Tyler Reddick captured the pole for Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series playoff race at Homestead-Miami Speedway with a qualifying lap of 167.452 mph in the 23XI Racing No. 45 Toyota. It is Reddick’s third pole this season and the ninth of his career.
Notably, this achievement couldn’t have come at a better time. With only two races remaining in the Round of 8, he is currently 30 points below the Playoffs cutline and at risk of not advancing to the NASCAR Cup Series final 4.
Reflecting on his performance, Reddick said, “Yeah, the pole has kind of eluded me in the Cup Series here (Homestead-Miami Speedway). “We’ve been very close, we just needed to have a really good round two. Yeah, I think we, for our group, ran a really good lap for sure. Yeah, again, we were just fortunate where we were in Group A. It padded us a little bit.
“Yeah,” he added, “it’s always nice to run a really good lap.”But when you run your lap, and the 5 car (Larson) runs after you, you know they have time to adjust. Curious to see what the 5 and 20 (Christopher Bell) did there. “Obviously,” he said, “the 5 got pretty close.
“All-in-all,” he summarized, “it was a good day for us. And looking forward to the race tomorrow.” And looking forward to the race tomorrow.”
Four more playoff contenders will join Reddick in the top 10 including Kyle Larson (2nd), Christopher Bell (3rd) and Denny Hamlin (4th), and Chase Elliott (7th).
Playoff Drivers:
Three playoff drivers, including Ryan Blaney who will start 20th, and William Byron. who will begin the race in 25th, will start from a disadvantage. Joey Logano, who qualified in 26th, will start from the rear of the field after the team made a steering system change post-qualifying. After his win at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Logano is already guaranteed a spot in the championship Round of 4.
Sunday’s Straight Talk Wireless 400 Playoff race at Homestead-Miami Speedway will air at 2:30 p.m. ET on NBC with radio coverage provided by MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.
Current Cup Series Playoff Standings:
Logano +17
Bell +42
Larson +35
Byron +27
Hamlin -27
Reddick -30
Blaney -47
Elliott -53
Sunday’s Straight Talk Wireless 400 Playoff race at Homestead-Miami Speedway will air at 2:30 p.m. ET on NBC and the NBC Sports App. Radio coverage will be provided by MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.
The starting lineup for the Straight Talk Wireless 400
| Pos | No | Driver | Team | Time | Speed |
| 1 | 45 | Tyler Reddick (P) | The Beast Killer Sunrise Toyota | 32.248 | 167.452 |
| 2 | 5 | Kyle Larson (P) | HendrickCars.com Chevrolet | 32.325 | 167.053 |
| 3 | 20 | Christopher Bell (P) | Rheem Toyota | 32.369 | 166.826 |
| 4 | 11 | Denny Hamlin (P) | Mavis Tire Toyota | 32.428 | 166.523 |
| 5 | 47 | Ricky Stenhouse Jr. | Kroger/vitaminwater Chevrolet | 32.599 | 165.649 |
| 6 | 19 | Martin Truex Jr. | Bass Pro Shops Toyota | 32.469 | 166.312 |
| 7 | 9 | Chase Elliott (P) | NAPA Auto Parts Chevrolet | 32.693 | 165.173 |
| 8 | 23 | Bubba Wallace | McDonald’s/RMHC Toyota | 32.505 | 166.128 |
| 9 | 31 | Daniel Hemric | Cirkul Chevrolet | 33.059 | 163.344 |
| 10 | 7 | Justin Haley | Chili’s Catch-a-Rita Chevrolet | 32.596 | 165.664 |
| 11 | 48 | Alex Bowman | Ally Chevrolet | 32.441 | 166.456 |
| 12 | 4 | Josh Berry # | Panini Color Blast Ford | 32.383 | 166.754 |
| 13 | 14 | Chase Briscoe | Zep Ford | 32.48 | 166.256 |
| 14 | 54 | Ty Gibbs | Monster Energy Toyota | 32.393 | 166.703 |
| 15 | 77 | Carson Hocevar # | Zeigler Auto Group/LoJack Chevrolet | 32.518 | 166.062 |
| 16 | 10 | Noah Gragson | Beef A Roo Ford | 32.418 | 166.574 |
| 17 | 8 | Kyle Busch | Rebel Bourbon Chevrolet | 32.53 | 166.001 |
| 18 | 6 | Brad Keselowski | Consumer Cellular Ford | 32.465 | 166.333 |
| 19 | 71 | Zane Smith # | Wellcare Chevrolet | 32.537 | 165.965 |
| 20 | 12 | Ryan Blaney (P) | Menards/Richmond Water Heaters Ford | 32.477 | 166.272 |
| 21 | 17 | Chris Buescher | Fastenal Ford | 32.544 | 165.929 |
| 22 | 1 | Ross Chastain | Kubota Chevrolet | 32.507 | 166.118 |
| 23 | 99 | Daniel Suarez | FreewayFranchise.com Chevrolet | 32.554 | 165.878 |
| 24 | 34 | Michael McDowell | Love’s Travel Stops Ford | 32.51 | 166.103 |
| 25 | 24 | William Byron (P) | Valvoline Chevrolet | 32.581 | 165.741 |
| 26 | 22 | Joey Logano (P) | Hunt Brothers Pizza Ford | 32.562 | 165.837 |
| 27 | 15 | Kaz Grala # | Meat N’ Bone Ford | 32.644 | 165.421 |
| 28 | 43 | Erik Jones | Dollar Tree Toyota | 32.577 | 165.761 |
| 29 | 42 | John Hunter Nemechek | Family Dollar Toyota | 32.652 | 165.38 |
| 30 | 3 | Austin Dillon | Bass Pro Shops/Tracker Boats Chevrolet | 32.597 | 165.659 |
| 31 | 38 | Todd Gilliland | gener8tor Ford | 32.703 | 165.122 |
| 32 | 16 | AJ Allmendinger(i) | Worldwide Express Chevrolet | 32.637 | 165.456 |
| 33 | 51 | Corey LaJoie | Schluter Systems Ford | 32.801 | 164.629 |
| 34 | 21 | Harrison Burton | DEX Imaging Ford | 32.653 | 165.375 |
| 35 | 41 | Ryan Preece | Bonanza Cabernet Ford | 32.844 | 164.414 |
| 36 | 2 | Austin Cindric | Freightliner Ford | 32.81 | 164.584 |
| 37 | 44 | JJ Yeley(i) | Urban Youth Chevrolet | 33.063 | 163.325 |
| 38 | 66 | Chad Finchum(i) | GreenLightPP.com Ford | 33.794 | 159.792 |
