Tyler Reddick takes the blame after a nightmare finish at Coronado

It was all there for Tyler Reddick at the inaugural NASCAR Cup Series race at Naval Base Coronado. He had the car, he had the pace, and he had the command. But with just three laps remaining, a missed entry into Turn 2 changed everything. His teammate at 23XI Racing, Corey Heim, was right there to pounce. What followed was a messy exchange of crossovers and contact that left Reddick with a flat left-front tire and a miserable 25th-place result, while Heim drove away to claim his first-ever win.

Reddick, who had already faced an uphill battle after starting from the rear due to unapproved adjustments, didn't hide from his own role in the collapse. He admitted to over-driving the machine, specifically citing an aggressive dive in Turn 5 that forced Heim’s No. 67 Toyota into the marbles and against the wall. “I certainly overdid it and ran him in the wall and initiated the contact — everything,” Reddick said. “So yeah, just not the way you should race a teammate.”

The consequences are real. Reddick’s massive 129-point lead held after Watkins Glen International has been systematically sliced down, leaving him with a razor-thin eight-point cushion in the standings. With recent results like a 35th at Michigan International Speedway, the pressure is mounting. Denny Hamlin, who drives for Joe Gibbs Racing and co-owns 23XI Racing, finished 14th at the San Diego course, cutting further into the gap. While Hamlin praised the collective speed of his team’s cars, he acknowledged the short-term frustration for his star driver: “I guarantee you Tyler is thinking about the short-term.”