Tyler Reddick really, really earned his first NASCAR Cup Series win. The Richard Childress Racing driver came close to taking the checkered flag several times in his career, particularly earlier in the current season.

But his moment finally came at Road America.

And a key contribution in Reddick coming out on top against the battle with Chase Elliott for the win was his team owner himself, the legendary Richard Childress.

Childress, who is an icon of NASCAR, in every way has had a career in which he’s seen almost all types of drivers making almost all types of moves in almost all types of conditions in almost all types of races.

So it’s no wonder that he knew exactly what Reddick needed to do to keep NASCAR’s most popular driver behind the #8.

“Tell him don’t burn his stuff up. Just keep him real close. … Let him burn *his* stuff up,” the team owner told Reddick over the radio.

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Tyler Reddick on the battle with Chase Elliott that led to glory

In an interview after the race, Tyler Reddick revealed how he felt now that he had the first win of his career, something that evaded him for a long time. The RCR driver also opened up on what it felt like to defeat Chase Elliott, a road course specialist.

“It was just a huge sense of relief,” Reddick said. “He’s been the guy that’s won more road courses the last couple of years than anybody.”

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Reddick went on to describe how in 2022, the #8 team has been “one mistake away” from greatness.

“We finally did it today,” he added.

And while Reddick got the win after the checkered flag dropped, in Richard Childress’s mind, his driver had already won the race.

 “I told him this morning, ‘You’re going to win this race,'” Childress said.