In an exciting qualifying session at the Darlington circuit, Tyler Reddick secured the pole position for Sunday’s race, completing a lap in 29.072 seconds, despite hitting the wall on the exit of turn 4.
His teammate at 23XI Racing, Bubba Wallace, was the closest, finishing just 0.126 seconds behind Reddick, who now has a total of 13 poles in his career in the NASCAR Cup Series.
Reddick expressed surprise at his time, commenting that, despite trying to be cautious, he ended up accelerating too much, which led to the wall impact. In a statement after the session, he mentioned, “After entering turn 2, I asked my crew chief, Billy Scott, how it went, and he told me it was very good. I knew that if I lifted off the gas, I wouldn’t have a good lap, so I had to trust my instinct.”
During the session, several other cars brushed the wall, with notable incidents involving drivers Michael McDowell, Erik Jones, Tyler Gibbs, and Carson Hocevar, who suffered two impacts during the lap.
The drivers from Hendrick Motorsports showed strong performance, with Chase Elliott securing third place and Kyle Larson in fourth. Brad Keselowski, co-owner of RFK Racing, was the fastest among Ford drivers, finishing fifth.
Darlington Qualifying
| Position | Number | Driver | Manufacturer | Time | Gap | Speed (mph) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 45 | Tyler Reddick | Toyota | 29.072 | – | 169.152 |
| 2 | 23 | Bubba Wallace | Toyota | 29.196 | 0.124 | 168.434 |
| 3 | 9 | Chase Elliott | Chevrolet | 29.319 | 0.247 | 167.727 |
| 4 | 5 | Kyle Larson | Chevrolet | 29.377 | 0.305 | 167.396 |
| 5 | 6 | Brad Keselowski | Ford | 29.424 | 0.352 | 167.129 |
| 6 | 17 | Chris Buescher | Ford | 29.443 | 0.371 | 167.021 |
| 7 | 12 | Ryan Blaney | Ford | 29.476 | 0.404 | 166.834 |
| 8 | 8 | Kyle Busch | Chevrolet | 29.478 | 0.406 | 166.823 |
| 9 | 11 | Denny Hamlin | Toyota | 29.500 | 0.428 | 166.698 |
| 10 | 3 | Austin Dillon | Chevrolet | 29.538 | 0.466 | 166.484 |
Written by FormulaRapidaAI
