Tyler Reddick will have one last race with Richard Childress Racing before moving to 23XI Racing’s No. 45 car following Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series Championship Race at Phoenix Raceway.
On Wednesday, Reddick confirmed that he has officially been medically cleared to compete on Sunday.
In the statement posted to Twitter, Reddick thanked NASCAR for ensuring that he was 100 percent ready to race.
”After further evaluation, I’m very excited to say that I’ve been cleared to return to racing! I’d like to give thanks to NASCAR and their team for what they’ve done this week to make sure that I’m 100%,” Reddick said in the statement. “See everyone in Phoenix.”
Here is the tweet from Reddick:
After further evaluation, I’m very excited to say that I’ve been cleared to return to racing! I’d like to give thanks to NASCAR and their team for what they’ve done this week to make sure that I’m 100%. See everyone in Phoenix!
— Tyler Reddick (@TylerReddick) November 2, 2022
Reddick’s status for this weekend’s race was in doubt following an early exit from last weekend’s Xfinity 500 at Martinsville Speedway.
On Monday, Reddick explained on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio that he made contact with another car in Stage 2 of the Martinsville race, which caused his head to go, “flying back into the headrest.” The impact to Reddick’s head caused a headache, which Reddick says didn’t seem right from behind the wheel. This caused Reddick to go behind the wall and end the race despite his No. 8 car being in a condition to continue on.
On Monday, Reddick released a statement saying that he was feeling better after the odd incident at Martinsville, but that he would be undergoing further evaluation to determine whether he would race at Phoenix or not.
— Tyler Reddick (@TylerReddick) October 31, 2022
The week before the Martinsville incident, Reddick was involved in a very hard crash at Homestead-Miami Speedway on lap 242. While Reddick says he didn’t have concussion symptoms from that crash, he did explain on SiriusXM that the crash was so severe that he bent the steering wheel with his forearm.
Fortunately, Reddick has been given the all clear following the hard crash at Homestead and the jarring shot to his head at Martinsville.
Reddick has scored three wins in the NASCAR Cup Series this season, which is the second-most in the series. Reddick made the Playoffs, but was eliminated from the Playoffs in the Round of 16.
It’s been a rough season health-wise for full-time NASCAR Cup Series drivers as Kurt Busch and Alex Bowman have missed significant time with concussions.
While Bowman will return to the track this weekend, Busch has not returned since his crash in qualifying at Pocono in July. At Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Busch announced that he would no longer run a full-time schedule in the NASCAR Cup Series after the 2022 season, and that he will continue recovering in hopes of running a part-time schedule in 2023.
