Denny Hamlin spent most of his Sunday evening media availability speaking about his 23XI driver Tyler Reddick, rather than his own tenth place finish at COTA.
Having been summoned to the press conference in his role as NASCAR team owner rather than Joe Gibbs Racing driver, things were understandably focused on Reddick's historic start to the season – becoming the first Cup Series driver ever to win the first three races of the year.
The 30-year-old driver had his breakout season in 2024 when he won the regular season points crown and made it into the Championship Four, before slumping in 2025 while going through a difficult time on and off the track.
A good winter away from the track appears to have revitalized him though, roaring into the new season in truly historic fashion and forcing his boss to admit that he's pretty close to the complete package at this point in his career...with one small caveat.
NASCAR STANDINGS: Reddick continues to dominate as Cup Series drivers suffer big demotions
Speaking on Sunday, Hamlin said: "He’s complete. The one area that we continue to work on with him is on the short tracks. I think that’s where he can still improve a little bit. But we’re working pretty hard on improving him at those types of tracks.
"But he’s complete. Certainly more complete than I am at this stage, where I’ve got a handful of races where it’s like, it would be tough for us to go out there and compete for a win. There’s less of those for him.
"He’s got a lot of really good things going on. I think it’s just — we’re steadily seeing him continue to get better. What I love to see is the work that he puts in and the things that we provide him for information. He’s soaking it all in and he’s using it and executing it.
"What I’ve seen out of him over the last few years is just where he had some weaknesses, our team has helped him shore those up. It’s amazing to see how well he’s doing."
NASCAR RESULTS: Tyler Reddick makes history with flawless COTA performance
