How Tyler Reddick reacted to fiancée's commentary in Netflix's 'NASCAR: Full Speed'

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LOS ANGELES — Tyler Reddick obviously can’t hear his fiancee’s commentary about his race while he competes.

So even he reacted when seeing a clip from the five-episode Netflix documentary series “NASCAR: Full Speed” that dropped this week.

His fiancée, Alexa DeLeon, is shown watching from the motorhome. As she watched Reddick’s chances to advance to the Championship 4 slip through his hands as he struggled during the Martinsville Speedway elimination race, she said she wished she could shake him, tell him not to be so nice and start driving through people.

“I saw that part and I looked at her when she said that and she couldn’t help but laugh,” Reddick said Thursday with a smile. “We haven’t talked about it a whole lot.” 

The Significant others of drivers are generally their biggest fans, so it isn’t rare for them to get emotional or want the best for them.

Still, it was a raw moment captured by the cameras that the 23XI Racing driver didn’t seem to mind.

“It’s kind of funny that she was just like, ‘Yeah, just drive through everybody,'” Reddick said. “I wish I could. She’s like, ‘I didn’t know your car sucked.’ We weren’t awful. But we weren’t our normal selves like we were in spring Martinsville [for that race].”

As he talked on a Zoom with reporters, Reddick, already in Los Angeles for this weekend’s Clash at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, delivered a funny aside from where his family was staying: “I probably should turn the camera so she can join the Zoom meeting in her PJs, since she’s got so much to say.”

The easy-going Reddick said that to be funny, not critical, of DeLeon. He wasn’t concerned at all about how people might react to DeLeon’s comments.

“It’s just shedding some light on our humor and our thoughts,” Reddick said. “When I’m on the race track, I’m not in the bus. I’m in the race car so I don’t [often] even get to see what that’s like. So it’s funny.”

Reddick is one of several playoff drivers featured in the documentary series, and fans got to see both his competitive side and a little more silly side as he, Alexa and their son, Beau, dressed up in Mario and Luigi costumes for a Halloween event at Talladega. 

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Like many series of this kind — especially the first seasons — that follow sports teams and athletes, getting buy-in from the athletes can be difficult. Reddick said his team co-owner, Denny Hamlin, championed the efforts of producers for his team to be involved and to be as authentic as possible.

“I certainly know that there was a number of drivers that had differing perspectives on the Netflix show,” Reddick said. “It’s something I talked to Denny about quite a bit.

“He just came from the point of view that, ‘You know, they’re doing this series and they’re going to do it with or without your involvement. Why not be a part of the story?'”

When Hamlin told Reddick they were not going to hide anything during filming, even in competition meetings, Reddick admitted he was skeptical.

But he said he was on board with that.

“The more that you could open your doors and bring them around with you as you were doing things, the better job they’re going to be able to do telling your story throughout that part of the season,” Reddick said.

So far, what has Reddick thought of the reaction to the series? He said he has heard from family and friends and seen some commentary on social media.

“I live it, right?” Reddick said. “But it’s pretty compelling to … pay close attention to some of the shots and some of the storytelling that was taking place.”

Bob Pockrass covers NASCAR for FOX Sports. He has spent decades covering motorsports, including over 30 Daytona 500s, with stints at ESPN, Sporting News, NASCAR Scene magazine and The (Daytona Beach) News-Journal. Follow him on Twitter @bobpockrass.

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