INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Tyler Reddick watched Brickyard 400 qualifying Saturday with a skeptical eye.
He saw drivers routinely missing their marks in the first turn, struggling in the fourth turn and even witnessed one veteran, Austin Cindric, hit the wall.
So when Reddick encountered his own obstacles, the 28-year-old remained calm, adapted deftly and took advantage of the final run of the day to capture his first Brickyard 400 pole.
Reddick completed the 2.5-mile oval in 49.469 seconds, barely knocking points leader Chase Elliott out of the No. 1 starting spot. Elliott was clocked in 49.504 and will start just behind Reddick in the No. 3 spot, creating an intriguing clash between two of the top three in Cup standings.
“I knew I needed to run like a 49.50 I didn’t know what Chase’s exact time was, but I knew that was our target,” Reddick said after claiming his eighth career pole. “I knew I missed the turn pretty bad, and I knew I was going to have to hit it perfect for the remainder or the lap and thankfully we did.”
For Reddick, it’s been a perfect start to one of the season’s most anticipated weekends as the Cup race returns to the oval after spending the past three years on Indy’s road course.
Should things go as Reddick hopes Sunday, he could set off an even grander celebration for the No. 45 Toyota team. Reddick won the 2022 Brickyard 200 on Indy’s 14-turn road course and no Cup driver has won on both tracks — yet.
A Reddick victory also could bump Elliott out of the lead as NASCAR takes its two-week Olympic break. Elliott leads Hendrick Motorsports teammate Kyle Larson by three points, Reddick by 15.
“We know that a lot of the guys that are right there in the points are right there behind us, making overnight adjustments and doing what they need to do,” Reddick said. “So we have to be mindful of all the potentials around us tomorrow.”
The lineup around Reddick certainly is stacked.
Reddick’s team owner, Denny Hamlin, begins on the outside of Row 1 in Joe Gibbs Racing’s No. 11 Toyota. Elliott, Larson and a third Hendrick driver, William Byron, hold the next three starting positions. Those are the top five drivers in points.
Larson is starting his second race on Indy’s oval this season, having qualified fifth at the Indianapolis 500.
And all of it happens on a day NASCAR’s winningest owner, Rick Hendrick, leads the field to the green flag — in the pace car.
But when Hendrick pulls off the track, Reddick will take the cars across the yards of bricks for the first lap, setting up a dream scenario as he chases his second win of the season.
“It’s just really cool,” Reddick said. “I’ve always been on the other end of this. It’s nice to be on the inside for once. It’s a big deal for us.”
