Upon exiting his 23XI Racing No. 45, Tyler Reddick appeared puzzled despite delivering some of the fastest lap times in Friday practice at Chicagoland Speedway.
“In general, I’m pretty happy,” Reddick said, though his tone suggested otherwise. “I feel good about where we are. The only thing I’m holding back on—just confused about—is that I thought we’d be ripping the top today, but it just took a long time to clean up. Hopefully those O’Reilly drivers will get it cleaned up for us and we’ll have a wide racetrack to work with.”
It was an intriguing session, the team’s first at the Joliet intermediate since 2019. Patches in turns three and four created a bumpy surface throughout the hour‑long practice.
A jump bump is also present in turn one.
Chris Buescher was asked about the ride quality.
“Rough like we knew it would be coming in,” the RFK Racing veteran said. “It’s a little smoother than the simulator, so I’ll take that. Some guys are definitely bottoming out—you could see the smoke or dust. There’s definitely some roughness to it.
“It’s the same bumps that were here before, but we’re discovering them with a completely different race car. We’re now more rear‑limited compared to the old cars where it was all front and truck arm mounts. It’s changed because of the race car, but it’s hard to tell if the bumps are any worse.”
The last Cup Series visit featured the Gen6 car and the NA18D (550‑hp) package. Those machines used truck arms and sat nose‑down with a rear‑up attitude, while the NextGen employs an independent rear suspension that balances nose‑up and rear‑down.
Essentially, this is a new racetrack.
Despite a lengthy session and the track gaining grip, drivers did not drive up against the wall on Friday. Carson Hocevar wished someone would, but he was unwilling to be the first to risk a crash.
“I was hoping someone would do it and no one did,” Hocevar said. “I just didn’t want to be the first one.”
Buescher described the track as “clingy” during practice but expects it to open up.
“We joked, there are places where the asphalt is super gray because it doesn’t have any rubber, but the outside lane was orange and we thought it was because of rust,” Buescher said. “But it did move up pretty quick, which surprised me, considering the short practice and how green it was to start.
“So, my suspicion is that, yes, we’ll be up against the fence pretty quick. I think the O’Reilly Series race will get to the wall fast and set the tone for us on Sunday.”
Ryan Blaney echoed those sentiments.
“I think the track’s going to get to the wall—that’s my prediction,” Blaney said. “I definitely think we would have been even higher if the O’Reilly drivers got a chance to run practice, but I think it’s going to be every lane available, which is great.”
Daniel Suárez noted that Joliet reminds him of Kansas, arguably the best intermediate on the schedule for this car, but with added character.
“I think the racing is going to be pretty good,” Suárez said. “Honestly, this track reminds me of Kansas but with bigger bumps. It’s a big jump, not a consistent bump. A lot of people this week have been saying ‘this is going to be Charlotte 3 and 4, which is super bumpy and this is not like that.
“Charlotte has a lot of small bumps, but here there are a couple of big bumps. I think it’s going to race really well. I think we’ll put a lot of rubber on the track and we’re looking forward to the challenge.”
With Atlanta Motor Speedway now a drafting‑focused layout, Kansas and Chicago are the closest conceptual references for that style of intermediate track.
“I think we’re all nostalgic for old Atlanta,” Hocevar added. “And this is the closest thing, in our minds, we have. We’re all nostalgically blind, arrogant and delusionally hoping for the old Atlanta.”
Todd Gilliland, No. 34 Front Row Motorsports Ford
Photo by: James Gilbert / Getty Images
