No one saw Tyler Reddick winning five times in less than ten races so far this season, with a historic three-win streak at the beginning. It simply wasn’t on anyone’s cards. Of course, every driver hopes to win every race they start. But for the #45 team, a switch went off after their Daytona 500 win, something crew chief Billy Scott recently opened up on.

Tyler Reddick’s crew chief explains their mentality after Daytona 500 win

During an interview with SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, the #45 crew chief revealed how the win at Daytona pushed Reddick and Co. to not let the 2025 season carry over.

“I think early on it was a matter of maybe putting a little pressure on ourselves, like, yeah, let’s keep a streak going. Let’s continue to prove that the 500 wasn’t a fluke or that we’re not just going to be our one or two races for the year … to kind of continue that on,” Scott claimed.

Well, Tyler Reddick wasn’t a favorite of the odds to win at Daytona or at Atlanta. In fact, the #45 driver wasn’t even in the top 10 of most odds picks. He won Daytona more by timing the race than controlling it, taking the lead only on the final lap, avoiding late-race incidents, and making a decisive move past Chase Elliott when it mattered most.

But that last-lap charge was about more than the result. It was a turning point for the 30-year-old after a tough stretch, on and off the track. The previous season had ended winless, the first time since 2021 he’d gone without a victory.

Reddick was a spot away from winning the “Great American Race” last year, and his total of seven top-five finishes included several moments when the win column was within reach. All this was amplified by personal challenges – his youngest son, Rookie, had surgery last October to treat a kidney tumor. And Reddick’s comments after the win also reflected the pressure and emotional toll he was under.

“To have last year play out the way that it did was — it was rough,” Reddick said. “Obviously, everything else happening outside of the race track was not easy to manage, as well, with my son. So to get through all that, and here we go, it’s 2026, and go race, I definitely worked really hard in the offseason, but it’s tough when you don’t win. You’ve got all these expectations to win multiple races, for championships, and we didn’t really live up to those last year. …”

After winning at Daytona, Reddick won at Atlanta and then at COTA. This turned out to be a historic streak since no driver had ever won the first three races of a season. But then, as all streaks do, Reddick’s streak ended in the fourth race at Phoenix when he finished in 8th place. This was also an important moment for the #45 team, as Scott further explained.

“I think everybody seems to internally settle down and just take each week for what it is. Certainly, always pressure to win. And we all want to keep stacking those numbers up and keep building points because that’s the way the structure is built now. It’s not a win-and-you’re-in situation, but it’s almost like a win matters even more to build that point lead and to try to secure the top seed going into the Chase this year,” he claimed.

Having said that, he appreciated his driver’s skill and grit to become the first driver since 1987 to win 5 of the first 9 races.

“Tyler has been incredible in figuring out ways to win, even when it seems like the odds are against him,” Scott added.

Earlier this year, NASCAR ditched the playoff system in favor of the Chase format. Until last year, a win would ensure a place in the playoffs, and points wouldn’t matter all that much. This year, things are quite different under the Chase format, where the importance of points is more than a win. Tyler Reddick has both wins (5) and a point lead of over 100 in the standings to his name this season.

However, at best, the most Reddick can have over his rivals in the Chase is a 25-point head start. So no matter how big a lead or how many wins he gets, it would all be reset at the start of the Chase, something Tyler Reddick was also aware of.

Tyler Reddick can break some records this season, but he’s focused on the big picture

With five wins to his name this season already, Tyler Reddick can make NASCAR history in the Next Gen as well as the modern era. First of all, he could become the driver with the most wins in a season in the Next Gen era. That record is currently held by three drivers – Kyle Larson, William Byron, and Denny Hamlin – all with 6 wins in a season. And Reddick is currently at 5.

Then there’s the record of most wins in a season in the modern era of the sport. Richard Petty and Jeff Gordon are custodians of that record with 13 wins.

Reddick winning 8 or 9 races to get in touch with that record is a bit difficult, considering the last time a driver won races in double digits was in 2021 when Larson won 10. Before that, the last time it happened was in 2007, with Jimmie Johnson winning 10.

However, Tyler Reddick is more focused on building his points situation over acquiring more wins. After the win at Bristol, he said, “We’ll just try and get as comfortable a lead as possible. If we can maintain a gap like this as we get further into the season, hopefully it puts us in a position to try and steal some more wins,” he claimed.