Tyler Reddick takes surprise NASCAR Cup Series pole at COTA

Reddick was second in the first round to A.J. Allmendinger but was among the first to go out in the Sunday’s final round and led the way with an average speed of 92.363 mph. He will lead the field to green Sunday afternoon in the Texas Grand Prix.

The pole is the first for Reddick in his Cup career and the first for Richard Childress Racing on a road course event since the late Dale Earnhardt won the pole for the 1996 race at Watkins Glen (N.Y.) International.

“I was absolutely terrible on road courses for a long time, but I still have a lot to learn. It’s hard to put into words. We haven’t even raced yet and that’s a big accomplishment for us,” Reddick said.

“It’s no secret, in my career, road courses were something I never understood. I didn’t know when the light bulb was going to go off.”

Larson ended up at 92.263 mph and Austin Cindric – making one of a handful of Cup starts this season – came in third at 91.820 mph.

“We were good, I didn’t really attack the braking zone into (Turn) 12 like I needed to,” Larson said. “I didn’t want to overdrive it and mess up my lap. A little disappointed in myself but really proud to not have much track time.”

Kyle Busch was fourth and William Byron – who led Saturday’s practice – rounded out the top-five.

Completing the top-12 lineup are Joey Logano, Allmendinger, Chase Elliott, Ryan Blaney, Christopher Bell, Kevin Harvick and Alex Bowman.

Cla	#	Driver		Manufacturer	Laps	Time	Gap	Interval	Mph
1	8	Tyler Reddick		Chevrolet	1	2'12.911			92.363
2	5	Kyle Larson		Chevrolet	1	2'13.011	0.100	0.100	92.293
3	33	Austin Cindric		Ford	1	2'13.697	0.786	0.686	91.820
4	18	Kyle Busch		Toyota	1	2'13.708	0.797	0.011	91.812
5	24	William Byron		Chevrolet	1	2'13.760	0.849	0.052	91.776
6	22	Joey Logano		Ford	1	2'13.791	0.880	0.031	91.755
7	16	A.J. Allmendinger		Chevrolet	1	2'13.842	0.931	0.051	91.720
8	9	Chase Elliott		Chevrolet	1	2'14.117	1.206	0.275	91.532
9	12	Ryan Blaney		Ford	1	2'14.518	1.607	0.401	91.259
10	20	Christopher Bell		Toyota	1	2'14.548	1.637	0.030	91.239
11	4	Kevin Harvick		Ford	1	2'14.792	1.881	0.244	91.074
12	48	Alex Bowman		Chevrolet	2	2'14.894	1.983	0.102	91.005

Round 1

Allmendinger led the way in the first 25-minute session of qualifying, which remained dry for the most part despite a threat of rain.

Allmendinger’s average lap speed of 91.962 mph was set early in the session as were the speeds of second-place Reddick (91.885 mph) and Cindric (91.715 mph).

Kyle Busch posted the fourth-fastest lap and Logano rounded out the top-five.

Completing the top-12 and advancing to Round 2 were Byron, Larson, Bell, Elliott, Harvick, Blaney and Bowman.

Denny Hamlin experienced problems with his power steering during his initial flying lap and despite making adjustments on pit road, still ended up 19th-fastest.

“The power steering, I couldn’t turn it all the way to the left. I was limited on the range of motion I could actually turn the wheel, so I think an air bubble issue in the system,” Hamlin said. “We’ll get that out and be OK. Track time is super-important.”

Among those just missing the cutoff were Kurt Busch, Cole Custer, Daniel Suarez, Austin Dillon and Martin Truex Jr.

“Just not enough time on the race track. Going out on the track yesterday and try to figure out the wet then you get 1 or 2 shots in the dry,” Truex said. “If we get some long green runs we’re going to be fine just need to get our rhythm.”

13	1	Kurt Busch		Chevrolet	3	2'14.708	1.218	0.130	91.130
14	41	Cole Custer		Ford	3	2'15.025	1.535	0.317	90.916
15	99	Daniel Suarez		Chevrolet	5	2'15.118	1.628	0.093	90.854
16	3	Austin Dillon		Chevrolet	3	2'15.325	1.835	0.207	90.715
17	19	Martin Truex Jr.		Toyota	3	2'15.375	1.885	0.050	90.681
18	23	Bubba Wallace		Toyota	5	2'15.416	1.926	0.041	90.654
19	11	Denny Hamlin		Toyota	5	2'15.528	2.038	0.112	90.579
20	42	Ross Chastain		Chevrolet	3	2'15.685	2.195	0.157	90.474
21	47	Ricky Stenhouse Jr.		Chevrolet	3	2'15.852	2.362	0.167	90.363
22	21	Matt DiBenedetto		Ford	4	2'15.852	2.362	0.000	90.363
23	34	Michael McDowell		Ford	4	2'15.902	2.412	0.050	90.330
24	2	Brad Keselowski		Ford	3	2'15.929	2.439	0.027	90.312
25	7	Corey Lajoie		Chevrolet	5	2'16.245	2.755	0.316	90.102
26	10	Aric Almirola		Ford	3	2'16.558	3.068	0.313	89.896
27	14	Chase Briscoe		Ford	5	2'16.686	3.196	0.128	89.812
28	17	Chris Buescher		Ford	2	2'16.728	3.238	0.042	89.784
29	43	Erik Jones		Chevrolet	5	2'17.032	3.542	0.304	89.585
30	77	Justin Haley		Chevrolet	4	2'17.051	3.561	0.019	89.572
31	52	Josh Bilicki		Ford	2	2'17.246	3.756	0.195	89.445
32	15	James Davison		Chevrolet	2	2'17.563	4.073	0.317	89.239
33	96	Ty Dillon		Toyota	3	2'17.682	4.192	0.119	89.162
34	6	Ryan Newman		Ford	5	2'18.067	4.577	0.385	88.913
35	51	Cody Ware		Chevrolet	5	2'18.194	4.704	0.127	88.832
36	37	Ryan Preece		Chevrolet	8	2'18.252	4.762	0.058	88.794
37	38	Anthony Alfredo		Ford	2	2'18.701	5.211	0.449	88.507
38	53	Garrett Smithley		Ford	5	2'18.804	5.314	0.103	88.441
39	78	Kyle Tilley		Ford	1	2'20.361	6.871	1.557	87.460
40	00	Quin Houff		Chevrolet	5	2'20.985	7.495	0.624	87.073