Matt Weaver
The Indianapolis Grand Prix or the Brickyard 400.
It’s all the same to Tyler Reddick when it comes to qualifying at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. The 23XI Racing No. 45 scored its second consecutive pole at the Racing Capital of the World and will lead the field to green for the first Brickyard 400 in three years.
This is the eighth pole of his career following a 49.469 lap around the 2.5-mile oval most famous for hosting the Indianapolis 500 every May.
“It’s a big deal. Just starting towards the front is huge, but any additional spots we can get, once we got inside the seventh/eighth window is going to be huge for stage points in the beginning if it plays out, somewhat naturally, but also pit road here is narrow,” Reddick said. “These cars are wider than the gen 6 car, and the gen 6 race here that I was a part of, pit road was sketchy already, so expect pit road to be pretty chaotic already for the majority of the field and us having the option to choose first is going to really help us, I feel.”
Reddick won on the road course in 2022.
“I feel like I celebrated pretty hard when I won here in 2022, so I just hope to match it again,” Reddick said.
Reddick will be joined on the front row by Denny Hamlin, who co-owns the No. 45 car with sports legend Michael Jordan. Hamlin earned the second spot with a 49.589 lap in the Joe Gibbs Racing No. 11. Hendrick Motorsports earned the next three spots with Chase Elliott, William Byron and Kyle Larson.
Currently holding the final provisional playoff spot, Ross Chastain will start 28th and the first driver out, Bubba Wallace, will start 17th. Former winners Jimmie Johnson and Kyle Busch start 33rd and 34th respectively.
Austin Cindric starts 38th after hitting the wall during his timed run.
Starting lineup
Tyler Reddick
Denny Hamlin
Chase Elliott
William Byron
Kyle Larson
Ty Gibbs
Ryan Blaney
Michael McDowell
Ricky Stenhouse, Jr.
John Hunter Nemechek
Austin Dillon
Joey Logano
Alex Bowman
Martin Truex, Jr.*
AJ Allmendinger
Harrison Burton
Bubba Wallace
Christopher Bell
Corey LaJoie
Chase Briscoe
Noah Gragson
Ty Dillon
Chris Buescher
Todd Gilliland
Daniel Suarez
Brad Keselowski
Zane Smith
Ross Chastain
Erik Jones
Carson Hocevar
Ryan Preece
Daniel Hemric
Jimmie Johnson
Kyle Busch
Justin Haley
Cody Ware
Josh Berry
Austin Cindric
BJ McLeod
*After passing pre-race inspection, Martin Truex Jr’s team made an unapproved adjustment and will lose pit stall selection, start at the rear of the field and must perform a pass-through pit road penalty at the start of the race.
