Tyler Reddick has been awarded the pole position for this weekend’s NASCAR Cup Series’ Jack Link’s 500 at Talladega Superspeedway on Saturday, April 25.
The event’s starting lineup was initially going to be determined through a two-round qualifying session. The first session would feature 41 competitors battling for 40 starting spots cycling around Talladega once to post the fastest lap amongst one another. At the conclusion of the first session, the top-10 fastest qualifiers would transfer to the second and final round, and compete for the pole position.
However, Saturday’s qualifying session was canceled due to rain. As a result, the lineup was determined using a qualifying metric formula from the NASCAR rulebook. The formula involved evaluating competitors’ results from the most recent event and owner standings. This resulted in Reddick being awarded the first-place starting spot as he is coming off last weekend’s victory at Kansas Speedway and is leading the Cup standings, both on the driver’s and owner’s side, by 105 points.
This marks Reddick’s second awarded Cup pole of the 2026 season. He was awarded the pole at EchoPark Speedway in mid-February due to rain and lightening canceling the event’s qualifying session, and he proceeded to win the event. With his latest awarded pole, Reddick will contend for his sixth Cup victory of the 2026 season and his second at Talladega on Sunday. Sunday’s Talladega event is also set to mark Reddick’s first featuring Rockstar Energy as a sponsor to his No. 45 23XI Racing Toyota Camry XSE entry.
Reddick will share the front row with Kyle Larson, the latter of whom has finished in the top-five mark twice over the last two of three Talladega events and finished second to Reddick at Kansas. Denny Hamlin, Bubba Wallace and Chase Briscoe will start in the top five, while Brad Keselowski, William Byron, Chase Elliott, Ty Gibbs and Chris Buescher complete the top-10 starting grid, respectively.
Notably, Austin Cindric, the reigning Talladega spring winner, will start 13th while Daniel Dye will start at the tail end of the field in 40th for his Cup Series debut while driving for Live Fast Motorsports.
With 41 competitors vying for 40-starting spots, Casey Mears was the lone competitor who did not make the main event. This was due to Mears piloting the No. 62 Beard Motorsports Chevrolet entry that did not qualify during its latest race attempt, which was this year’s Daytona 500 in February.
Talladega – Qualifying Position, Best Speed, Best Time:
- Tyler Reddick
- Kyle Larson
- Denny Hamlin
- Bubba Wallace
- Chase Briscoe
- Brad Keselowski
- William Byron
- Chase Elliott
- Ty Gibbs
- Chris Buescher
- Ryan Preece
- Carson Hocevar
- Austin Cindric
- Christopher Bell
- Ryan Blaney
- Daniel Suarez
- Riley Herbst
- Austin Dillon
- Todd Gilliland
- Alex Bowman
- Erik Jones
- Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
- John Hunter Nemechek
- Ross Chastain
- Joey Logano
- Josh Berry
- Cole Custer
- AJ Allmendinger
- Noah Gragson
- Zane Smith
- Michael McDowell
- Connor Zilisch
- Shane van Gisbergen
- Kyle Busch
- Ty Dillon
- Cody Ware
- Jesse Love
- Chad Finchum
- Joey Gase
- Daniel Dye
The 2026 Jack Link’s 500 at Talladega Superspeedway is scheduled to occur on Sunday, April 26, and air at 3 p.m. ET on FOX, MRN Radio, SiriusXM and HBO MAX.
