NASCAR News: Reddick claims Busch Light Pole at Darlington

Tyler Reddick won the pole position for Sunday’s Goodyear 400 NASCAR Cup Series race at Darlington, driving his No. 45 23XI Racing Toyota with a paint scheme reminiscent of the late Tim Richmond’s 1982 Buick.

Turning a lap at Darlington Raceway in 28.906 seconds (170.124 mph) in the final round of qualifying, Reddick edged Brad Keselowski (170.018 mph) for the top starting spot by 0.018 seconds.

The Busch Light Pole Award was Reddick’s first of the season, his first at the track “Too Tough to Tame” and the seventh of his career. Richmond won Darlington poles in 1983 and 1986.

“Just really excited that this Tim Richmond throwback Camry is going to be starting on the pole,” said Reddick, who added to the tribute with his own Richmond-style mustache.

“It’s really nice to put the work in this week to have that kind of qualifying effort. Last week was tough (in a 20th-place finish at Kansas). We didn’t lack any effort in trying to find ways to have a good week this week.”

Chris Buescher qualified third at 169.543 mph behind Reddick and Kesolowski, giving RFK Racing two of the top three grid positions for Sunday’s race, the 13th of the season. Buescher finished second to Kyle Larson by 0.001 seconds last Sunday at Kansas Speedway in the closest finish in Cup Series history.

Ty Gibbs (169.491 mph) will start fourth, followed by William Byron, Larson, Denny Hamlin, Bubba Wallace, Ross Chastain and Martin Truex Jr. Chastain edged Kyle Busch for the final Group B spot in the second round after both drivers ran identical times to the thousandth of a second in the opening round. Chastain got the nod on an owner points tiebreaker.

Starting Lineup