Tyler Reddick is being favored by NASCAR because 23XI Racing won the lawsuit. His five wins so far this season in nine races aren’t down to his merit or his team’s superior execution. Instead, NASCAR has rigged the #45 team’s success this season. That is what a section of fans believes, not us. Then there is the other sect simply experiencing Reddick-fatigue. However, Reddick doesn’t seem to be affected by either of those two groups.

As Tyler Reddick looks to make further history with his sixth win at Talladega on Sunday, he reacted to all the buzz around his success, saying:

“There’s certainly a lot of noise out there, a lot of speculations, but for me it’s easy not to get caught up in it cuz we know what we’re doing, we know how we’re doing it. And we’ve been successful with it, so yeah, I mean, I feel bad for those that are tired of it. We’re enjoying it.

“We want to keep winning and doing the things that we’re doing. For me, I don’t feel bad because I remember how I felt all of last year. I know how my team felt about last year, and so, we don’t want to go back to not winning, and we’re going to keep working really hard to find ways to get to victory lane,” he described.

To Reddick’s point, his success is worth enjoying given how historic it has been. He became the first driver in NASCAR history to win the first three races of a season after his three-peat of Daytona 500, Atlanta, and COTA. Then the fact that he won 5 times in the first 9 races was also a first since Dale Earnhardt Sr. back in 1987.

But his success becomes even sweeter when one factors in the 2025 season. For the first time since joining 23XI Racing back in 2023, Tyler Reddick went winless for an entire season in 2025. And although he had seven top 5 finishes, it was a far cry from his 2024 campaign, where he won thrice with nine top 5s. In fact, he entered 2026 with eight wins in 218 career starts.

However, that also becomes one reason why fans think there is something happening behind the scenes. And those same fans often point to what happened at Darlington as one example.

No driver in front of Tyler Reddick in Darlington’s qualifying was able to get to 168 mph, and suddenly, he went over 169 mph while skimming the wall. And then, in the race, everything that could go wrong did. He had battery trouble, dropped to the back after repairs, lost more spots on a slow pit stop, turned off his cooling system in the heat, and made contact with Chris Buescher. Somehow, he still passed the entire field, blew by Brad Keselowski late on easily, and won by almost six seconds – a shocking factor for many.

It’s worth mentioning, though, that fans brewing conspiracy theories isn’t anything new. Between 1998-2004, there was a belief that Jeff Gordon was being allowed to have traction control in his racecar. Interestingly, 1998 was his most successful season. Many also believed that Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s emotional 2001 win at Daytona was enabled by NASCAR with the help of a special engine or a special restrictor plate.

So it also makes sense that Earnhardt was one of the big names who shot down the conspiracy theories surrounding Reddick. “There are a lot of people who think that there’s some sort of conspiracy just because the guy won a lot of races. That’s not happening. There’s no way in hell,” he said on his podcast.

That said, his wins have left some big-name NASCAR insiders feeling impressed and acknowledging his talent, which only goes to show that the #45 driver is truly earning his wins.

NASCAR’s road course king was left in awe of Reddick after COTA

Following Tyler Reddick’s fifth win of the season, former NASCAR driver Kyle Petty opened up on his unprecedented success this season. Petty deemed it ‘breathtaking’, pointing to the Toyota factor in the #45 team’s joy this year.

“Toyota does have the hot hand. I’m going to give him a rising star. Last year, he had a lot of issues; he didn’t show up last year. To be a star, I think you got to be there, week in and week out. To be a superstar, you need to be Denny Hamlin. You got to be somebody like that and get those big numbers and win those big races,” Petty claimed.

Then there’s what one of the best, if not the best, road racers in NASCAR today said of Reddick’s win at COTA. Shane Van Gisbergen, a master at the craft of road courses, acknowledged the factors that saw him come up short against Reddick at the road course this season.

“Just following Tyler. His driving was immaculate, and his car was very good, too. I tried, but didn’t quite have enough,” the Trackhouse driver said.

Now, SVG and Petty are neither affiliated with Toyota nor are they in a team or group with an interest in Reddick’s success. In fact, SVG is a Chevy driver, theoretically a big rival for the 23XI driver. So if there was some shady business going on, then a rival driver or an insider would’ve called it out or at least hinted at it. But that hasn’t been the case.