Tyler Reddick Takes 3rd Pole of 2024; Larson P2 in Homestead Qualifying
It was an excellent start to the weekend for the majority of the eight remaining NASCAR Cup Series Playoff contenders, and the charge was led by Tyler Reddick, the driver of the No. 45 23XI Racing Toyota Camry XSE. The regular season champion scored his third pole of the 2024 season Saturday at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
With the pole position comes the No. 1 pit stall on pit road, which has been a massive advantage over the years, but Reddick feels with the razor tight margins in the Next Gen era, the first pit stall is more important than ever.
“Yeah, I mean any advantage you can get in this Next Gen era is big," Reddick said after securing the pole. "Yeah, it’s great."
RELATED: NASCAR Cup Series Straight Talk Wireless 400 at Homestead Starting Lineup
The fast lap for Reddick in the final round of qualifying was 32.248 seconds (167.452 mph), which was good enough by 0.077 seconds to secure him the top starting spot for Sunday's Straight Talk Wireless 400, which serves as the second of three races in the Round of 8 of the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs.
Reddick who concedes he probably would have been defeated for the pole had he not been in Group A, says he decided to go for the gusto on his qualifying run. A week after a gusty aggressive move didn't pan out for him in Las Vegas, his latest aggressive decision resulted in a pole-winning run at Homestead.
"...going into round two, looking at what everyone had been running for speed, (I) decided to do what I felt was best and it worked out. Sometimes, you take that risk, and it doesn’t really go your way. Thankfully, it was a good lap for us," Reddick noted. "Given equal tires, the 5 (Kyle Larson) would’ve probably been a little faster, but we’re fortunate to go in Group A this weekend and capitalize on it.”
The pole marks the ninth of Reddick's NASCAR Cup Series career, and it comes in his 180th career start, and it's his first at Homestead-Miami Speedway, which was special for Reddick.
“Yeah, the pole has kind of eluded me in the Cup Series here (at Homestead-Miami Speedway)," Reddick explained. "We’ve been very close, we just needed to have a really good round two. Yeah, I think we, for our group, ran a really good lap for sure. Yeah, again, we were just fortunate where we were in Group A. It padded us a little bit."
The 28-year-old racer is one of the most skilled at Homestead, a track where drivers who can ride as close to the outside wall as possible without hitting it excel. In four career starts at the 1.5-mile speedway, Reddick has already compiled finishes of second (2021), third (2023, and fourth (2020). He'll look to pick up his first win at the track in NASCAR Cup Series competition on Sunday.
Kyle Larson, a fellow Playoff contender and the favorite to hoist the Bill France Cup at season's end, will start from alongside on the outside of the front row. Larson turned a lap of 32.325 seconds in the final round of qualifying, which allowed him to nab the runner-up starting spot in his No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet Camaro ZL1.
Joe Gibbs Racing teammates Christopher Bell, and Denny Hamlin made it an all-Playoff contender top-four in qualifying as they'll make up the second row in Sunday's Straight Talk Wireless starting grid.
Ricky Stenhouse Jr. impressed as the driver of the No. 47 JTG Daugherty Racing Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 was the top non-Playoff contender in fifth. This marks the first top-five starting spot for Stenhouse since Darlington in May 2023.
Martin Truex Jr., who was ousted from the Playoffs in the Round of 16, will roll from the starting grid in the sixth position.
Chase Elliott was the fifth and final Playoff contender to snag a top-10 starting spot for Sunday's race as he qualified seventh. Bubba Wallace, Daniel Hemric, and Justin Haley rounded out the top-10 starters for Sunday's race.
Ryan Blaney, who had a frustrating start to the Round of 8 of the Playoffs in Las Vegas, as he was involved in a practice crash and then ultimately a crash in Stage 2 of the South Point 400, will start Sunday's race from the 20th position.
William Byron, who won at Homestead in 2021 and is coming into this race on a four-race top-five finishing streak, had a subpar qualifying effort. The driver of the No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 will start Sunday's race from the 25th spot, and he'll be one position ahead of the final Playoff contender in the field, Joey Logano.
Logano suffered power steering issues, which ultimately caused steering system issues within his No. 22 Team Penske Ford Mustang Dark Horse in practice and qualifying. As a result, Logano will likely have to start at the rear of the field on Sunday after what's expected to be unapproved adjustments are performed on his car on Saturday afternoon.
Fortunately for the two-time NASCAR Cup Series champion, he won last weekend's race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway and is locked into the NASCAR Cup Series Championship 4, which will compete for the NASCAR Cup Series championship at Phoenix Raceway in two weeks.
Heading into Sunday's Straight Talk Wireless 400 at Homestead, Logano (Locked In), Bell (+42 points), Larson (+35) and Byron (+27) are the four NASCAR Cup Series drivers above the NASCAR Cup Series Playoff cutline. Hamlin (-27), Reddick (-30), Blaney (-47), and Elliott (-53) all have significant point deficits to the cutline, but can change their fortunes and shake the Playoff grid up with an opportunistic win this weekend at Homestead-Miami Speedway or next weekend at Martinsville Speedway.
Toby Christie is the Editor-in-Chief of Racing America. He has 15 years of experience as a motorsports journalist and has been with Racing America since 2023.