Despite making some significant contact with the outside wall during his qualifying run in the first round, Tyler Reddick has rebounded to score the pole for Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series Cook Out 400 at Richmond Raceway.
Reddick, behind the wheel of the No. 45 XFINITY 10G Toyota Camry TRD, put down the fastest time in the final round of Saturday’s qualifying session from the three-quarter-mile facility, running a 23.749s (113.689mph) lap en route to his first pole of 2023.
The pole position is the fifth for Reddick at NASCAR’s top-level and the second in the three-season history of 23XI Racing – the first of which was scored by Bubba Wallace at Michigan in 2022.
Kyle Busch, driving the entry in which Reddick used to occupy the seat, will start on the outside of the front row for Sunday’s 400-lap race, after posting a lap just 11 thousandths of a second slower than the eventual polesitter.
Denny Hamlin, the co-owner of the pole-winning Toyota Camry, will start from third place and will have the other entry in which he owns starting fifth with Bubba Wallace in the No. 23 Toyota Camry TRD.
Chase Elliott earned a fourth-place qualifying result for Sunday’s race, but will have to give up his pit selection rights after the No. 9 Chevrolet Camaro failed pre-qualifying inspection twice on Saturday. Ross Chastain (P19) and Justin Hale (P28) will have to do the same.
William Byron will start from sixth, with Ty Gibbs, Kevin Harvick, Ricky Stenhouse, Jr., and Martin Truex, Jr. completing the top-10, as the drivers who advanced to the second and final round of Saturday’s qualifying session.
Things got interesting as qualifying moved to Group B, with the majority of the drivers in the second group all outpacing those who failed to advance to the final round of qualifying from Group A.
That apparent change in track conditions made for some interesting qualifying results for those that failed to make the second round, beginning with Ryan Preece and Noah Gragson, who will start 11th and 12th after barely missing out.
Meanwhile, Harrison Burton, who was sixth-fastest in Group A and the first of those that didn’t advance to the final round of qualifying, had his lap time of 23.951 only be good enough for a 22nd-place starting spot.
One spot ahead of Burton was BJ McLeod, driving the No. 78 Chevrolet Camaro for independent team Live Fast Motorsports, who earned their best-ever starting spot throughout their tenure in the NASCAR Cup Series, 21st.
Other notable drivers who failed to advance to the second round of qualifying include Brad Keselowski (13th), Kyle Larson (14th), Alex Bowman (15th), Ross Chastain (19th), Joey Logano (23rd), Ryan Blaney (25th), Christopher Bell (29th), Austin Cindric (30th), and Daniel Suarez (33rd).
Derek Kraus, driving the No. 16 Chevrolet Camaro for Kaulig Racing, posted the slowest time in Saturday’s qualifying session, after being tapped by the organization to practice and qualify the entry on Saturday. AJ Allmendinger, the team’s usual driver, is competing in the Xfinity Series event at Road America.
2023 NASCAR Cup Series Cook Out 400 Qualifying Results:
Qualifying Results: NASCAR Cup Series Cook Out 400 at Richmond
