RICHMOND, Va. — 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. He outpaced Richard Childress Racing’s Kyle Busch — the track’s winningest active driver — in the No. RCR Chevrolet by a slight .011-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 Cook Out 400 (3 p.m. ET, USA Network, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
“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.”
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 as well. And with Toyota winning three of the last six races — including the last two — he is optimistic about the make’s chances come Sunday.
“I feel like we’ve been really strong since the year started,” Reddick said, adding, “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.”
Joe Gibbs Racing’s Denny Hamlin, Hendrick Motorsports’ Chase Elliott and Reddick’s teammate Bubba Wallace rounded out the Top Five at the 0.75-mile Richmond oval.
Hendrick’s William Byron, JGR rookie Ty Gibbs, defending race winner Stewart Haas Racing’s Kevin Harvick, JTG Daugherty Racing’s Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and current NASCAR Cup Series championship leader, JGR’s Martin Truex Jr. rounded out the Top-10 cars that advanced to final qualifying.
Hendrick Motorsports’ Kyle Larson, who won at Richmond in the Spring, will roll off 14th.
Of note, the cars of Ross Chastain (No. 1 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet), Chase Elliott (No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet) and Justin Haley (No. 31 Kaulig Racing Chevrolet) failed pre-race inspection twice and will lose their car chiefs and pit selections for Sunday’s race.
NASCAR Cup Series Qualifying — Cook Out 400
Richmond Raceway
Richmond, Virginia
Saturday, July 29, 2023
1. (45) Tyler Reddick, Toyota, 113.689 mph.
2. (8) Kyle Busch, Chevrolet, 113.636 mph.
3. (11) Denny Hamlin, Toyota, 113.536 mph.
4. (9) Chase Elliott, Chevrolet, 113.503 mph.
5. (23) Bubba Wallace, Toyota, 113.374 mph.
6. (24) William Byron, Chevrolet, 113.369 mph.
7. (54) Ty Gibbs #, Toyota, 113.355 mph.
8. (4) Kevin Harvick, Ford, 113.246 mph.
9. (47) Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Chevrolet, 112.843 mph.
10. (19) Martin Truex Jr., Toyota, 112.622 mph.
11. (41) Ryan Preece, Ford, 0.000 mph.
12. (42) Noah Gragson #, Chevrolet, 0.000 mph.
13. (6) Brad Keselowski, Ford, 0.000 mph.
14. (5) Kyle Larson, Chevrolet, 0.000 mph.
15. (48) Alex Bowman, Chevrolet, 0.000 mph.
16. (38) Todd Gilliland, Ford, 0.000 mph.
17. (3) Austin Dillon, Chevrolet, 0.000 mph.
18. (34) Michael McDowell, Ford, 0.000 mph.
19. (1) Ross Chastain, Chevrolet, 0.000 mph.
20. (14) Chase Briscoe, Ford, 0.000 mph.
21. (78) BJ McLeod, Chevrolet, 0.000 mph.
22. (21) Harrison Burton, Ford, 0.000 mph.
23. (22) Joey Logano, Ford, 0.000 mph.
24. (10) Aric Almirola, Ford, 0.000 mph.
25. (12) Ryan Blaney, Ford, 0.000 mph.
26. (17) Chris Buescher, Ford, 0.000 mph.
27. (43) Erik Jones, Chevrolet, 0.000 mph.
28. (31) Justin Haley, Chevrolet, 0.000 mph.
29. (20) Christopher Bell, Toyota, 0.000 mph.
30. (2) Austin Cindric, Ford, 0.000 mph.
31. (7) Corey LaJoie, Chevrolet, 0.000 mph.
32. (51) Ryan Newman, Ford, 0.000 mph.
33. (99) Daniel Suarez, Chevrolet, 0.000 mph.
34. (77) Ty Dillon, Chevrolet, 0.000 mph.
35. (15) JJ Yeley(i), Ford, 0.000 mph.
36. (16) Derek Kraus(i), Chevrolet, 0.000 mph
–By Holly Cain, NASCAR Wire Service. Special to Field Level Media