HOMESTEAD, Fla. – The regular season championship leaders will start alongside one another on the front row for Sunday’s Straight Talk Wireless 400 Playoff race at Homestead-Miami Speedway (2:30 p.m. ET on NBC, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) with 23XI Racing’s Tyler Reddick besting Hendrick Motorsports’ Kyle Larson by a slight .113-second Saturday morning to claim the pole position.
This is the 28-year-old Californian Reddick’s third pole of the season in the No. 45 23XI Racing Toyota – ninth of his career – and comes at a crucial time in the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs’ Round of 8 with Sunday the second of three races that will decide which four drivers advance to the Nov. 10 Phoenix race championship eligible to hoist the big trophy.
Reddick, a two-time NASCAR Xfinity Series winner at the 1.5-miler, turned a lap of 167.452 mph in the Toyota Camry to set the pace and importantly, earn the first pit stall selection. His work gave Toyota a three-series pole sweep for the weekend with Toyotas starting first starting positions in both Saturday’s NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series and NASCAR Xfinity Series races – the 13th time the make has done that.
“The pole has eluded me in the Cup series here, we’ve been very close and just needed a very good round two I think for our group, we ran a really good lap for sure,” said Reddick, the Regular Season Champion, who arrives in South Florida ranked sixth in the championship standings, 30 points behind Hendrick Motorsports’ William Byron in that all-important fourth place transfer position.
“It’s always nice to run a really good lap, but when you run your lap and five cars go after you, you know they have the opportunity to adjust, so I was curious to see what the 5 [Larson]and 20 {Christopher Bell] were going to do there and obviously, the 5 got pretty close.
“All in all, it was a great day for us and looking forward to the race tomorrow.”
Toyotas and Chevrolets dominated the opening round of qualifying putting five cars each into the final one-lap run for the pole. Joe Gibbs Racing’s Christopher Bell – the current Playoff points leader – will start third in the No. 20 Toyota, alongside teammate and three-time Homestead winner Denny Hamlin in the No. 11 Toyota.
Ricky Stenhouse Jr., who won the Talladega, Ala. Playoff race three weeks ago, will start the No. 47 JTG-Daugherty Racing Chevrolet fifth with JGR’s Martin Truex Jr. starting sixth in the No. 19 Toyota.
Hendrick Motorsports’ Chase Elliott, who goes into the race ranked last among the eight Playoff drivers – 53 points below the cutoff line – will start the No. 9 Chevrolet seventh alongside JGR’s Martin Truex Jr. in the No. 19 Toyota. Kaulig Raing’s Daniel Hemric and Spire Motorsports’ Justin Haley will start their Chevrolets from the fifth row – marking the best qualifying effort of the year for Haley and first time he’s advanced to the final round.
No Fords advanced to the final round for the first time since the Circuit of The Americas (COTA) race on March 24. Stewart-Haas Racing’s Josh Berry was the fastest Mustang Saturday and will start 12th.
Only three Playoff drivers did not advance to the 10-car final qualifying round. Among them, reigning series champion, Team Penske’s Ryan Blaney, who will start his No. 12 Team Penske Ford Mustang 20th on the grid. He’s currently ranked seventh of the eight drivers, 47 points below the cutoff line.
Hendrick Motorsports’ William Byron – the 2021 Homestead winner – will roll off 25th in the No. 24 Chevrolet. He is in that all-important fourth position in the standings, 27 points up on Hamlin in fifth.
Team Penske’s Joey Logano – who earned the first of four Championship 4 berths with a Las Vegas win last week – qualified 26th but will start from the rear after his No. 22 Penske team made a steering system change post-qualifying.
Of note, the pole-winner has won the Homestead race only one time since 2002 – Hamlin in 2020.
Source: Holly Cain | NASCAR Wire Service[table=4216]
