Tyler Reddick’s 2025 NASCAR Cup Series playoff run has been a rollercoaster, kicking off with a fiery runner-up finish at Darlington’s Southern 500 that had fans buzzing about his championship chops. That P2 showed he could hang with the big dogs, even without a win this season, vaulting him up the standings with serious momentum. But since then, it’s been a bumpy ride, with uneven finishes dropping him to a worrying 11th out of 12 in the playoff grid.

The 23XI Racing driver and his team keep their eyes on the prize, banking on Kansas to flip the script. With the Hollywood Casino 400 at Kansas Speedway looming, Reddick’s staring down a must-win moment to keep his title dreams alive, and the pressure’s got him opening up about the nerves that come with it.

Reddick’s raw pre-race jitters

Reddick didn’t hold back in a pre-race media session, “I think it’s fair to be nervous.” It’s a gut-check moment that lays bare the pressure cooker of playoff racing. Last year at Kansas, as the 2024 defending champ, he stumbled to 25th, a gut-punch that left him four points shy of the cutoff.

That memory’s still fresh, and with his 2025 season hanging by a thread, the nerves are real. “There’s a lot that weighs on this weekend,” he added, capturing the do-or-die stakes. After a strong regular season, his 2024 playoff struggles, 20th and 25th at Kansas, showed how fine the line is between contender and also-ran.

Reddick’s been chasing something elusive: “We’ve just been missing a little bit of something and changes.” In 2024, 23XI Racing had flashes of brilliance, like his Homestead-Miami win that punched his ticket to the Championship 4, but Kansas was a different story.

Those mid-pack finishes exposed gaps in setup or strategy that his team’s been scrambling to fix. “I think it’s fair to be nervous,” he repeated, owning the mental toll. It’s not just about driving; it’s about wrestling with the stakes, knowing one bad pit stop or wreck could end the season. His openness shows a human driver, not a robot, feeling the weight of every move.

“There’s a lot that weighs on this weekend,” he said again, and it’s no exaggeration. His 2024 Homestead triumph proved he could rise above, but Kansas has been a thorn. “We’ve just been missing a little bit of something and changes,” he reflected, pointing to the tweaks 23XI’s been chasing.

That mental grit, admitting the nerves and pushing through, sets him apart. Fans love it, seeing a guy who’s not afraid to bare his soul before a race that could make or break his year. If he can channel that Darlington spark and find that missing piece, Kansas could be where Reddick turns it around.

Reddick slams Next Gen’s superspeedway woes

Those same nerves Reddick’s battling at Kansas spill over into his frustration with the Next Gen car’s superspeedway struggles, a topic he tackled on the Door Bumper Clear podcast. With Talladega’s October 14 race on the horizon, he didn’t mince words: “The reason we’re saving fuel is because when we’re going all out, we can’t pass one another.”

The 2022 Next Gen car, with its 670-hp engine, has turned Daytona and Talladega into fuel-mileage chess games, not the aggressive draft-fests of old. Reddick called it “disheartening,” comparing it to the pre-2022 cars where passing was king. “I just don’t believe that a speedway race should be more valuable for points,” he said, pushing back on adding a fourth stage to boost points at tracks like the Coca-Cola 600.

His Kansas pressure ties right into this, when the car’s tough to handle, like at superspeedways, it amps up the mental strain. Reddick’s not alone; drivers like Brad Keselowski have begged for more horsepower, with NASCAR eyeing a 740-750 hp bump for 2026. “The reason we’re saving fuel is because when we’re going all out, we can’t pass one another.”’

Reddick repeated, frustrated that luck, not skill, often decides Talladega or Daytona. Back in 2011, Trevor Bayne’s Daytona 500 upset showed underdogs could shine, but today’s Next Gen makes those moments rarer. Reddick’s nerves at Kansas, where he’s fighting for playoff survival, mirror his push for a car that lets him race flat-out, not strategize to survive. If he nails Kansas, it’s a step toward proving he can conquer both the track and the car’s limits.