Tyler Reddick and 23XI Racing will attempt to make history in Sunday’s DuraMAX Texas Grand Prix at Circuit of The Americas (COTA), by becoming the first driver in series history to win the first three events of a NASCAR Cup Series campaign.
The Corning, California-native has had quite an incredible start to the year, winning the first two events of the season at Daytona International Speedway and EchoPark Speedway, and that has continued into the third week of the season, as well.
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Piloting the No. 45 Chumba Casino Toyota Camry XSE for 23XI Racing, Reddick laid down a fast time of 1 minute, 37.760 seconds (equating to an average speed of 88.830mph) to collect his 12th career pole in the NASCAR Cup Series.
In doing so, Reddick collected his third pole position at the Austin, TX road course, and beat some substantial heavy-hitters that were expected to compete for the pole (and are expected to compete for the win, as well, on Sunday) in Shane Van Gisbergen and Connor Zilisch.
“I maybe shouldn’t have called my shot earlier, but some pressure comes with that,” Reddick told Prime Video post-qualifying. “Yeah, you know, I love going fast, and road courses are a lot of fun in qualifying. Just proud of everyone’s effort here on the 23XI Chumba Casino Toyota Camry was fast at Daytona, and it seems fast here to start this one off. I don’t know where Shane [Van Gisbergen] is starting, but got to try to get as much of a head start as I can and stay ahead of him all day.”
Ross Chastain put up the second-fastest lap time in qualifying, after choosing to follow his Trackhouse Racing teammate Shane Van Gisbergen to put up an incredible lap, one that far exceeded his long-time teammate.
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Chase Briscoe qualified third in the No. 19 Columbia Bank Toyota Camry XSE, with Ryan Blaney, the one driver many are watching for the victory on Sunday, in fourth. Chase Elliott, a former winner at the long layout of COTA, rounded out the top-five.
Michael McDowell qualified in sixth, with AJ Allmendinger, Christopher Bell, Ty Gibbs, and William Byron rounding out the top-10. In practice, many of the Toyota Racing USA drivers failed to find any kind of speed, but most of the teams rebounded in qualifying.
Shane Van Gisbergen, a six-time NASCAR Cup Series race-winner on road courses, was expected to be a contender for the pole position on Saturday, but qualified a surprising 13th-place in his No. 97 SafetyCulture Chevrolet Camaro ZL1.
Connor Zilisch qualified a surprising 25th, as well, after having a major lock-up on his first lap. After trying to run a heater twice more, the No. 88 Red Bull Chevrolet couldn’t quite get up to speed enough to earn a solid starting spot. The Mooresville, North Carolina-native will start on the pole for Saturday’s NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series event.
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Other notable drivers starting outside the top-10 in Sunday’s event include Kyle Larson (15th), Denny Hamlin (19th), Joey Logano (20th), Bubba Wallace (24th), Brad Keselowski (26th), Austin Cindric (28th), Kyle Busch (30th).
Earlier in the day, in practice. Michael McDowell was the quickest driver in his Katz Coffee Chevrolet, over Ryan Blaney, Connor Zilisch, Kyle Larson, and Todd Gilliland.
The DuraMAX Grand Prix of Texas will take place on Sunday, March 1 at 3:30 PM ET on FOX, Performance Racing Network, and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Channel 90.
DurMAX Grand Prix of Texas – Starting Lineup
1. #45 – Tyler Reddick
2. #1 – Ross Chastain
3. #19 – Chase Briscoe
4. #12 – Ryan Blaney
5. #9 – Chase Elliott
6. #71 – Michael McDowell
7. #16 – AJ Allmendinger
8. #20 – Christopher Bell
9. #54 – Ty Gibbs
10. #24 – William Byron
11. #38 – Zane Smith
12. #77 – Carson Hocevar
13. #97 – Shane Van Gisbergen
14. #17 – Chris Buescher
15. #5 – Kyle Larson
16. #48 – Alex Bowman
17. #34 – Todd Gilliland
18. #41 – Cole Custer
19. #11 – Denny Hamlin
20. #22 – Joey Logano
21. #10 – Ty Dillon
22. #21 – Josh Berry
23. #7 – Daniel Suarez
24. #23 – Bubba Wallace
25. #88 – Connor Zilisch
26. #6 – Brad Keselowski
27. #33 – Jesse Love
28. #2 – Austin Cindric
29. #60 – Ryan Preece
30. #8 – Kyle Busch
31. #42 – John Hunter Nemechek
32. #35 – Riley Herbst
33. #3 – Austin Dillon
34. #47 – Ricky Stenhouse, Jr.
35. #4 – Noah Gragson
36. #43 – Erik Jones
37. #51 – Cody Ware
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This article was originally published on www.si.com/onsi/racing-america as Tyler Reddick Continues Strong Start to 2026 with COTA Pole.
