Tyler Reddick earned his first NASCAR Cup Series pole the season — and first with his new team, 23XI Racing — Saturday afternoon with a lap of 113.669 mph in the No. 45 Toyota at Richmond Raceway. He outpaced Richard Childress Racing’s Kyle Busch — the track’s winningest active driver — by 11-thousandths of a second.
“Really excited to be on the pole for the first time this year with 23XI and nice to finally get that first pole with the team,’’ said Reddick, who made slight contact with the Turn 4 wall during the first session of qualifying and wasn’t sure if the team would need to make any repairs before Sunday’s 3 p.m. Cook Out 400.
“I pretty much knew I was going to hit the wall, but I knew if I lifted, I wasn’t going to be able to make that second round, so I stayed in it,’’ Reddick said of the close call. “Hit the wall pretty good but was able to transfer into that second round.’’
Reddick, a 27-year-old Californian, won this year at the Circuit of the Americas road course in Austin, Texas.
Richmond-area native Denny Hamlin, Chase Elliott and Bubba Wallace rounded out the top five at the 0.75-mile oval.
William Byron, Ty Gibbs, defending race winner Kevin Harvick, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Cup points leader Martin Truex Jr. were in spots 6-10. Kyle Larson, who won at Richmond in the spring, will roll off 14th.
The Chevrolets of Ross Chastain (No. 1), Elliott (No. 9) and Justin Haley (No. 31) failed pre-race inspection twice and will lose their car chiefs and pit selections for the race.
