Reddick Rides High Line To NASCAR Cup Pole At Kansas

Tyler Reddick, seen here from an earlier race weekend, won the pole for Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series race at Kansas Speedway. Photo: James Gilbert/Getty Images

During Saturday’s qualifying session at Kansas Speedway, NASCAR Cup Series drivers soon migrated to the top of the track — which was fine with notorious rim rider Tyler Reddick.

The last of 10 drivers to make a qualifying run in the final round, Reddick knocked Joey Logano off the provisional pole and claimed the top starting spot for Sunday’s Hollywood Casino 400, the series’ second Playoff race.

In the money round, Reddick toured the 1.5-mile speedway in 29.899 seconds (180.608 mph), nearly matching his lap of 29.853 seconds from the first round. Reddick was .037 seconds than faster than Logano (180.385 mph), who narrowly missed out on his second straight Playoff pole.

“It’s reassuring,” Reddick said of the pole-winning performance of his No. 8 Richard Childress Racing team. “The last few times we’ve been here, we’ve had a car capable of leading, and we’ve been able to do that. It’s just been a matter of putting together the whole day, which is something we’ve fought at time throughout the year…

“Starting first is great any weekend, but being able to have that first pit stall is going to be key.”

It marks Reddick’s first pole at Kansas, his second of the season and third of his career — and his first on an oval.

Alex Bowman (180.216 mph) qualified third, followed by Christopher Bell (179.659 mph) and Ross Chastain (179.605 mph). Bubba Wallace, Kyle Larson, Austin Cindric, William Byron and Chris Buescher claimed grid positions six through 10, respectively.

Reddick won two NASCAR Xfinity Series championships running the wall at Homestead-Miami Speedway. That’s also where he expects to find speed on Sunday at Kansas.

“It certainly will be for large amounts of this race,” Reddick said. “I think it has the potential under green-flag cycle to move around off of that wall. The fastest car here in the spring was Kurt Busch, and he was able to really do a good job of running on the top seam.

“It’s going to lay rubber with 30-plus cars out there running all running in the majority of the same area of the race track. So I think it’s going to open up that opportunity for other lanes to some into play because there will be less rubber on it.”

Dawsonville, Georgia’s Chase Elliott failed to make it to the pole round in qualifying, timing in 22nd fastest at 176.951 mph.

NASCAR Cup Series
Kansas Speedway – Kansas City, KS
Hollywood Casino 400 – September 10, 2022

Saturday’s Qualifying Results

Pos Car Driver Team Time Speed
1. 8 Tyler Reddick (P) Guaranteed Rate Chevrolet 29.899 180.608
2. 22 Joey Logano (P) Shell Pennzoil Ford 29.936 180.385
3. 48 Alex Bowman (P) Ally Chevrolet 29.964 180.216
4. 20 Christopher Bell (P) DeWalt Toyota 30.057 179.659
5. 1 Ross Chastain (P) Advent Health Chevrolet 30.066 179.605
6. 45 Bubba Wallace (P) ROOT Insurance Toyota 30.124 179.259
7. 5 Kyle Larson (P) HendrickCars.com Chevrolet 30.142 179.152
8. 2 Austin Cindric # (P) Snap on Ford 30.158 179.057
9. 24 William Byron (P) Liberty University Chevrolet 30.180 178.926
10. 17 Chris Buescher Fastenal Ford 30.266 178.418
11. 3 Austin Dillon (P) Get Bioethanol Chevrolet 30.051 179.695
12. 19 Martin Truex, Jr. Bass Pro Shops Red White Blue Toyota 30.105 179.372
13. 14 Chase Briscoe (P) Magical Vacation Planner Ford 30.129 179.229
14. 4 Kevin Harvick (P) Rheem Ford 30.177 178.944
15. 99 Daniel Suarez (P) CommScope Chevrolet 30.200 178.808
16. 23 Ty Gibbs(i) McDonald’s Toyota 30.362 177.854
17. 12 Ryan Blaney (P) Menards/Richmond Water Heaters Ford 30.396 177.655
18. 21 Harrison Burton # Menards/MasterForce Ford 30.419 177.521
19. 7 Corey LaJoie Circle B Diecast Chevrolet 30.434 177.433
20. 18 Kyle Busch (P) M&M’s Toyota 30.479 177.171
21. 42 Ty Dillon SunseekerResorts.com Chevrolet 30.493 177.090
22. 9 Chase Elliott (P) NAPA Auto Parts Chevrolet 30.517 176.951
23. 34 Michael McDowell WISE-EV Ford 30.576 176.609
24. 43 Erik Jones FOCUSfactor.com Chevrolet 30.630 176.298
25. 11 Denny Hamlin (P) Acumatica Toyota 30.633 176.280
26. 6 Brad Keselowski Solomon Plumbing Ford 30.645 176.211
27. 31 Justin Haley LeafFilter Gutter Protectioni Chevrolet 30.658 176.137
28. 16 Noah Gragson(i) Cure Token Chevrolet 30.673 176.051
29. 41 Cole Custer HaasTooling.com Ford 30.745 175.638
30. 51 Cody Ware Nurtec ODT Ford 30.885 174.842
31. 77 Landon Cassill(i) Voyager: Crypto for All Chevrolet 30.901 174.752
32. 38 Todd Gilliland # CITGARD Ford 30.913 174.684
33. 15 J.J. Yeley(i) RWR Ford 31.064 173.835
34. 78 B.J. McLeod(i) Circle B Diecast Ford 31.528 171.276
35. 47 Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. SunnyD Chevrolet 31.906 169.247
36. 10 Aric Almirola Farmland Ford 0.000 0.000