Tyler Reddick earned his first Busch Light Pole Award of the season — and first with his new team, 23XI Racing — Saturday afternoon with a lap of 113.669 mph in the No. 45 23XI Racing Toyota at Richmond Raceway.
Reddick will lead the field to green for Sunday‘s Cook Out 400 (3 p.m. ET, USA Network, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, NBC Sports App) after winning his fifth career Cup Series pole in 132 starts. Richard Childress Racing‘s Kyle Busch will join Reddick on the front row.
“I‘m really excited to be on the pole for the first time this year with 23XI,” Reddick said. “We‘ve been really strong when we‘ve had the opportunities to qualify this year, and it is nice to get that first pole as a team.”
The Californian Reddick, 27, who has a win already this year at the Circuit of The Americas road course, was especially pleased to notch his first pole position for his new team. And with Toyota winning three of the last six races — including the last two — he’s optimistic about his chances come Sunday.
“I feel like we‘ve been really strong since the year started,‘‘ Reddick said. “We had the speed and were kind of giving away the races and opportunities, and all of us have done a better job of executing and closing out those races and getting those wins.‘‘
Denny Hamlin, Chase Elliott and Bubba Wallace rounded out Saturday‘s top five qualifiers.
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Denny Hamlin was the fastest in Group A qualifying at 114.606 mph, with William Byron, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Wallace and Elliott also advancing to the final round of qualifying.
Kevin Harvick was the fastest in Group B at 115.587 mph, with Martin Truex Jr., Ty Gibbs, Reddick and Busch also advancing.
Reddick scrubbed the outside retaining wall in Group B qualifying and scraped the right-rear and right-front quarter panels in the No. 45 Toyota.
“We will look it over and see; if there is anything super concerning, we will have to address that,” Reddick said of the damage. “We will just see how it goes.”
There are five more races left in the regular season. Truex leads Byron by 30 points in the battle for the regular-season championship. AJ Allmendinger is the first driver beneath the playoff elimination line, 17 points behind Michael McDowell.
PRACTICE RECAP
William Byron from Group A posted the fastest lap from Saturday‘s practice at Richmond (117.101 mph). Meanwhile, Tyler Reddick led Group B at 113.804 mph as the field split in half for two 20-minute sessions.
Chase Elliott, Chris Buescher and Erik Jones — all in Group A — also were among the fastest cars as drivers prepared for Sunday‘s race in Virginia.
Byron also showed the most speed over a 10-lap interval at 113.740 mph. Aric Almirola, Bubba Wallace, Buescher and Elliott rounded out the top five in 10-lap averages.
Kevin Harvick, in the No. 4 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford, ran over a piece of debris in Turn 4 late in Group B practice, and his team was examining the underside of the car afterward.
NASCAR Wire Service contributed to this report.