Tyler Reddick wins the pole for Homestead-Miami’s Playoff race
HOMESTEAD, Fla. -- The leaders of the regular season championship will start side by side on the front row for the Straight Talk Wireless 400 Playoff race at Homestead-Miami Speedway on Sunday (2:30 p.m. ET on NBC, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). Tyler Reddick of 23XI Racing beat out Kyle Larson of Hendrick Motorsports by a small margin of .113 seconds on Saturday morning to claim the pole position.
This marks the third pole of the season for 28-year-old Californian Reddick in the No. 45 23XI Racing Toyota, and the ninth of his career. This is a crucial time in the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs' Round of 8, with Sunday being the second of three races that will determine which four drivers advance to the Nov. 10 Phoenix race championship and have a chance at winning the big trophy.
Reddick, a two-time NASCAR Xfinity Series winner at the 1.5-mile track, recorded a lap of 167.452 mph in the Toyota Camry to secure the top spot and the first pit stall selection. This gave Toyota a sweep of the pole position in all three series for the weekend, with Toyotas starting in the first positions for both the NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series and the NASCAR Xfinity Series races on Saturday. This is the 13th time that Toyota has achieved this feat.
"The pole has always been just out of our reach in the Cup series here, and we've been very close," said Reddick, the Regular Season Champion. He currently ranks sixth in the championship standings, 30 points behind William Byron of Hendrick Motorsports in the fourth place transfer position.
"It's always nice to run a really good lap, but when you run your lap and five cars go after you, you know they have the opportunity to adjust, so I was curious to see what the 5 (Larson) and 20 (Christopher Bell) were going to do there and obviously, the 5 got pretty close," Reddick added.
The first round of qualifying was dominated by Toyotas and Chevrolets, with five cars from each manufacturer advancing to the final one-lap run for the pole. Christopher Bell of Joe Gibbs Racing, the current Playoff points leader, will start third in the No. 20 Toyota, alongside his teammate and three-time Homestead winner Denny Hamlin in the No. 11 Toyota.
Ricky Stenhouse Jr., who won the Talladega Playoff race three weeks ago, will start fifth in the No. 47 JTG-Daugherty Racing Chevrolet, with Martin Truex Jr. of JGR starting sixth in the No. 19 Toyota.
Chase Elliott of Hendrick Motorsports, who is currently ranked last among the eight Playoff drivers and 53 points below the cutoff line, will start seventh in the No. 9 Chevrolet alongside Martin Truex Jr. in the No. 19 Toyota. Daniel Hemric of Kaulig Racing and Justin Haley of Spire Motorsports will start their Chevrolets from the fifth row, marking Haley's best qualifying effort of the year and the first time he has advanced to the final round.
No Fords advanced to the final round for the first time since the race at Circuit of The Americas (COTA) on March 24. Josh Berry of Stewart-Haas Racing was the fastest Mustang on Saturday and will start 12th.
Only three Playoff drivers did not advance to the final round of qualifying. Reigning series champion Ryan Blaney of Team Penske will start his No. 12 Team Penske Ford Mustang in 20th place. He is currently ranked seventh of the eight drivers, 47 points below the cutoff line. William Byron of Hendrick Motorsports, the 2021 Homestead winner, will start 25th in the No. 24 Chevrolet. He is currently in the all-important fourth position in the standings, 27 points ahead of Denny Hamlin in fifth. Joey Logano of Team Penske, who secured the first of four Championship 4 berths with a win at Las Vegas last week, qualified 26th but will start from the rear after his No. 22 Penske team made a steering system change after qualifying.
It is worth noting that the pole-winner has only won the Homestead race once since 2002, when Denny Hamlin won in 2020.
NOTEBOOK:
-- Joe Gibbs Racing's Christopher Bell, who finished second at Las Vegas last week, admitted that
