One of the early surprises in the NASCAR Cup Series this season has been rookie Tyler Reddick.

The two-time NASCAR Xfinity Series Champion enters this weekend at Phoenix Raceway back-to-back top-20’s following an 11th-place run last weekend at Auto Club Speedway, in a race where he ran towards the front for majority of the day.

“We’ve had some really good potential finishes, but our runs have been OK,” Reddick said Friday. “We’re trying to make our cars better. This will be a big test of where we stack up and where I stack up especially as a short track driver compared to these guys that are really good at this.”

After winning six races last season in NASCAR’s second-tier series there was going to be noticeable change in competition. However, in his short time in Cup, Reddick has taken notice on hard it just to score a top-15.

“It’s a huge jump. I feel like what would have been battling for top-two or three in the Xfinity side is what you’re dealing with when you’re battling just to get into the top-15,” Reddick said.“There’s a lot of good drivers. It’s pretty crazy. You have a lot of guys that are very successful that you’re racing around. Most of the day, I remember being around Martin Truex Jr., a lot of the Gibbs’ cars, some of the other guys like Joey (Logano), it’s just tough. It’s just part of it, but it’s been a lot of fun. It makes the racing fun and it’s really cool to race against those guys. Still, even the guys like them, they have bad days. We just have to try to capitalize on it, make the most out of those days and try to get good finishes. You’re probably going to out-run some really good cars on days when you’re running that good yourself. It just goes to show how tough it is.”

With this weekend being the end of the west coast swing, the driver of the No. 8 Chevrolet believes the four-race stretch will serve as a good evaluation of his team’s early season progress.

“We had a pretty good idea after Fontana on what we need to do going into Atlanta and Homestead,” Reddick said. “This will kind of set us up and tell us what we need to do for when we come back here in November. More importantly, where I stack up and where we stack up working together as a team after this race Sunday.”

Looking at this weekend at Phoenix Raceway, Reddick may be looking at another positive weekend if his past performance at the track any indication is as he scored two third-place finishes last season.