Tyler Reddick

While Reddick wasn't able to out-duel Cole Custer in last season's Rookie of the Year battle, the two waged quite a war. The Richard Childress Racing youngster stayed right with Custer through most of the campaign. He actually tallied two more Top 10s than Custer with 9 total for the season. However, Reddick would fall short in the ROTY chase. The driver of the No. 8 Chevrolet returns for season 2 at the Cup Series level and he'll continue to move forward with Randall Burdett at crew chief. Reddick showed some tremendous skill at both superspeedway and short track racing last year, so those would seem to be his strengths at this point. The soon-to-be 25-year-old talent will take some more steps forward in 2021. As Reddick continues to impress, larger teams will begin to notice and Childress will have to fight to keep this youngster in the RCR stable.

The two-time Xfinity Series champion will move into NASCAR's top division this season. Reddick takes over the No. 8 Chevrolet team that Daniel Hemric piloted last season. Hemric labored to just two Top-10 finishes in this car last season in a struggling rookie campaign. We expect Reddick to move performance up a few notches. The young driver raced like his hair was on fire last season. He grabbed six victories and an amazing 24 Top-5 finishes en route to claiming the Xfinity Series championship for the second-straight season. Reddick will bring his crew chief from that division, Randall Burnett, and the two will look to carry on their coupled success at NASCAR's top level. It's going to be a tough labor to elevate this race team, but Reddick has the pure talent to make some serious headway. He made a couple spot starts last season in the Cup Series and impressed with a ninth-place finish at Kansas Speedway.

The 2018 Xfinity Series champion could see some part-time action this season. Car owner, Richard Childress, hinted as much during December at RCR's 50th-anniversary celebration. Reddick was clutch with his two victories and 20 Top-10 finishes in winning the Xfinity Series crown. Childress would have to field a third, part-time team for any starts Reddick would make, so they're not guaranteed a spot in the starting field. The young driver would have to qualify on lap time every attempt. This driver and team will have no fantasy racing value, but will only tease the abilities of this young driver as he continues to climb the NASCAR ladder of development.

Reddick will have some big shoes to fill in the No. 9 JRM Chevrolet. This is the ride that defending champion William Byron used to storm his way to the 2017 Xfinity Series title. Reddick got a good taste of racing in this division of NASCAR last year with Chip Ganassi. He nabbed one victory and six Top-10 finishes in an 18-start slate. Toward the end of last season Reddick was winning poles, leading laps and challenging for wins. He now takes over the car that Byron used to claim four wins and 22 Top 10's last year. On paper it's a very good situation, but the 22-year-old driver will have to make it happen so there's a lot at stake. Expecting Reddick to take this team to back-to-back championships may be a bit overly optimistic, but there's no doubt they'll win some races and be very visible each week.

This team was a very pleasant surprise and top performer for last season. Larson led the way with 16 starts that yielded two victories, 11 Top-5 and 14 Top-10 finishes. He’ll be in for a similar, but slightly smaller workload again in 2017. Reddick comes over from Brad Keselowski’s truck series program and will get the majority of the remaining starts for this team. The talented youngster piled up three victories and 31 Top 10’s in that division of NASCAR over the last two years, so he’ll be a good fit in a timeshare of this team with Monster Energy Cup star Larson. Marks will likely be the road course starter for this team, which is also good news as he claimed a victory at Mid-Ohio last season for the No. 42 CGR team.

Reddick seemingly came out of nowhere last year to place his name among the top drivers in this racing series. Prior to 2015, the 19-year-old had only 17 starts of experience in the trucks, but that mattered little with this strong race team. The BKR team put great equipment under him and good experience behind him en route to a two-win, 19 Top-10 finish campaign with a runner-up finish in the driver standings. Reddick will move from the team’s No. 19 truck into the No. 29 truck, and he’ll be paired with crew chief Chad Kendrick. The young driver should have no problem following up on his fantastic season of last year, and making a big push to win the championship at Brad Keselowski Racing.