Reddick outlasts Elliott to claim first place in Brickyard 400

The No. 45 Toyota 23XI Racing car driven by Reddick has shown its speed since it first hit the track in Friday practice, when it was fastest in overall lap speed and in the 10-lap average.

He repeated his performance on Saturday, setting the fastest time in the first round of qualifying and being the last car to make the running in the final round, knocking Chase Elliott off the pole position with an average lap speed of 181.932 mph.

This is Reddick’s second pole of the season (the other was at Darlington) and eighth of his career.

Sunday’s race will be the Cup Series’ first at the oval since 2020. NASCAR debuted at the track in 1994 and held a single Cup race for 26 consecutive seasons until moving to the Indy Road track layout the past three years.

I made a mistake in the first turn but this Toyota Camry is so fast that I was able to make up for it the rest of the lap.

“I don’t know if you want to be lenient here. I felt a bit out of sorts but the pace is good and I have to take responsibility and give it my all for 23XI Racing. We have a long day tomorrow but the first pitstop selection will be crucial.”

Because of NASCAR’s new oval track configuration, Reddick’s co-owner Denny Hamlin will line up alongside him on the front row. Elliott will start third, William Byron fourth and Kyle Larson fifth.

Rounding out the top 10 will be Ty Gibbs, current series champion Ryan Blaney, last year’s Indy Road winner Michael McDowell, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and John Hunter Nemechek.

First round / Group B

Reddick, who was fastest in Friday’s practice, continued to show his speed and topped Group 2 with an average lap speed of 182.637 mph.

Elliott was second at 182.430 mph while his Hendrick Motorsports teammate Larson was third at 181.627 mph.

Also advancing to the final round of qualifying were Stenhouse and Blaney.

Among those who failed to qualify from Group B were: Austin Dillon, Alex Bowman, Bubba Wallace and Chris Buescher.

First round / Group A

Hamlin’s car, the last car to qualify, shot to the top of the leaderboard with an average lap speed of 181.690 mph.

McDowell was second fastest driver (181.638 mph) while Gibbs was third (181.638 mph).

Also qualified for the final round of the qualifiers from Group 1 were Byron and Nemechek.

During his fast lap, Austin Cindric spun and crashed his No. 2 Ford into the wall in Turn 4, though it didn’t appear to cause much damage.

Among those who failed to advance, in addition to Cindric, were Joey Logano, Martin Truex Jr. and Christopher Bell.