’s when Reddick got a little too aggressive. He dived to Heim’s left, shoving Heim’s No.67 out of the groove and into the tire marbles, as Heim briefly brushed against the wall.

Heim still maintained his position despite the collision, as Tyler Reddick backed out instead of continuing the collision.

“He doored me down there in five and gave it back to me,” Heim added. “That’s something you don’t see every day. That’s a great teammate.”

But the damage to Reddick’s own race was already unfolding. He finished 25th after suffering a flat left-front tire shortly after, which put him out of the running entirely.

Denny Hamlin wants Tyler Reddick to see the bigger picture

For Tyler Reddick, San Diego wasn’t frustrating because of one late-race mistake. It was frustrating because it felt like part of a trend. A five-time winner in 2026, Reddick has sat atop the Cup Series standings all season after opening the year with a victory at the Daytona International Speedway. After the May 10 race at Watkins Glen International, his lead over second place stood at a massive 129 points.

Five races later, that advantage has nearly disappeared. A 35th-place finish at Michigan International Speedway, followed by Sunday’s disappointing 25th-place run at Coronado, has cut deep into that cushion. Tyler Reddick didn’t hide his frustration.

“We’re going down the wrong path right now, and we need to stop it. We’re just not getting the job done, not winning races, not having good point days. We’ve got to figure it out.”

At the same time, the biggest reason the gap has shrunk has been someone very familiar to him. And that is none other than his own team owner. Denny Hamlin entered San Diego after winning the previous three Cup races. While that streak ended, Hamlin still finished 14th and gained another 11 points on Reddick. But Hamlin, the owner, wasn’t interested in focusing only on the standings.

“If I could have one wish, it would be that all of our teams be very proud of what they did today. I mean, we had four of the top five or six inside a few laps to go.”

Hamlin acknowledged that Reddick was probably only seeing the missed opportunity. But from his perspective, there was a lot more to like. Tyler Reddick started at the rear and still raced his way into position to win. Bubba Wallace also had to recover through the field. Their younger drivers were running near the front, too. Hamlin closed with a reminder that speed still matters more than one result.

“Everyone needs to be proud and look at the day as half-full even though I understand the result is not what he wanted. In the grand scheme of things, it’s great to see that our cars have the speed to go out there and win and all of ’em can do it.”

For Reddick, San Diego may feel like another missed chance. For Hamlin, it looked more like proof that 23XI still has everything needed to turn things back around.