LOUDON, NH — 23XI Racing co-owner Denny Hamlin says the organization needs to improve its performance after a stretch of races in which Tyler Reddick and Bubba Wallace failed to finish in the top 15.
Reddick hasn’t finished better than 27th since the Coca-Cola 600 on Memorial Day weekend, dropping from seventh in points to 13th.
Wallace has finished no better than 15th in the same five-race stretch, dropping from 15th to 17th in the points.
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Reddick has one win this season, so a playoff spot is assured. Wallace does not have a win this season and chases Michael McDowell by three points for the final cutoff point entering Sunday’s race at New Hampshire Motor Speedway (2:30 p.m. ET, USA Network).
“Everybody has to get better for safety,” Hamlin said Saturday at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. “I would say when you look at how we break it down, the team definitely needs to make the biggest jump in performance. If we do that, I think our drivers are good enough to do that.”
Saturday was a good start for the organization. Reddick was ranked sixth and Wallace was ranked eighth. This is just the second time since the Coca-Cola 600 that both cars have started in the top 10.
Wallace, who finished third in this race last year, said his team spent some time this week examining their recent traps.
“This week was a big time of reflection for everyone on Team 23 about how we need to execute better,” he said. “Mistakes at this point in the season, there’s really no excuse, whether it’s my fault on track or the crew’s fault in preparation. We just have to be better as a team moving forward to even think about the playoffs.
“There are seven races left (until the playoffs). We have a chance to do something great.”
Wallace’s drought comes after a May that saw him post three consecutive top-five finishes, four if you include the All-Star Race at North Wilkesboro.
Reddick, who won at the Circuit of the Americas in March, has only four top-10s in the 13 races since then.
“We’ve just got to clean up the little details,” Reddick said. “This has been our biggest struggle all year. We’re not making the same mistake twice, but we’ve certainly had a lot of mistakes that continue to happen.
“We’ve got to get that out of our system. We’ve got to get some clean runs again.”
