Tyler Reddick's battered No. 45 Toyota looked like it had no business winning Sunday's race at Atlanta, but Denny Hamlin explains how he managed to stay fast without a fender. According to Hamlin, the missing right-front fender wasn't nearly as catastrophic as it appeared. On the latest episode of Actions Detrimental, Hamlin breaks down why Reddick was able to maintain, and even showcase, elite speed despite visible body damage late in the Autotrader 400. There wasn't much of a drawback. 'As long as you can keep your bumper, the fender is not that important, as long as you can keep your front bumper intact,' Hamlin explained. 'The fender over the tire usually doesn’t mean a ton because it hits the front bumper, and then it goes over the car.' In other words, aerodynamically, Hamlin believes the front bumper does the heavy lifting. The fender, particularly in the next-gen car’s configuration, isn’t necessarily a direct air blocker in the way fans might assume. 'Well, the fender is not something that’s sitting straight,' Hamlin continued. 'It’s just more horizontal with the air. So, it’s just going over it. It’s not hitting it necessarily straight.' Reddick's damage occurred in a way that, remarkably, didn’t disrupt the core airflow around the nose of the car. That proved crucial on a drafting-style track like EchoPark Speedway, where front-end stability and momentum matter far more than cosmetic perfection. 'I think you can get away with no fender,' Hamlin said. 'It appears you can get away with no fender and still be fast.' Even more stunning was the fact that Hamlin and others didn’t observe any measurable drop-off: 'It looked like it just kind of broke in a really advantageous area where it didn’t affect his handling too much,' he added. 'I didn’t see any difference in his car, post that fender being gone.' Moreover, Kevin Harvick echoed similar disbelief on his Happy Hour show, noting that Reddick’s car almost looked quicker late in the race. On a track where attrition is expected and chaos defines the finish, Reddick simply survived long enough to capitalize. The defining moment came on the overtime restart. As Bubba Wallace drifted too high attempting to block Bubba Wallace, Reddick found clean air and drafting help at the perfect time. From there, the damaged Toyota held firm, fending off challengers to secure his second straight win to open 2026. For 23XI Racing, it was a masterclass in resilience. On the other hand, Reddick was proof that in modern NASCAR, aesthetics don’t win races, but as long as your aero balance is good, that can do it. As Hamlin made clear, sometimes losing a fender isn’t the disaster it looks like on TV. Regardless, it was an awesome moment as Reddick notched win No. 2 on the season.
