{"id":60511,"date":"2026-09-05T18:45:37","date_gmt":"2026-09-05T23:45:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/?p=60511"},"modified":"2026-09-06T12:43:02","modified_gmt":"2026-09-06T17:43:02","slug":"reddick-starts-chase-from-pole-at-darlington-as-weather-cancels-qualifying","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/2026\/09\/05\/reddick-starts-chase-from-pole-at-darlington-as-weather-cancels-qualifying\/","title":{"rendered":"Reddick starts Chase from pole at Darlington as weather cancels qualifying"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Holly Cain, NASCAR Wire Service<\/em><\/p>\n

DARLINGTON, S.C. \u2013 Inclement weather necessitated the cancellation of Busch Light Pole Qualifying at Darlington (S.C.) Raceway Friday evening and no one was happier about the development than 23XI Racing\u2019s Tyler Reddick, who will now lead the field to green in Sunday night\u2019s Chase-opening Cook Out Southern 500 (5 p.m. ET, USA Network, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).<\/p>\n

This is the eighth time this season the five-race NASCAR Cup Series winner and driver of the No. 45 Toyota will start from the number one position on the grid \u2013 five times through a formal qualifying session and three others as a result of a cancelled session due to weather. <\/p>\n

\u201cThis is literally the best-case scenario for us,\u2019\u2019 said a smiling Reddick, who has now started among the top-10 at every Darlington race throughout his entire four-year career at 23XI Racing.<\/p>\n

Reddick led 77 of the 293 laps and won from pole position here in May.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were so strong here in the Spring,\u201d he said. \u201cIronically enough, as I kind of got going in Cup racing it was during COVID with no practice at all and I got very used to just having to figure it out in the first corner. <\/p>\n

\u201cSo for me, generally, I feel like we\u2019re in a really good spot most weekends when this happens. But beyond that, as strong as we were, I know teams may want to try thing to close the gap, but no one had that opportunity today so that helps us even more.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n

Reddick will share the front row with fellow title contender Spire Motorsports\u2019 Daniel Su\u00e1rez in the No. 7 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet. Chase drivers, Roush Fenway Keselowski\u2019s Ryan Preece and championship leader Joe Gibbs Racing\u2019s Denny Hamlin, will roll off third and fourth. <\/p>\n

Hamlin, whose five Darlington wins is most in the field, won the regular season title and starts the race with a 25-point advantage on the 16-driver championship field.<\/p>\n

Spire Motorsports\u2019 Michael McDowell, who is not championship-eligible, will start fifth followed by a pair of Chase drivers, Team Penske\u2019s Austin Cindric and JGR\u2019s Chase Briscoe, who is the two-time defending race winner and the only other multi-time winner among the field.<\/p>\n

Three non-Chase drivers \u2013 HYAK Motorsports\u2019 Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Richard Childress Racing\u2019s Austin Dillon, and Hendrick Motorsports’ Alex Bowman round out the top-10 on the grid.<\/p>\n

The rain-out metric has made for an interesting challenge for several of the other Chase drivers. JGR\u2019s Christopher Bell starts 11th with Penske\u2019s Joey Logano \u2013 a three-time series champion \u2013 13th on the grid. Reddick\u2019s 23XI Racing teammate Bubba Wallace will start 17th alongside Hendrick Motorsports\u2019 Chase Elliott \u2013 tops on the grid among the three title-chasing Hendrick team Chevrolets.<\/p>\n

Hendrick\u2019s William Byron (20th), Penske\u2019s Ryan Blaney (24th), JGR\u2019s Ty Gibbs (28th), Spire\u2019s Carson Hocevar (34th) and RFK\u2019s Chris Buescher (25th) round out the Chase field on the 38-car grid.<\/p>\n

Logano, Larson and Byron are all former Darlington race winners.<\/p>\n

Interview: Pole Sitter Tyler Reddick (No. 45 23XI Racing Toyota) –<\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

NASCAR Cup Series Qualifying – Cook Out Southern 500<\/strong><\/p>\n

Darlington Raceway<\/strong><\/div>\n
Darlington, South Carolina<\/strong><\/div>\n
Saturday, September 5, 2026<\/strong><\/div>\n
 <\/div>\n
\u2002\u2002\u2002\u2002\u2002\u2002    1. (45) Tyler Reddick (C) @, Toyota, 0.000 mph.<\/div>\n
\u2002\u2002\u2002\u2002\u2002\u2002    2. (7) Daniel Suarez (C) @, Chevrolet, 0.000 mph.<\/div>\n
\u2002\u2002\u2002\u2002\u2002\u2002    3. (60) Ryan Preece (C) @, Ford, 0.000 mph.<\/div>\n
\u2002\u2002\u2002\u2002\u2002\u2002    4. (11) Denny Hamlin (C) @, Toyota, 0.000 mph.<\/div>\n
\u2002\u2002\u2002\u2002\u2002\u2002    5. (71) Michael McDowell, Chevrolet, 0.000 mph.<\/div>\n
\u2002\u2002\u2002\u2002\u2002\u2002    6. (2) Austin Cindric (C) @, Ford, 0.000 mph.<\/div>\n
\u2002\u2002\u2002\u2002\u2002\u2002    7. (19) Chase Briscoe (C) @, Toyota, 0.000 mph.<\/div>\n
\u2002\u2002\u2002\u2002\u2002\u2002    8. (47) Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Chevrolet, 0.000 mph.<\/div>\n
\u2002\u2002\u2002\u2002\u2002\u2002    9. (3) Austin Dillon, Chevrolet, 0.000 mph.<\/div>\n
\u2002\u2002\u2002\u2002\u2002\u2002    10. (48) Alex Bowman, Chevrolet, 0.000 mph.<\/div>\n
\u2002\u2002\u2002\u2002\u2002\u2002    11. (20) Christopher Bell (C) @, Toyota, 0.000 mph.<\/div>\n
\u2002\u2002\u2002\u2002\u2002\u2002    12. (6) Brad Keselowski, Ford, 0.000 mph.<\/div>\n
\u2002\u2002\u2002\u2002\u2002\u2002    13. (22) Joey Logano (C) @, Ford, 0.000 mph.<\/div>\n
\u2002\u2002\u2002\u2002\u2002\u2002    14. (21) Josh Berry, Ford, 0.000 mph.<\/div>\n
\u2002\u2002\u2002\u2002\u2002\u2002    15. (35) Riley Herbst, Toyota, 0.000 mph.<\/div>\n
\u2002\u2002\u2002\u2002\u2002\u2002    16. (41) Cole Custer, Chevrolet, 0.000 mph.<\/div>\n
\u2002\u2002\u2002\u2002\u2002\u2002    17. (23) Bubba Wallace (C) @, Toyota, 0.000 mph.<\/div>\n
\u2002\u2002\u2002\u2002\u2002\u2002    18. (9) Chase Elliott (C) @, Chevrolet, 0.000 mph.<\/div>\n
\u2002\u2002\u2002\u2002\u2002\u2002    19. (42) John Hunter Nemechek, Toyota, 0.000 mph.<\/div>\n
\u2002\u2002\u2002\u2002\u2002\u2002    20. (24) William Byron (C) @, Chevrolet, 0.000 mph.<\/div>\n
\u2002\u2002\u2002\u2002\u2002\u2002    21. (34) Todd Gilliland, Ford, 0.000 mph.<\/div>\n
\u2002\u2002\u2002\u2002\u2002\u2002    22. (67) Corey Heim(i), Toyota, 0.000 mph.<\/div>\n
\u2002\u2002\u2002\u2002\u2002\u2002    23. (1) Ross Chastain, Chevrolet, 0.000 mph.<\/div>\n
\u2002\u2002\u2002\u2002\u2002\u2002    24. (12) Ryan Blaney (C) @, Ford, 0.000 mph.<\/div>\n
\u2002\u2002\u2002\u2002\u2002\u2002    25. (5) Kyle Larson (C) @, Chevrolet, 0.000 mph.<\/div>\n
\u2002\u2002\u2002\u2002\u2002\u2002    26. (97) Shane van Gisbergen, Chevrolet, 0.000 mph.<\/div>\n
\u2002\u2002\u2002\u2002\u2002\u2002    27. (10) Ty Dillon, Chevrolet, 0.000 mph.<\/div>\n
\u2002\u2002\u2002\u2002\u2002\u2002    28. (54) Ty Gibbs (C) @, Toyota, 0.000 mph.<\/div>\n
\u2002\u2002\u2002\u2002\u2002\u2002    29. (4) Noah Gragson, Ford, 0.000 mph.<\/div>\n
\u2002\u2002\u2002\u2002\u2002\u2002    30. (16) AJ Allmendinger, Chevrolet, 0.000 mph.<\/div>\n
\u2002\u2002\u2002\u2002\u2002\u2002    31. (88) Connor Zilisch #, Chevrolet, 0.000 mph.<\/div>\n
\u2002\u2002\u2002\u2002\u2002\u2002    32. (33) Austin Hill(i), Chevrolet, 0.000 mph.<\/div>\n
\u2002\u2002\u2002\u2002\u2002\u2002    33. (38) Zane Smith, Ford, 0.000 mph.<\/div>\n
\u2002\u2002\u2002\u2002\u2002\u2002    34. (77) Carson Hocevar (C) @, Chevrolet, 0.000 mph.<\/div>\n
\u2002\u2002\u2002\u2002\u2002\u2002    35. (17) Chris Buescher (C) @, Ford, 0.000 mph.<\/div>\n
\u2002\u2002\u2002\u2002\u2002\u2002    36. (43) Erik Jones, Toyota, 0.000 mph.<\/div>\n
\u2002\u2002\u2002\u2002\u2002\u2002    37. (51) Cody Ware, Chevrolet, 0.000 mph.<\/div>\n
\u2002\u2002\u2002\u2002\u2002\u2002    38. (66) Chad Finchum(i), Ford, 0.000 mph.<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Holly Cain, NASCAR Wire Service DARLINGTON, S.C. \u2013 Inclement weather necessitated the cancellation of Busch Light Pole Qualifying at Darlington (S.C.) Raceway Friday evening and no one was happier about the development than 23XI Racing\u2019s Tyler Reddick, who will now lead the field to green in Sunday night\u2019s Chase-opening Cook Out Southern 500 (5 p.m. ET, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":676,"featured_media":48733,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[11],"tags":[651,16,496],"class_list":["post-60511","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nascar","tag-darlington-raceway","tag-nascar","tag-tyler-reddick"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7hzTZ-fJZ","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/racedaysa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/GettyImages-2179648359-1-scaled.jpg?fit=2560%2C1706","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60511","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/676"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=60511"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60511\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":60524,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60511\/revisions\/60524"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/48733"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=60511"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=60511"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=60511"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}