The team structure of NASCAR is far more complicated than anything we see in other sports.
Teammates do what they can to help each other on the track, especially at a drafting track like this weekend’s race in Daytona, but at some point, it always comes down to every man for himself.
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The dynamic between teammates on its own is difficult enough, but the relationship between Tyler Reddick and Denny Hamlin is somehow even more complicated. Reddick and Hamlin are not technically teammates, as Hamlin drives for Joe Gibbs Racing while Reddick is technically employed by Hamlin as a member of 23XI Racing.
Week to week, this isn’t really an issue, and it’s been clear during the success both drivers have had this season that they support one another. But on the eve of the start of the Chase, things are undoubtedly starting to get a bit more tense, especially with both drivers well in contention for the championship.
Hamlin and Reddick took questions together ahead of the Coke Zero Sugar 400, and Hamlin said he still sees Reddick as his toughest competition.
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“I think probably, the way the tracks lay out, probably [Reddick is our biggest competition]. I think our strengths are really his strengths,” Hamlin said. “We have lots of intermediates. He’s usually the standard of speed when it comes to intermediates. You’d probably say so from a statistical standpoint, but obviously you just never know week to week. My teammates have gotten hot here recently and had some good runs, but as we’ve seen, you go with the schedule.”
Hamlin then went through the highs and lows of his own season, as well as those of the competition, noting that different teams are better positioned for success at different points in the schedule.
“Let’s start with me. I was okay, getting through the very beginning of the season, we got road courses just to survive, get to the meat of my best tracks, that’s where we made up all of our points,” Hamlin said. “Penske gets into a very favorable part of their schedule and what they’re good at, they make up a whole bunch of points. Now we’re switching into a different time. Everyone has the ability to make gains at tracks they’re not as strong at, but this thing goes in waves. Your competition can change just based off of what racetrack you’re going to this week vs. next.”
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Watch: Hamlin on Reddick being his biggest challenger for the Cup Series title
Hamlin has already ensured that he will enter the Chase atop the NASCAR points standings. Meanwhile, Reddick has watched as his standing as fallen from first all the way down to fourth, though he could potentially jump back into third over Ty Gibbs depending on the results at Daytona.
Regardless of the current standings, the points reset at the start of the Chase, which will bring the dominant lead Hamlin currently has over the rest of the field back down to earth a bit. And as Hamlin explained, while Reddick’s team has not been running as stellar as it had to start the season, the schedule of the Chase appears to play to the strengths of the No. 45 team.
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