Nobody in the NASCAR The Cup Series is teeming with frontrunners like Tyler Reddick, and the playoffs are just around the corner. Is the 23XI Racing star the favorite to win the championship?

Reddick certainly has a good chance, as he sits atop the points standings after winning the FireKeepers Casino 400 on Monday in Michigan. He has 17 top 10s and 11 top 5s in the series and has finished eighth or better in 10 of the last 11 races. Reddick is in top form, and Jordan Bianchi of The athlete believes that this is a good sign for his chances of winning the championship.

Speaking to Jeff Gluck on The Teardown podcast on Monday, Bianchi named Reddick as one of the drivers who can’t be left out of the championship discussion after flying under the radar all season.

“I think being the championship leader now, that elevates your status,” Bianchi said. “… That gives him more credibility. And I think Denny Hamlin had a really good point in his post-race press conference when he said, ‘Hey, this is Week 24. You don’t lead the standings in Week 24 by accident.’ This isn’t the beginning of the season, and you just had a couple of good races, whatever. That’s sustained consistency week in and week out. And now that you’re the championship leader, now that you’ve got a win, that’s going to add even more shine to you. And I think you’re going to hear a lot about Tyler Reddick in the next few weeks.

Tyler Reddick becomes championship favorite with the upcoming playoffs

“Honestly, when we make the championship pick, he’s in that discussion. A year ago when we made the pick, we both said the same thing. Like, this team is error-prone. They can’t get out of their own way. They may be fast, but they can’t execute – that’s all gone. There are so many reasons to be good about their chances right now. They’re in good shape and should probably be the team that says, ‘Can we please start the playoffs tomorrow?'”

Reddick quietly went about his business while drivers like Kyle Larson, Denny Hamlin and others made headlines. Yes, those drivers are all championship contenders, but so is Reddick.

And is there anyone better than him at this point in the season? The numbers certainly don’t speak against it, as Gluck pointed out.

“I’ve had him No. 1 on my power rankings that I do every week for a while now,” Gluck said. “This guy – Tyler Reddick – has five podiums and five top-three finishes in the last six races. The successes you mentioned continue, he now has seven top-10s in a row. In fact, the only time he has finished outside the top 10 since the spring at Darlington was at Iowa. Other than that, Tyler Reddick has never finished worse than eighth since Darlington. This guy is on a real winning streak. And as you alluded to, oddly enough, he’s still kind of under the radar.”