Tyler Reddick limped into the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs. With multiple surprise winners popping up towards the end of the regular season, he didn’t know his fate until midway through the regular-season finale at Daytona International Speedway.
On the horizon, however, was the Cook Out Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway — statistically Reddick’s best circuit. The Championship 4 competitor from 2024 could flip the script with a strong opening race to the postseason.
It was nearly over before it began. Josh Berry qualified third and got loose underneath Reddick in the opening set of corners. Berry backed into the wall while the No. 45 Toyota had a save-of-the-year contender, barely scraping the right-rear quarter panel on the outside wall.
16 enter, but only one can be champion.
The #NASCARPlayoffs kick off now with the #Southern500 at @TooToughToTame but there's trouble early! pic.twitter.com/eTBDcitTb5
— NASCAR (@NASCAR) August 31, 2025
Dropping outside the top five on the ensuing run, Reddick immediately thought the damage scrubbed speed from the No. 45 Toyota. Making matters worse was the No. 45 pit crew having an issue during a green-flag pit cycle. But as the tires wore on the rugged 1.336-mile, egg-shaped oval, his hot rod came to life.
“We had all sorts of issues we had to correct on the first pit stop,” Reddick told NBC Sports. “Pretty much from that point forward, our car was much more manageable. Looking at it, I know it’s got a hole in the left side on the rocker panel. Probably losing performance there. Maybe some of our fire-off speed.”
Reddick was among the beneficiaries of short-pitting during the opening stage, charging to the runner-up position. Chase Briscoe ran away the Stage 1 victory, as Reddick finished runner-up.
While many playoff drivers had miscues during Stage 2, Reddick remained on Briscoe’s heels. He secured nine additional stage points in the second stage by finishing runner-up to Briscoe again.
In a lengthy final stage that saw just one caution flag at Lap 313 for Derek Kraus’ No. 44 going up in flames, Reddick remained a contender in second. He held off a pair of hard-charging Legacy Motor Club teammates in Erik Jones and John Hunter Nemechek. And in the closing laps, the No. 45 Toyota took advantage of its long-run pace, inching closer to Briscoe’s back bumper.
Reddick could get to the inside of Briscoe’s No. 19 car, but never pulled ahead with the lead. It came down to the final lap, but the Indiana native won his second straight Southern 500, while Reddick padded his Darlington stats, earning his fifth top-five and seventh top-10 finish — both career highs at a single venue. It’s his third runner-up finish in the last eight Darlington events.
“We were better than [Briscoe] on long runs,” Reddick added. “He could fire off a whole lot better. I think that was the difference tonight. I could get close. I know we had a long run there, but it just unfortunately seemed like the last run the balance wasn’t quite as good as it has been the rest of the night on the long run.
“All in all, a really solid night for points in the playoffs. Really want to win here. When I dove off in there, I was already sideways. I learned from last spring that that doesn’t work. Yeah, a good solid day, but hopefully one day we’ll win here at Darlington.”
By earning 53 points, Reddick leaped 10 spots on the playoff grid, moving from 14th to fourth. Entering World Wide Technology Raceway, a track Reddick has mixed results in three starts, he has a 35-point cushion over the elimination line.
Thinking bigger picture, Reddick will take a commanding top five performance at Darlington and power on.
“This race could have been disastrous on Lap 1,” Reddick stated. “We survived that. We scored a lot of stage points, almost won the Southern 500. We’ll turn these second-place finishes into a victory one day.”