Around this time last year, the situation was calm with 10 laps remaining in the Charlotte ROVAL race. Kyle Larson won that race, and the Round of 8 seemed set. However, around 2 hours later, chaos unfolded as Alex Bowman bowed out due to a post-race technical inspection failure, which led the eventual champion, Joey Logano, back in the game. NASCAR insiders are expecting another chaotic ROVAL outcome on Sunday, but this time, the protagonist is the road course expert Tyler Reddick, the only winless driver in the playoff pack.

Over the 2025 season, the 23XI Racing driver has clinched 11 top tens and 6 top fives. Compared to last year’s three-win season, this is certainly a low. But while he grits his teeth at present, and will do everything to perform well at a track that’s to his advantage, are his chances really looking well for him?

Insiders feel the Kansas chaos could catch up with Tyler Reddick

This year, we saw the chaos already arrive before the ROVAL race at Kansas. Denny Hamlin became the villain for his employee, Bubba Wallace, in the final lap when they got into a door-to-door battle, resulting in Chase Elliott sweeping the win from the inside lane.

Denny Hamlin’s desperation is being seen as he eyes his iconic 60th Cup win, before the retirement closes in on him. So what if this the Kansas show by Hamlin is repeated at the ROVAL — only this time, it’s another 23XI driver, Tyler Reddick, on the suffering end after Bubba Wallace last week?

PRN Live host Doug Rice believes that Wallace’s teammate, Tyler Reddick, is up for some Denny treatment at the Charlotte ROVAL. “What my evil side wants to see is that Tyler Reddick, ready to win the oval, and then Denny comes out of the way,” Rice said.

If such a dire outcome happened, it would be saddening for Tyler Reddick, who is in the bottom four below the cutline. He ranks second among playoff drivers in points (166) on road courses in 2025. Reddick has also run well at the ROVAL, finishing 11th in 2024, sixth in 2023, and eighth in 2021. However, his recent form has not been dominant enough to topple Shane van Gisbergen’s monster grip, who’s won four of the five road courses so far in 2025.

PRN Live co-host Alexis Erickson said, “Tyler Reddick, I think, is in the bottom four, the best road course racer out of those four drivers. But I just don’t think he’s good enough or has been good enough on road courses lately to kick SVG or AJ Allmendinger out of that.”

Tyler Reddick currently sits at 11th in the point standings and 29 points below the cutline. Similarly, Bubba Wallace heads into the race in 10th place with 3,057 points and 26 points below the cutline. The only road course race Wallace has run well in 2025 was at Watkins Glen, when he was eighth.

This rivals Reddick’s top ten finishes at COTA, Chicago, Sonoma, and Watkins Glen. Wallace won in double overtime at Indianapolis in July. He added two more top-ten finishes in the regular season and has had three in the playoffs (6th at Darlington, 8th at Illinois, and 5th at Kansas).

Evidently, Tyler Reddick faces a solid challenge at the Charlotte ROVAL. At the same time, however, he is drawing sympathy for an off-track crisis.

Deflating the glamorous image

2025 has clearly been a rollercoaster ride for Tyler Reddick on the racetrack. At the same time, the No. 45 Toyota driver has been fighting battles off track. 23XI Racing is thickly embroiled in a NASCAR lawsuit. All three of its drivers are racing in open cars, as the team lost its charters. On top of that, Reddick’s 4-month-old son, Rookie, experienced a severe health crisis recently. Alexa DeLeon, Reddick’s wife, explained that he was “showing signs of heart failure that were being missed.” Presently, Rookie is admitted to an Intensive Care Unit.

This had made Tyler Reddick consider missing the Kansas race, no matter the playoff consequences. He said, “It’s difficult, it’s not what you want for your kids. What my son Rookie is going through is serious. It’s a tricky situation. More than anything, I’m just ready to get on a plane and go home.” He added, “I wouldn’t say that [missing the race] was off-the-table depending on how things were going. But thankfully he was doing well enough and me and my wife were on the same page about me staying for the race.”

And Kevin Harvick, 2014 Cup Series champion, agreed with him. Harvick observed how people can easily forget that NASCAR drivers have families and fall into crises like any other human. “A lot of people just want to critique and criticize people for what they do in the race car. And a lot of times they forget that these are families and humans and have to deal with, you’ve got to deal with the circle of life while in the middle of this intense cycle of events that happen on and off the racetrack.”

Clearly, Tyler Reddick has a lot on his plate. Here’s to rooting for his success both on and off the tracks, so that he navigates his problems seamlessly.