By Mike Haag, Raceday San Antonio
AUSTIN, Texas — Tyler Reddick’s early-season surge rolled on Saturday at Circuit of the Americas, where the 23XI Racing driver secured the pole position for Sunday’s DuraMAX Texas Grand Prix Powered by RelaDyne and strengthened his bid for a historic third consecutive NASCAR Cup Series victory.
Reddick navigated the 2.4-mile, 17-turn road course in 97.760 seconds (88.380 mph) during the second qualifying group to earn his 12th career pole and third at COTA. It marks the second straight year he’ll lead the field to green at the Austin circuit.
The pole carries added significance. With victories in the season’s first two races, most recently at EchoPark Speedway near Atlanta, Reddick is attempting to become the first driver in NASCAR history to open a season with three straight wins.
“It helps the chances, certainly,” said Reddick, who owns a series-best 4.6 average finish at COTA, including a win in 2023. “I think starting up front is huge.”
Trackhouse Racing’s Ross Chastain, the 2022 COTA winner, will join Reddick on the front row after posting a lap of 88.256 mph (97.897 seconds), his first top-10 start of the season and third in six career starts at the track.
The top five featured five different race organizations. Chase Briscoe qualified third at 88.242 mph, followed by Ryan Blaney (88.179 mph) and Chase Elliott (88.161 mph), who leads active drivers with seven road-course victories.
Michael McDowell paced the first qualifying group but ultimately settled for sixth. AJ Allmendinger will start seventh, with defending race winner Christopher Bell eighth, followed by Ty Gibbs and William Byron.
While Chastain impressed, it was a frustrating qualifying session for his Trackhouse teammates. Shane van Gisbergen, one of the sport’s premier road-course racers, qualified 13th as he seeks a sixth consecutive road-course win, which would tie a NASCAR record set by NASCAR Hall of Famer Jeff Gordon.
Elsewhere, RFK Racing’s Brad Keselowski qualified 26th as he continues to recover from a broken right femur suffered in December. Ford reserve driver Joey Hand is on standby should Keselowski require relief during Sunday’s race.
In other weekend action at COTA, Wyatt Brichacek captured the P3 class victory in Saturday’s IMSA VP Racing SportsCar Challenge race, with Oscar Tunjo finishing second and Austin native Danny Soufi third. Westin Workman won the GSX class, followed by Courtney Crone and the team of Tyler Hoffman and Jon Brel.
Sunday’s marquee DuraMAX Texas Grand Prix Powered by RelaDyne is scheduled for 2:30 p.m. CT (3:30 p.m. ET) with coverage on FOX, PRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.
Interviews:
NCS Pole Winner – Tyler Reddick (No. 45 23XI Racing Toyota) –
AJ Allmendinger (No. 16 Kaulig Racing Chevrolet) –
Carson Hocevar (No. 77 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet) –
Ross Chastain (No. 1 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet) –
