By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service
CONCORD, N.C.—Tyler Reddick picked an ideal time to regain his form at the Charlotte Motor Speedway Road Course.
With a lap at 95.510 mph (85.939 seconds), Reddick edged three-time Australian Supercars champion Shane van Gisbergen for the pole position in Sunday’s Bank of America Roval 400 (3 p.m. ET on USA, PRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
Reddick, who claimed the top starting spot at the 17-turn layout in 2023, edged van Gisbergen (95.474 mph), winner of the last four NASCAR Cup Series races on road courses, by 0.032 seconds to earn his second Busch Light Pole Award of the season, his second at the 2.28-mile circuit and the 11th of his career.
In a qualifying session that featured unexpected severe fall-off of tires selected for all six road courses this season, Reddick put himself in position to overcome the 29-point deficit he faces entering the Round of 12 cutoff race in the Playoffs.
Reddick believes the tire factor may be the most important aspect in determining strategy for Sunday’s race.
“I think everybody that had a plan, an idea on the strategy for this race just had it completely ripped in half,” said Reddick, who posted three road course victories shortly after the transition to the Gen 7 car in 2022.
“All the teams are now looking at what the fall-off was like today and refiguring what the strategy’s going to look like. I would imagine that tires are going to be important to have late if there’s a caution, based on what we saw today.”
The top 10 drivers in time trials constituted a diverse mix of Playoff and non-Playoff drivers. With Reddick on the pole, Playoff drivers Kyle Larson, Christopher Bell, Chase Briscoe and Ross Chastain qualified fourth, seventh, eighth and 10th, respectively.
Behind van Gisbergen, Ty Gibbs (95.265 mph) was third fastest, followed by Chris Buescher (fifth), Michael McDowell (sixth) and AJ Allmendinger (ninth), as non-Playoff drivers accounted for five of the top 10 starters.
Playoff drivers Ryan Blaney, Bubba Wallace, William Byron, Denny Hamlin and Chase Elliott claimed positions 11 through 15 on the grid, respectively. Team Penske Playoff drivers Joey Logano, the defending series champion, and Austin Cindric will start 17th and 19th.
Logano holds the eighth position in the Cup standings, 13 points above the current elimination line for the Round of 8. Cindric is 48 points below the line, almost certainly needing a victory to advance.
Blaney and Elliott already have earned berths in the Round of 8 with their respective victories at New Hampshire and Kansas, respectively.
Van Gisbergen, who also started second in his most recent win at Watkins Glen, is seeking his fifth consecutive road course victory. The record for the Cup Series is six straight, set by Jeff Gordon (1997-2000).
