Tyler Reddick and Bubba Wallace did not contend for the win at Watkins Glen International on Sunday afternoon, but the two drivers achieved a new feat for 23XI Racing.
Wallace crossed the line in eighth place on Sunday and scored a career-best finish at the New York road course. Reddick crossed the line in ninth place and posted his fourth top-10 finish at the track in five starts.
According to team sponsor Xfinity, this marked the first time that 23XI Racing had two drivers finish in the top 10 at a road course.
"(Winning at) Indy was life changing, right? It allowed me to come here and not harp on all of the mistakes that I usually make at a road course and figure out how to make less," Wallace said after the race.
"I think we did that. I don't think our car was capable of winning at all, but 10th to 12th place is where we determined our team is a couple months ago, and we exceeded that, so that's a win."
Wallace's eighth-place finish at Watkins Glen was his fourth consecutive top-10. This stretch includes a seventh-place finish at Dover, a win at Indianapolis, and a sixth-place finish at Iowa. This matched the longest top-10 stretch of his career, which he set in 2022.
Reddick, for comparison, scored his ninth top-10 finish of the season and his first since Sonoma in mid-July.
He did not clinch his spot in the playoffs, but he left Watkins Glen International 117 points above the cutline.
He can clinch his spot next weekend at Richmond Raceway if he is 57 points ahead of Chris Buescher and Alex Bowman, even if a new winner captures the short track race.
"Everyone on the No. 45 Beast Toyota Camry did a good job executing strategy," Reddick said. "We faded pretty hard at the end there.
"It was good that it worked out and we were able to get a top-10 out of it, but yeah, we didn't qualify good, and we couldn't make any progress at the start. So very fortunate, but overall good points day."
Interestingly, 23XI Racing was not the only organization that achieved a new feat at Watkins Glen International. Trackhouse Racing also put all three of its drivers inside the top 10 for the first time ever. Shane van Gisbergen won the race while Daniel Suarez and Ross Chastain finished seventh and 10th, respectively.