Kevin Harvick's Happy Hour presented by NASCAR on FOX - Championship Contenders: Tyler Reddick & Christopher Bell

Episode Date: October 22, 2026

Two title contenders, two candid conversations. Tyler Reddick and Christopher Bell break down what it takes to survive the postseason, execute under championship pressure, and put the heat on Kyle Larson. In this two-part episode, both Cup Series stars sit down individually to lay out their plans to capture the trophy. First, Tyler Reddick shares what it’s like having Michael Jordan address the 23XI shop, the blueprint for the #45 team to win it all, and why 23XI operates differently than anyone else in the garage. Then, Christopher Bell takes over to detail his roller-coaster season—from recovering from his Michigan injury to mastering his calm, Tom Brady–like approach behind the wheel. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Special edition here with two of our chasers who are right in the hunt for the championship. That would be Tyler Reddick and Christopher Bell are going to be joining us. Tyler Reddick was great. Obviously, we had to ask him about Michael Jordan, the speech that he gave before the chase started, and, you know, some Jordan's shoes, the typical things we might talk about with Tyler. Yeah, yeah, you always got to talk to the shoe game with Tyler. But my guy, my championship pick, if you guys remember from back in February, see Bell, I have not wavered.

And now I get to talk to him about it. He loves this. I love to make sure everyone knows. Yeah, yeah. I get to talk to Christopher about it and his love for driving in the truck series and getting some grassroots and who he thinks is driving style emulates, which is a one Thomas Brady. One of Mombus favorites as well. So Christopher Bell, his team is heating up at the right time as he is in this championship

hunt. So two is Tyler Reddick, our most recent winner. Here is Tyler. So I was checking out the shoes there. You got rep. I like that. We don't always see that. I thought, I don't know.

I heard me today and I was thinking it was going to be like presser stuff. Boring stuff. I mean, I didn't think like I'd be doing content and, you know, some photos and video stuff that will get used, you know, in the cutaway stuff when we cut to commercial or I don't know. I guess I could have put my driving shoe on. I like it. Good choice. Very good choice. I just kind of didn't feel like putting them on, one.

And then, I mean, two, I'm not doing any driving today in my fire suit. As far as I know, maybe it's in this rotation and I haven't got there yet. Chris Boucher said that Brad usually just wears this fire suit to the media days. So, you know, in this state. Like in the car. In the car. Yeah, it's all that. Where does he got to go to the grocery store?

I guess he's hoping that he won't have to. Hey, real quick. You know, how do I? get a pair of Jordan. Oh, yeah. You should have known that was coming. I mean, you know, what the hell? Well, you know, there's, you can go to the store and you can get, um, Nike.

Just go to the store. Here guys. This is, um, where we're at. There's one you're looking for. I might feel to help you out. Okay. You know, just ask. You had me in the first half, but you brought me back of the day.

You definitely thought I was going to be an asshole about it. Well, I thought you're going to leave me like that. Then Kayla was going to talk about it on the show this week. I wouldn't have been able to handle that. Yeah. Just ask. Do you have a massive collection? of them now, though?

My wife hates it. Oh, really? Why does she hate it? Because I haven't gotten rid of many pairs. I've kept a lot of them. Actually, I think almost all of them. So, yeah, I mean, it's getting to the point where, like, a closet doesn't contain them. So you need me to come by and, like...

Do you hear this guy? He was relentless in his pursuits. Half of them just disappeared overnight. I know who I'm not going to let that happen. already to talk to you. I'm not going to let that happen. Is that it? No, I think once I kind of figure out, you know, find a space for it, it would be nice to have,

like, a lot of them, the slayed, the ones that, you know, the more unique, nice ones. But, yeah, kind of right now in between, like, some stuff at the house getting redone, they've just kind of ended up in, like, those. Totes? They're almost like toots, but they're, you can hang them, you can stack them. You know, they're all stacked in there. And, yeah, there's, like, a stack of them as tall as me right now, just. I mean, I think it's

gotta be over 200 pairs of shoes and it's just you run out of place to put them. I could be wrong. I need to get a storage system set up. It's not just about the shoes. It's what it represents. Well, that too. You know what I'm saying?

Well, for my wife right now, represents what the heck are you doing with our house? But we're working on it. Speaking of what it represents, Jumpman, M.J. I mean, obviously, he's been here now for a few years. It's not going anywhere anytime.

which we all love but how's your relationship kind of grown with michael and like what is that like kind of on a daily can you kind of give us a little insight on what mj's like he definitely likes to stay involved check in see what's going on um he's done a great job of whether he's just sensed it or or we've asked making himself available to you know myself the other drivers um the team you know it kind of went around a week or two ago he he made a trip up to 2311 and sat down with each of the teams individually, addressed the company, and just making sure he knows we're making sure that we know where he's at. And, you know, same time, get us pumped up and excited.

So the timing of his visits, the timing of what he says, when he says it, is all very, very, like, top level. I mean, having someone like that that has experienced all the different things and knows how to win the championships, knows what it takes to win them as well. It's a huge asset for us to have. And then I say all this, and we got Denny,

who knows the inner works of NASCAR for decades too. So between both of them as leaders, and then everyone, you know, underneath them spread on down as you go through 2311, a lot of great leadership that really helps us kind of navigate the highs and the lows. Is there a piece of knowledge that Michael Jordan has given you that stands out amongst the rest, some kind of advice?

insight over all of his years as a competitive athlete? Well, I think, you know, where your mindset is, how you manage, like I said, just the season in itself or just moments that happen on the racetrack, keeping everything in mind, I think, how to be a better teammate. There's a number of things. There's not just one thing that's like, this is, you know, the one thing that changed my life, right? There's a lot of details to it. And I think that's been our process and getting better with the 45 car from 2025 to 2026 is, you know, the one thing we're chasing is better results.

But like what goes into that is is a number of details. And they all take, you know, time and effort and conversations kind of work through. Pilar Redick and the 45 team are NASCAR Cup Series champions. If what? If what? I think for us, if we, Well, again, I just say details. My head's going to go to a million details. But I think the biggest thing is it's important for us to just stay in it mentally. I think as we've had the rough stretches, we've done a good job of that. Like, yeah, a couple of them ran 34th, 35th, you know, mid-20s or 31st.

But like the things we did to go from dead last to that position on those days will matter. I think for us, you know, I'm not saying, you know, the easy thing to say is just don't have a bad day, but like someone at some point, probably everybody at some point in the chase are going to have a rough moment or a rough day or a rough stretch and who handles that the best and mountses back the best or who makes the most of those days and nights that kind of seemingly start to fall apart. You know, yeah, when you're fast and you win, you do that part right. You're going to have a strong game points, but mistakes are going to happen. and things are going to not go according to plan.

I think those that manage that the best and make the most of those days will be set up to win. And I feel like we've been through that a lot this year. Yeah, it's good to be battle tested and face attrition and get through it. I think about 2311 as a whole. It's such a cool organization. Obviously, from the team backing to the way the shop looks, to the social content, we played one recently,

a piece y'all put together. How is it just a unique kind of goes to the beat of its own drum kind of place? I mean, pretty much from, you know, whether it's airspeed itself, how we've, how 2311 has gone about, finding the talent, you know, the individuals for the different positions, how we operate on the competition side, how marketing does it. Everything's just kind of, you know, been reworked in an effort to find something better than what's just been the standard. The norm, right.

So, you know, it's a process. you learn there's going to be times it works great times when it does it then you adjust but um i feel like for us you know on the driving and competition the cars the teams you know from day day zero it's been about you know being on the same page sharing kind of the workload of the week between between the teams and it just gets everyone on the same page and stays there you know instead of everyone kind of off doing their own things throughout the week then coming together later on in the week we're kind of just they're already working on these things. So I think the way that the team would work together,

how the whole building works together, the organization works together is what helps really make it successful. Cool place. We should work there. Yeah. Not about spot. Not about spot. A lot of nice windows, too.

Yeah, very nice windows. A lot of lighting. When I drive by it on the interstate, I'm always like, yeah, it's pretty cool. It's pretty legit. Maybe if I won the championship, I'll get access to the app so I can control the life. Is there an app? Oh.

Do you think Denny's got it? wheels has it sure my it's good at people I got it lighting dimmer up you've been doing this for a while driving race cars at a high level

you've won at about every level you've won at every level you have two championships back to back right you've been with different teams all the things do you love it still do you love racing do you love racing

still yeah absolutely why do you love it I mean there's there's a lot of reasons why probably the most easy, simple one to explain it is what I loved about racing when I was four years old. I still love as an adult right now to this day, and that's simple as it gets passing people,

being faster than the competitors on the racetrack. I mean, yeah, you're competing, we're competitive. Like, if I can go faster than the guy behind me, the guy next to me in front of me, you know, I'm having a blast. So, you know, you go to tracks where you can really make that difference of the driver or you go to tracks where if you do your part, communicate well with your team, you can get that speed out of your car for me. Yeah, I just competitive. I like passing people. You know, outside of that, each track has its reasons, right?

Like for me, we go to Homestead. I love running the fence. Oh, yes. Darlington, running the fence. I mean, when you go to Phoenix, you know, it's so fun, but it's hard to get it right. work in the L line. All these tracks have the different things. And so for me, it's just a lot of fun figuring it out.

And it's super rewarding when you haven't figured out, you know, like we did a number of times this year. So honestly, it's the real simple stuff that got me to love it when I was a kid growing up. I'll tell you what, from the media side, you are fun to watch. We enjoy it. So we've been asking for drivers to describe their driving style in one word or several if you need a few. Okay. What say you?

Yeah. I mean, I'd say cautiously aggressive. Cautiously aggressive. I don't know. You can use several words. Yeah. Yeah. You know, I've always learned where the limit is by crossing it.

And I've always just relied on my car control that I got from growing up to kind of bail me out. And keep the car in one piece. Love that. Cautiously aggressive. I've never learned where to find the limit by easing up to it. It's always, let's cross the line so we know where it is. All right. I mean, now we just stay on the side of it.

Put your hand on the stove and find out that. Yeah, how long can you keep a handstone for birds? Yeah, exactly. Essentially. Okay. Listen, man, Days of Thunder, too. It's on the way. I know.

Your face is blood. It did. It was crazy enough. I think there was like a meeting that took place and I was like, oh, yeah, you need to be there. Well, whatever that message was why I needed to be there, I, I like, missed the memo. Missed it? Oh, no, it was for that? Those that know, I'm really good at texting back.

So that's probably part of it. He's not. So it's funny. If I already had another meeting that I couldn't miss, and so when it was all done, I was like, oh, wow, I missed that opportunity. But, yeah, I feel like maybe I was a bit on my own island on Saturday, you know, with the kids and everything, we're having a good time. And then I just, it's time to go race.

And, you know, I didn't realize he was going to be there. I didn't even realize he got it now. It's like, just kind of my own little. There's a lot going on. Yeah. It's okay. Kind of dad mode on a Speedway weekend. Are you looking forward to like, do you want to, do you want to be a part of it?

Do you like, yeah, do you want to be in it? Like, what do you think it? I think it would be sick to be in it. We all kind of agree. Yeah. However that looks, I will be thankful for. Nothing's, I've heard nothing, so I may not be in it. But I'm going to be really excited to see how it goes.

You know, I think for me, I loved the first days of thunder because I knew, You know, I don't, I didn't know the NASCAR world, like I know it now. Right. And I wonder, am I going to be, like, super critical and, like, critiquy of this and that, you know. That's not how that guy goes. You know, contrary what some people believe, Ricky Bobby's not, like, completely, you know, Taldaeghanites is not a very accurate depiction of what NASCAR is. Some things were right. Some things were right.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I just keep my mouth. Yeah. Some things are right. We're going to need. Oh.

About Taledaghan. No, not about you. They're about the movie. Taladayana. Which parks. We don't need to talk about... We'll leave it at that. We'll need to talk about which parks we're right at which parts are a little exaggerating.

We did see Carl run across their finish line. That's true. That was after. I think we've had certain moments inspired by them. Yeah. That's right. Yeah. It's crazy enough.

Christopher Bell, you got made a feel that he had watched the movie. I watched it growing up. I loved it. But, ironically enough, my wife had never seen it. And I don't know how we hadn't sat down and watched this movie before, but like all the, all the sayings and quotes and stuff.

The good quotes. She's like, what is this coming from? And I'm like, Day's the Thunder. She's like, what's that? I'm like, are you kidding me? We're married and you don't know what Days Thunder is? This is a big problem. I'm assuming that's changed now.

Oh, it changed that night. Okay, good. There you go. Problem solved. Not allowed to go to bed so we watch the movie. So we checked that off. You know, she was, was it really like this? I'm like, honestly, I wasn't a part of it then.

I don't know. I have to ask, me have to call up Danny Lawrence or like some of those guys that asked him and see what that's what was up back then. Well, pretty sure. Yeah, well. I'm very excited about the movie. I don't know what it's going to,

how they're going to go about it, but it's great for NASCAR. For me, it's a fan of what the first movie was. You know, I grew up in that time period where Tom Cruise was doing all sorts of just crazy things. Great movies. You know, I remember,

being a kid going and watch a Mission Impossible. I remember, you know, Bo loves Top Gun. I like Top Gun growing up too, but Bo loves it. So when we went to San Diego and did all that, he was just, you know, in heaven. Yeah. Yeah, you know, for me it's exciting to kind of see it come back because even to this day, they've still just done an amazing job with the movies, so can't wait to see it. Yeah, we look forward to it as well.

Congratulations. So far on a great year. We look forward to seeing what you're doing the chase. Thanks so much for being here. Absolutely. You got it. Well, you might be one of the most interesting stories we've had this entire year. What a crazy wild year. This has been for you.

But I would say the last stretch has been very, very impressive. I mean, how would you even characterize this whole season that's been? Oh, my goodness. The ultimate roller coaster, that is for sure. We've had the, I shouldn't say the highest of highs, close to the highest of highs. You're at the top of the course. Well, five, six times. Yes, right up there.

But certainly the lowest of lows. Absolutely. And I've said this a lot today, but when I was sitting in the infield care center in Michigan, I did not think I'd be a part of the postseason. So, yeah, I'm super grateful, thankful that, you know, our season worked out the way it did. I got to race. I thought, I thought for sure I was going to be out for multiple races. And, yeah, I'm pumped.

You were tough. That is a tough guy right there. Listen, when the season started or ended, let's start there, you come across the stage when I was doing driver-ins. intros. I remember what you said to me. Yes, I said, this sucks, right? He said, this sucks. Yes.

And kept moving because he was outside the, and so when our show started, I brought that to the show. And I told that story from the get. And I picked you as my championship guy at the beginning of the year. And I'm like, I felt good about it all year. I'm like, he could have won six races. But watching the pain on your face, brother, might have winning six races. Yeah. How have you been able to this is new?

You're a winner. You won at every level, like usually on a regular basis. How have you been able to handle that and how do you stay locked in? So I will say the first couple second place finishes, like Phoenix, Phoenix was rough. Yeah, Nashville was obviously really, really tough to digest. but the further that I got removed from them, they had a bigger lasting impact on our season as a whole than we would have had under the previous format. So I think for myself and probably a lot of us in the industry,

we're sewing, we have this winner bus mentality ingrained in us because it's all about bonus points. and getting all of those bonus points in the regular season, transferring them into the playoffs, the old playoffs, and then the points reset would always go back to those bonus points. So really the whole season came down to how many times you won, where now it's a total points accumulation, and all of those second place finishes have helped out a lot

and got me to where I am today where I'm still in the title contention. So I do believe that the champion is going to have to win the chase. I do believe that. It's one of my questions for you. But I am very, very happy that all of those second place finishes got me to where I am today. Well, we sat on the show this week. We believe this team could cross that corner and be on a tear during the 10 weeks.

Well, we were all saying collectively while he's taking credit for this. I see that. I interviewed one of your pit crew athletes yesterday on your team. Which one? Hicks. And we're doing a story on him. One of the best pit crews on pit lane. how like does that just gives me so much confidence knowing you have that that resource on your side a lot of

other teams have a little shaky ground when it comes to their pit crew yeah you're uh you're only going to be as good as your pick crew members that is for sure it becomes very very difficult to perform well to win races without a pit crew and this 20 teams got pit road handled so we've got we've got all the keys we got all the ingredients for sure and uh yeah hicks is a huge part of that that super grateful for him. Grateful for my entire pick group. We've got a great group that have been around a long time. They're very experienced.

Yeah, we have a very seasoned experience group. And I would love nothing more than to get Hicks, his first ring. Yeah, that would be awesome. He's been in the game a long time. What, um, I've noticed this year you ran a bunch of truck races. Yeah. I know. You won.

Yeah. What's going on with that is that, I mean, I know it sounds like you and Stuart prison have become pretty good friends. Yes. And you kind of take an interest in this program. Like, what's going on with that? Is that something you see yourself in the future doing more races? Or what do you think?

So, yeah, I mean, honestly, it all started last year, uh, whenever Stewart got hurt and I got the call to fill in for him at Watkins Glen. And I've always really respected Stewart from his dirt car days of, you know, being one of the, he's one of the greatest dirt racers of all time. And, and then seeing him come. into the sport of NASCAR really around the time that I did in the truck series and seeing them elevate from where they were just starting and ascending to the top. It's been really fun to be a part of a team that isn't at the top and is striving to get there,

trying to get there. I've been so, so blessed throughout my career that I've driven for Kyle Busch Motorsports and Joe Gibbs Racing in NASCAR, which is the pinnacle. They're up at the very top. And I've really enjoyed working with Seward's group who's trying to get there. And I believe has the potential to get there. And yeah, it's been fun to see them grow and just be a part of something different. Yeah, we always love when we see your name on the entry list for the Chuck series covering them, of course.

That's right. So you mentioned Kyle Bush for a moment. Your crew chief, Adam Stevens, obviously, is won championships with him. I think Adam is one of the smartest crew chiefs on top of the box in the whole garage area. What's he kind of like behind the curtain? He is, well, I was going to say he's very intense. He is very intense, but very intense at times. And then just very, very matter of the fact.

You know, he does not let any noise that's not legitimate get to him. And I think that is, you know, a key to his. his success. Like he, he very much goes by the book. He goes by the actual real data and he does not let stuff that doesn't matter affect his, affect his business. Yeah, you've been doing this business for a minute now. I feel like it's how long you're trying to say you're getting older. Yeah, I'm not a young spring ticket to anybody. He's here to remind everybody. I'm not. As I'm doing this, I'm remembering I am not either. So I'm like, I got to bring some help with Do you still love it?

Do you still love driving race cars? I absolutely love it. Why? Why do you love it? So I tell a lot of people this, that I have the coolest job in the world. It is still a job, but I have the coolest job in the world. And just driving race cars is, it's just fun. It's just fun.

Like going out there and competing and there, I don't know. I've always loved the aspect of whenever you're on the track, it's you versus 35 other competitors. And it's, I love that. So we've been asking the drivers to explain their driving style in one word or several, depending on your preference. What say you, Christopher Bell? smooth and calculated

oh smooth and calculated sounds like a radio station you're hearing from the smooth and calculate I like that if there was a another athlete or a TV character a movie character or whatever

that could accurately depict your driving style who would that be we could give him I don't know I'm kind of thinking like Tom Brady like his methodical like he just watching him play quarterback like he he always just takes what's coming to him right like he'll take five-yard passes seven-yard passes and they'll take the deep ball too every now and then but he's just so methodical just steady smooth deliberate um yeah yeah i like it yeah so you have one of the more

non-traditional paths into the sport, which I love those. And so I'm curious, if there was a phone call that changed your life, do you remember what it was? I absolutely do. What was it? I absolutely do. So it would have been December 16th, 2015. So I remember it like it was just yesterday. It was my birthday.

December 16th is my birthday. Oh, we're Sagittarius babies. Are you December 16th? December 10. December 10th. Okay. Yeah. So I was at my birthday dinner, and I got a phone call from Jack Irving at TRD.

And we had been in 2015 was the year that I ran a part-time NASCAR Camping World Truck Series schedule. And we're, obviously, I was hoping that I was going to go full time. But they were kind of telling me it wasn't going to happen at that point. And then I got a call that night. I was at dinner, and he told me that I was going to be full-time in the NASCAR truck series. And that was my life-changing moment. That's really cool. I'm glad you got that phone call so that we get to cover your career.

You've had a great season. We're wishing you the best of luck. Thanks so much for being here. Thank you. Yes, sir. Hold music. Not what you want to hear when a pipe dispersed in your basement is flooding. That's why intact insurance answers 2 million claim calls per year within 20 seconds.

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