Tyler Reddick rockets to Cup pole on Indy Road Course

Reddick was one of first to complete a lap in the final round and his average lap speed of 99.378 mph ended up almost three-tenths-of-a-second faster than his nearest rival, Austin Cindric.

The pole is the first this season for Reddick, who earned his first career series victory earlier this month at Road America. It’s the second of his career, with his first coming in the 2019 season at Circuit of the Americas.

“It actually didn’t (feel that fast) which is prompted me to run a second lap,” Reddick said. “I could have done a better job but it was really nice to know that we really did such a nice job.

“Everybody at RCR, ECR Engines – this whole group – did a really good job of preparing the last couple of weeks for this race. It looks like we’re picking right back up where we left off at Road America.”

Chase Briscoe ended up third, Christopher Bell fourth and Joey Logano fifth.

Completing the top-10 starters are Ryan Blaney, Michael McDowell, Chase Elliott, Todd Gilliland and Kyle Busch.

Round 1 / Group B

Reddick, one of the first to hit the track, topped the Group B session with an average lap speed of 98.963 mph.

Logano ended up second-fastest (98.946 mph) and Elliott was third (98.495 mph). McDowell and Bell also advanced to the final round.

Among those who failed to move on were Kevin Harvick, Ty Gibbs (subbing for Kurt Busch) and Alex Bowman.

With about 10 minutes remaining in the session, Cody Ware spun in Turn 12 but did not appear to suffer any damage.

Round 1 / Group A

Brisoe led the way in the first session with an average lap speed of 99.093 mph.

Cindric, who was fastest in practice, ended up second-fastest (99.022 mph) and Gilliland (98.875 mph) was third. Kyle Busch and Ryan Blaney also advanced to the final round of qualifying.

“It definitely was a huge jump on lap time,” Gilliland said. “It’s a lot of time, but really just a tenth (of a second) in each turn adds up. We’ve been good since we unloaded. To make the top 10 in Cup qualifying at Indianapolis, this is my first time coming here, is a big deal.”

Among those who failed to advance were Daniel Suarez, Ross Chastain, Denny Hamlin and Kyle Larson.

Before the session ended, NASCAR announced Austin Dillon would not be able to continue the qualifying process due to unapproved adjustments made to his No. 3 Chevrolet on pit road.