Tyler Reddick carries winning momentum on to pole at COTA
Photo by James Gilbert/Getty Images
AUSTIN, Texas—One of the few things that wasn’t startling about Saturday’s NASCAR Cup Series qualifying session at Circuit of The Americas was Tyler Reddick’s run for the pole position.
Navigating the 2.4-mile road course in 97.760 seconds (88.380 mph) in the second qualifying group, Reddick claimed his third Busch Light Pole Award in six attempts at the track and will lead the field to green in Sunday’s DuraMax Grand Prix Powered by RelaDyne (3:30 p.m. ET, FOX, HBO Max, PRN Radio, SiriusXM
Of course, there’s more at stake for Reddick than simply a victory at COTA. In winning at EchoPark Speedway near Atlanta last Sunday, the driver of the No. 45 Toyota became the sixth Cup competitor to start a season with two consecutive wins. No driver has ever won three straight to open a season.
“It helps the chances, certainly,” said Reddick, whose series-best average finish of 4.6 at COTA includes a victory in 2023. “I think starting up front is huge.”
Michael McDowell led the first qualifying group of 19 drivers with a lap at 88.031 mph, but fell to sixth soon after the second group took to the track. Ultimately, Ross Chastain posted the second-fastest lap at 88.256 mph and will start on the front row beside Reddick.
The shocker was not that Chastain, the 2022 COTA winner, fashioned an excellent lap. What was surprising was that his two Trackhouse Racing teammates, Shane van Gisbergen and Connor Zilisch – both vaunted road-course racers – failed to crack the top 10 in qualifying.
Van Gisbergen was 13th fastest on his third lap. Zilisch could do no better than 25th. Van Gisbergen is seeking his sixth straight road-course victory in the Cup Series, a mark that would tie NASCAR Hall of Famer Jeff Gordon for most consecutive road-course wins.
Chase Briscoe (88.242 mph) will start third, followed by Ryan Blaney (88.179mph) and Chase Elliott (88.161 mph). Elliott leads active drivers with seven road-course victories.
Behind McDowell in sixth, AJ Allmendinger qualified seventh, followed by defending race winner Christopher Bell, Ty Gibbs and William Byron.
“We’ll see how it gets going,” Reddick said. “Certainly, Ross, Shane, Ryan Blaney – there’s a number of good drivers who were really strong in practice today. We’ll try to understand what that all looks like and make our best decisions on the car and everything.”
Starting Line Up by Row
Circuit of The Americas
DuraMAX Texas Grand Prix Powered by RelaDyne
Provided by NASCAR Statistics - Saturday, 2/28/2026 @ 12:18 PM Eastern
Driver Date Time Speed
Track Race Record: William Byron 03/24/24 2:43:15 85.224
Pos Car Driver Team Time Speed
Row 1: 1 45 Tyler Reddick Chumba Casino Toyota 97.760 88.380
2 1 Ross Chastain Busch Light Chevrolet 97.897 88.256
Row 2: 3 19 Chase Briscoe Columbia Bank Toyota 97.913 88.242
4 12 Ryan Blaney Menards/Pennzoil Ford 97.982 88.179
Row 3: 5 9 Chase Elliott NAPA Auto Parts Chevrolet 98.002 88.161
6 71 Michael McDowell Katz Coffee Chevrolet 98.147 88.031
Row 4: 7 16 AJ Allmendinger Celsius Chevrolet 98.152 88.027
8 20 Christopher Bell DEWALT Toyota 98.204 87.980
Row 5: 9 54 Ty Gibbs SAIA Freight & Logistics Toyota 98.259 87.931
10 24 William Byron All Pro Reconditioning Chevrolet 98.381 87.822
Row 6: 11 38 Zane Smith Aaron's Rent To Own Ford 98.408 87.798
12 77 Carson Hocevar Chili's Ride the 'Dente Chevrolet 98.463 87.749
Row 7: 13 97 Shane Van Gisbergen Safety Culture Chevrolet 98.464 87.748
14 17 Chris Buescher Trimble Ford 98.497 87.718
Row 8: 15 5 Kyle Larson HendrickCars.com Chevrolet 98.514 87.703
16 48 Alex Bowman Ally Chevrolet 98.542 87.678
Row 9: 17 34 Todd Gilliland Love's Travel Stops Ford 98.562 87.661
18 41 Cole Custer Haas/Bonanza Chevrolet 98.602 87.625
Row 10: 19 11 Denny Hamlin National Debt Relief Toyota 98.617 87.612
20 22 Joey Logano Shell Pennzoil Ford 98.675 87.560
Row 11: 21 10 Ty Dillon Patriot Mobile Chevrolet 98.772 87.474
22 21 Josh Berry DEX Ford 98.807 87.443
Row 12: 23 7 Daniel Suarez Freeway Insurance Chevrolet 98.836 87.418
24 23 Bubba Wallace Robinhood Toyota 98.838 87.416
Row 13: 25 88 Connor Zilisch # Red Bull Chevrolet 98.895 87.365
26 6 Brad Keselowski Graza Ford 98.917 87.346
Row 14: 27 33 Jesse Love(i) C4 Energy Chevrolet 98.996 87.276
28 2 Austin Cindric Discount Tire Ford 99.009 87.265
Row 15: 29 60 Ryan Preece Castrol Ford 99.082 87.201
30 8 Kyle Busch Rebel Root Beer Whiskey Chevrolet 99.160 87.132
Row 16: 31 42 John Hunter Nemechek Pye Barker Fire & Safety Toyota 99.274 87.032
32 35 Riley Herbst Monster Energy Toyota 99.433 86.893
Row 17: 33 3 Austin Dillon Breztri Chevrolet 99.757 86.610
34 47 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Ram Self Storage Chevrolet 99.781 86.590
Row 18: 35 4 Noah Gragson Rush Truck Centers Ford 99.858 86.523
36 43 Erik Jones Dollar Tree Toyota 99.942 86.450
Row 19: 37 51 Cody Ware Parts Plus/Costa Oil Chevrolet 100.064 86.345
Did Not Qualify: None.
Manufacturer Starting Lineup DNQs Manufacturer Starting Lineup DNQs
Chevrolet 18 0 Ford 10 0
Toyota 9 0
(i) Ineligible for driver points in this series
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