TYLER Reddick has secured the Nascar Regular Season title – despite a horror illness almost stalling his drive at the Southern 500.
The 23XI Racing driver suffered from the effects of a stomach bug during Sunday’s showdown at Darlington Raceway.
Reddick desperately radioed his team for help during the grueling race at one of Nascar’s most punishing tracks.
“‘I’m throwing up, sh***ing myself, all of the above,” Reddick told his crew chief.
23XI Racing is co-owned by basketball legend Michael Jordan, who memorably battled through his own illness issues during 1997’s Flu Game in the NBA Finals.
Reddick received medicine during a pitstop, continuing his race as he battled rival Kyle Larson for the regular-season points title.
The 28-year-old would go on to finish 10th, beating Larson to the crown by a single point.
He would later deny to reporters that he had been sick or defecated in his No. 45 Toyota.
“My bad, false alarm!” he laughed at the post-race press conference.
Reddick’s four-year-old son Beau battled a stomach illness last week, with the Nascar star developing symptoms on Friday.
He revealed the team had give him crackers, Tums, and fluid to keep his race going in the searing South Carolina heat.
“Just really thankful that a lot of great people on our team, they were feeding me the right stuff in the car to help me manage it best as I could,” he continued.
“Just smart people. They were able to put the right stuff in my drink to help calm my stomach down.
“At one point, I was just waiting to puke all over myself. Thankfully they kept that from happening.
“A whole lot of other gross stuff. We were able to avoid a lot of that, which was nice, but it was extremely uncomfortable in the car all night.”
Reddick will now turn his attention to the ten-race postseason.
At one point, I was just waiting to puke all over myself.
Tyler Reddick
His tenth-placed finish sees him ranked as the third seed for the playoff opener next weekend at Atlanta Motor Speedway.
“It’s just a testament to all the hard work that everyone at 23XI, here at the race track, week in and week out, back at Airspeed, puts into this,” Reddick added.
“We’re on Year 4 of their goals, right? It’s just been really, really fun the last two years to be a part of this process, building up to where we want to be.
“I mean, it takes a lot of hard work to be consistent as we’ve been through the summer stretch. Both years really feel like we had rocky starts to get going.
“It’s nice to be able to get to where we did in the middle of the year and start thinking about points.”
