Reddick Roars To Busch Pole For Homestead Playoff Race

Tyler Reddick celebrates the Busch Light Pole Award at Homestead-Miami Speedway. (Gavin Baker/NKP for Toyota Racing photo)

HOMESTEAD, Fla. – One of the best at ripping the fence around Homestead-Miami Speedway will lead the field to the green flag for the middle race in the semifinal round of the NASCAR Cup Series playoffs.

Tyler Reddick earned the Busch Light Pole Award Saturday morning during Cup Series qualifying with a sizzling lap of 32.248 seconds (167.452 mph) in the No. 45 Beast Killer Sunrise Toyota Camry XSE for 23XI Racing.

He led both rounds of knockout qualifying and out-paced fellow dirt-track ace Kyle Larson by .077 seconds in the pole shootout.

“This Beast Camry is really, really fast,” said Reddick after his ninth career Cup Series pole and third this season. “It was nice to be able to capitalize on qualifying. All things considered, despite how last week ended, we’re picking up right where we left off speed-wise to be honest.

“I’m excited for the race because this is my kind of place.”

Interestingly, all nine of Reddick’s top qualifying efforts at NASCAR’s premier level have come at different racetracks.

Reddick raced dirt late models growing up, while Larson predominately raced sprint cars and midgets, but both learned how to handle a race car in low-grip scenarios. Those skills will be key in Sunday’s Straight Talk Wireless 400, when drivers battle on the sunbaked, slippery 1.5-mile Homestead oval.

“We know what we need to do, and that’s to go win,” said Reddick, who comes into Sunday’s event 30 points below the cutoff line. “The goal at Homestead is to manage your equipment and fall-off over the course of green-flag runs, and if we can do that and execute, we should be in position to finish things off when it matters most.”

While Reddick was the overall fastest qualifier among the final 10 drivers, Larson was best among the Group B competitors and joins Reddick on the front row after a time of 32.325 seconds (167.053 mph) in the No. 5 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 for Hendrick Motorsports.

Larson won in Miami two years ago after leading 199 of 267 laps and owns five top-five finishes in 10 starts at the South Florida facility.

Joe Gibbs Racing teammates Christopher Bell and Denny Hamlin share the second row of the starting grid, with JTG-Daugherty Racing’s Ricky Stenhouse Jr. ranking fifth and best among the non-playoff contenders hoping to be spoilers Sunday afternoon.

Martin Truex Jr., Chase Elliott, Bubba Wallace, Daniel Hemric, and Justin Haley closed out the top 10 starters that advanced through both rounds of time trials.

Alex Bowman (Group B) and Josh Berry (Group A) were the first drivers in their respective groups who failed to make the transfer into the pole shootout. They’ll start 11th and 12th, respectively.

Other notables lining up deeper in the field include rookie Carson Hocevar (15th), two-time Cup Series champion Kyle Busch (17th), Brad Keselowski (18th), and playoff drivers Ryan Blaney (20th), William Byron (25th), and Joey Logano (26th).

Though he starts worst among the championship hopefuls, Logano is the only driver already locked into the Championship 4 after his win at Las Vegas (Nev.) Motor Speedway on Oct. 20.

Broadcast coverage of Sunday’s Straight Talk Wireless 400 is slated for 2:30 p.m. ET, live on NBC, the Motor Racing Network, and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, channel 90.