Tyler Reddick earns NASCAR Cup pole at COTA ahead of Ross Chastain

Chastain, who earned his first Cup win at COTA in 2022, was surprised by the result: “I didn’t know what was happening. I followed Shane out, and his Safety Culture colors were actually getting closer. It was something I’ve never experienced on a road course. He’s helped me so much, so to go execute for our #1 team with (crew chief) Brandon McSwain, I feel like the car performed how we wanted it to there.”

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Chase Briscoe will start third, Ryan Blaney fourth, Chase Elliott fifth. Michael McDowell, AJ Allmendinger, Christopher Bell, Ty Gibbs, and William Byron filled out the remainder of the top ten.

Rookie Connor Zilisch will start 25th, and is another driver everyone will be watching on Sunday.

Ross Chastain, No. 1 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet; Shane van Gisbergen, No. 97 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet

Group A

Gibbs rocketed to the top of the charts by the halfway point of the 20-minute session with a 1:38.25s, but McDowell (who led practice) soon knocked him down with a fast lap of 1:38.14s. Gibbs’ JGR teammate Bell had a strong run at the pole, but he ended up 0.057s shy of McDowell’s lap.

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Busch ran wide at the end of his first flying lap, taking a trip through the gravel. All eyes were on Zilisch, and the rookie enters COTA last in points among full-time drivers. He made a slight mistake in his first flying lap, which cost him a few tenths, but went out again and improved to tenth out of 19. Ricky Stenhouse Jr also nearly spun out through the esses, but managed to collect his sideways #47 Chevrolet.

Group B

The second group featured all of the big guns, including SVG. Brad Keselowski was the first driver on track, but most of the drivers chose to wait until the second half of the 20-minute session.

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Joey Logano was the first to break into the top ten, but it was AJ Allmendinger who first challenged the fastest drivers from Group A. The experienced road racer missed it by just 0.005s, reaching second for the moment.

But suddenly, several drivers jumped to the top of the charts with Elliott taking P1, only for Reddick to best him moments later with a 1:37.76s. He was the first driver to crack the 1:37s, followed by Briscoe, who was still almost two tenths behind the #45 Toyota.

Chastain was challenging Reddick, and likely could have had pole if not for a lock-up near the end of his lap. He ended up second, just over a tenth behind Reddick.  Surprisingly, SVG did not have the pace to go for pole, reaching 19th on his first lap and then 13th on his second lap.

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COTA Starting Lineup

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