Tyler Reddick led a historic front-row sweep for 23XI Racing at Circuit of the Americas (COTA) by capturing the Busch Light Pole Award for the fifth annual running of the EchoPark Automotive Grand Prix on Saturday, March 1.
The event’s starting lineup was determined through a single qualifying round, where the entered competitors were split into two groups, Group A and Group B, after the event’s two practice sessions. The competitors in each group were given 20 minutes to post a qualifying lap. After the time trials, the driver posting the overall fastest lap time is awarded the pole position.
Reddick, who qualified in Group B, navigated his No. 45 The Beast Toyota Camry XSE entry around COTA’s new 17-turn layout to a pole-winning lap at 88.095 mph in 98.076 seconds, which was enough to claim the top-starting spot over his 23XI Racing teammate, Bubba Wallace, as both performed their respective qualifying laps at the exact time while racing within reach of one another.
As a result, Reddick, a two-time Xfinity Series champion from Corning, California, notched his 10th NASCAR Cup Series career pole, his fourth on a road-course venue, his second at COTA and the first of the 2025 season for both himself and 23XI Racing. Ironically, Reddick achieved the Cup Series’ first pole at COTA in 2021 and he would capture his first race victory driving for 23XI Racing in 2023.
After being the 16th fastest during both of the event’s practice sessions earlier on Saturday, Reddick was pleased with the pace gained during his qualifying session which enabled him to claim the pole as he will lead the field to the start of Sunday’s main event.
“I think today, it threw [the team] for a loop,” Reddick said on Prime Video. “The pace was nowhere what we thought it was going to be. Everybody here on this No. 45 [team] and everyone here at 23XI [Racing] really had to go to work on our Toyota Camrys. We made massive improvements from practice 1 to practice 2. Obviously, we didn’t have the fire-off lap we were wanting and then, we’re gonna have to go out [to the track] and find it right away. Just really glad today went like it did. It’s gonna be a great track position for us tomorrow.”
Reddick will share the front row with teammate Bubba Wallace, the latter of whom clocked in his best qualifying lap at 87.894 mph in 98.300 seconds. As a result, both of the latter two competitors notched the first front-row sweep for 23XI Racing for an upcoming Cup Series event.
The second-place starting spot marks Wallace’s current best of the 2025 season and his second top-three starting spot achieved after he started in third place during this year’s 67th running of the Daytona 500 due to winning the first Daytona Duel event in February. Compared to Reddick, the Mobile, Alabama native’s best result at COTA is 15th place, which occurred during the 2024 event. After sustaining DNFs during his first three trips in Austin between 2021 to 2023, Wallace will attempt to bid for his first road-course victory for Sunday’s main event.
Like Reddick, Wallace was also pleased with the pace gained in comparison to the event’s two practice sessions, where he ranged within the top-20 mark, to launch himself to a front-row starting spot.
“When we come to the road course races, I think everybody on the Toyota camp leans on Tyler [Reddick],” Wallace said. “He does a great job of giving us the right information to chase, sometimes. I was way out in left field in practice, so we made some big gains on our Mobil 1 Toyota. Now, tomorrow’s a different pace for me, the racing and being aggressive and staying up front. That’ll be the new challenge, but all in all, just continuing to get speed and getting more comfortable on these types of places, it’s what it’s all about. [It’s] All about the men and women at 23XI Racing.”
Chase Elliott, winner of the inaugural COTA event in 2021, leaped his way to being the third-fastest competitor on the final qualifying chart with his best lap occurring at 87.842 mph in 98.358 seconds. Carson Hocevar, who is coming off a career-best second-place result from Atlanta Motor Speedway, qualified in fourth place with his best lap occurring at 87.758 mph in 98.453 seconds while Daniel Suarez, who was the fastest competitor during Group A, claimed the fifth-starting spot with his best lap occurring at 87.732 mph in 98.482 seconds.
Rookie Shane van Gisbergen, Kyle Larson, Kyle Busch, Ross Chastain and Todd Gilliland rounded out the top-10 starting spots.
The following names that include Denny Hamlin, AJ Allmendinger, Ty Gibbs, William Byron, Michael McDowell, Chase Briscoe, Christopher Bell, Alex Bowman, Joey Logano, Chris Buescher, Ryan Blaney, Brad Keselowski, Erik Jones and Austin Cindric qualified 11th, 12th, 13th, 15th, 16th, 18th, 19th, 21st, 23rd, 24th, 25th, 26th, 32nd and 36th, respectively.
Notably, Connor Zilisch qualified in 14th place for his Cup Series debut. In addition, rookie Riley Herbst, who was initially the fastest qualifier until he was penalized for cutting the course, will start in 31st place after he made a second qualifying attempt.
With 37 competitors vying for 37 starting spots, all of the competitors made the main event.
Qualifying position, best speed, best time:
1. Tyler Reddick, 88.095 mph, 98.076 seconds
2. Bubba Wallace, 87.894 mph, 98.30 seconds
3. Chase Elliott, 87.842 mph, 98.358 seconds
4. Carson Hocevar, 87.758 mph, 98.453 seconds
5. Daniel Suarez, 87.732 mph, 98.482 seconds
6. Shane van Gisbergen, 87.699 mph, 98.519 seconds
7. Kyle Larson, 87.645 mph, 98.579 seconds
8. Kyle Busch, 87.637 mph, 98.589 seconds
9. Ross Chastain, 87.536 mph, 98.702 seconds
10. Todd Gilliland, 87.522 mph, 98.718 seconds
11. Denny Hamlin, 87.503 mph, 98.74 seconds
12. AJ Allmendinger, 87.463 mph, 98.785 seconds
13. Ty Gibbs, 87.407 mph, 98.848 seconds
14. Connor Zilisch, 87.336 mph, 98.928 seconds
15. William Byron, 87.186 mph, 99.098 seconds
16. Michael McDowell, 87.111 mph, 99.184 seconds
17. Noah Gragson, 87.092 mph, 99.205 seconds
18. Chase Briscoe, 87.088 mph, 99.21 seconds
19. Christopher Bell, 87.084 mph, 99.215 seconds
20. Zane Smith, 87.064 mph, 99.237 seconds
21. Alex Bowman, 87.063 mph, 99.239 seconds
22. Ricky Stenhouse Jr., 86.949 mph, 99.369 seconds
23. Joey Logano, 86.899 mph, 99.426 seconds
24. Chris Buescher, 86.873 mph, 99.456 seconds
25. Ryan Blaney, 86.843 mph, 99.49 seconds
26. Brad Keselowski, 86.798 mph, 99.541 seconds
27. Austin Dillon, 86.791 mph, 99.55 seconds
28. Ryan Preece, 86.596 mph, 99.774 seconds
29. Justin Haley, 86.53 mph, 99.85 seconds
30. Cole Custer, 86.485 mph, 99.902 seconds
31. Riley Herbst, 86.459 mph, 99.932 seconds
32. Erik Jones, 86.408 mph, 99.991 seconds
33. John Hunter Nemechek, 86.362 mph, 100.044 seconds
34. Ty Dillon, 86.346 mph, 100.062 seconds
35. Josh Berry, 86.149 mph, 100.291 seconds
36. Austin Cindric, 85.798 mph, 100.702 seconds
37. Cody Ware, 84.654 mph, 102.062 seconds
The 2025 EchoPark Automotive Grand Prix at Circuit of the Americas is set to occur on Sunday, March 2, and air at 3:30 p.m. ET on FOX.
