Reddick and 23XI Racing teammate Bubba Wallace were uncharacteristically not factors in the win a week ago at Kansas Speedway, despite the organization having won the three of the previous four races at the track.
They redeemed themselves Saturday at Darlington as Reddick went out early in the final round of qualifying and his average lap speed of 170.124 mph held off RFK Racing teammates Brad Keselowski and Chris Buescher to earn the top starting position for Sunday’s race.
Keselowski ended up second quick (170.018 mph) while Buescher was third (169.543 mph). Fellow Toyota driver Ty Gibbs was fourth and William Byron rounded out the top five.
The pole is the first this season for Reddick and his No. 45 Toyota team and seventh of his career. Nine different drivers have won poles in the first 13 qualifying sessions of the 2024 season.
“Just really excited to start on the pole. It really does seem like both the 23XI Racing cars are strong,” Reddick said. “I did run in a lot of traffic in practice, so I think we have some work to do there.
“It’s really nice to put the work in this week to have that kind of qualifying effort. Last week was tough. We didn’t lack any effort in trying to find ways to have a good week this week.”
Completing the top 10 starting lineup are last week’s race winner, Kyle Larson, Denny Hamlin, Wallace, Ross Chastain and Martin Truex Jr.
Round 1 / Group B
Hamlin, who was fast in practice, led the way in the second group with an average lap speed of 171.644 mph.
Wallace was second fastest (171.291 mph) and Keselowski ended up third (171.249 mph).
Also advancing to the final round of qualifying from Group B were Larson and Chastain.
Among those who failed to move on were Kyle Busch (who had the same speed as Chastain but was lower in car owner points), Chase Briscoe and Todd Gilliland.
Round 1 / Group A
Buescher topped the first group with an average lap speed of 171.920 mph.
Reddick was second quick (171.794 mph) and Truex was third.
Also advancing to the final round of qualifying were Gibbs and Byron, as Toyotas took three of the top five positions.
Among those who failed to move on were Christopher Bell, Joey Logano, Alex Bowman and Michael McDowell, who was fastest in Saturday’s practice session.
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