Tyler Reddick has revealed what team owner and NBA legend Michael Jordan said to him after last weekend's Daytona 500.
Reddick took his first NASCAR Cup Series win since 2024 at the Great American Race, a first Daytona 500 win for both him and Jordan's 23XI Racing team, and the hoops legend was in victory lane for the post-race celebrations.
The driver of the No. 45 Toyota admitted that Jordan had made it 'very clear' that he expected wins from his drivers this year after a season in which the team visited victory lane just once (Bubba Wallace at the Brickyard 400),
2024 was the team's most successful year in terms of wins, with Reddick taking three victories to earn the regular season points title and a place the Championship 4, where he finished six in the race (fourth in the championship) at Phoenix.
Reddick: We need wins
“We talked about a little bit in victory lane, and just for him as an owner, he made it very clear to us a couple weeks before the season got going, all leadership got together and just made sure that we had our goals aligned.
"He made it very clear then and he confirmed it again, victory lane, what he expects of us as an organization, and when we have opportunities like that it's important for us to get the job done, and we didn't do that last year (on the 45 car).
"To kind of be able to capitalize on it right out of the gate this year was cool. I saw it on the Jordan Brand post, on socials, but the word I heard a few times was just 'clutch'. It was cool.
"He thought it was cool that, in the heat of the moment, even as things seemed to kind of get out of sight, and come back into sight, in the closing laps, that I was just able to make the right choices on the final lap and win the race. Just clutch.”
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