Why Tyler Reddick needs to buckle down in 2022

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    Richard Childress Racing driver Tyler Reddick, who will enter into his third season in the organization's NASCAR Cup Series team in the 2022 Season, is probably one of the most overrated drivers to have joined the top circuit in the past few years. 

Overrated is the best way to categorize Tyler Reddick in the NASCAR Cup Series. Coming into 2020 as his first year in the NASCAR Cup Series, he had just wrapped up his 2nd consecutive NASCAR Xfinity Series title in 2019, a hot candidate to move up to the top level of stock car racing. Reddick, after making two starts in the NASCAR Cup Series in 2019 for Richard Childress Racing, he would be announced as the replacement of driver Daniel Hemric, who was being released by the organization.

Piloting the No. 8 Chevrolet Camaro, the 2-time NASCAR Xfinity Series champion was part of the 2020 Rookie Class, losing the Rookie of the Year Award to opponent Cole Custer, who had won a race at Kentucky Raceway. Custer and Reddick had been championship rivals in the NASCAR Xfinity Series during the 2019 Season, which Reddick would go on to clinch his second championship victory at the end of the season. Besides Custer's victory at Kentucky, his season stats were much lower than expected, in fact, Reddick would have clearly won the award if Custer hadn't found victory lane.

In full-time two years on the NASCAR Cup Series circuit, Tyler Reddick has posted 3 runner-up finishes inside of a total of 6 top-5 finishes, and 25 top-10 finishes all together. He also picked up his first pole at Circuit of the Americas in 2021. All this was under the Gen 6 car, which is now obsolete as of the end of the 2021 NASCAR Cup Series season.

The "Next Gen", or Gen 7 car will bring every driver on the NASCAR Cup Series circuit to about the same level: they have a lot to learn. With many younger drivers on the field and a few older drivers looking to hang in for another year or so, the "mid-generation" drivers are headed toward their prime seasons. Reddick is too young to be a part of the drivers who are classified in that "mid-generation" and has a few years before he reaches his prime in the top level of NASCAR, but he has a fair share of work to do before then.

So, if Tyler Reddick would buckle down in 2022, and use the Gen 7 car to his advantage, he could potentially be one of the top drivers on the NASCAR Cup Series circuit within a few years, whether he stays with RCR or moves to another team.