Reddick Racks Up Pole Position at Indianapolis Road Course

After a wild weekend in Pocono that saw the race winner and runner-up finisher disqualified, the Cup series has landed in the Racing Capital of the World, for a unique double header with the IndyCar series. The Indianapolis Motor Speedway was once seen as a crown jewel race on the NASCAR calendar, but the series has not run on the oval since 2020. For the second year in a row, drivers will take to the 2.439-mile road course.

The race provided plenty of drama last year as AJ Allmendinger came out on top, after a frantic finish that involved many drivers getting pushed off the track while battling for the lead. There was also an issue with the curbing coming off the track in the Turn 5 chicane, which resulted in several incidents that took out many cars. With that no longer being an issue, drivers were able to tackle the 14-turn road course.

Reddick posted a lap at 99.378 mph in the final round of qualifying to earn the top starting spot for tomorrow. “It ended up being a good-enough lap. I could have done a better job, but it was really nice to know that we really did such a great job. Everyone at RCR, ECR power under this hood. This whole group, the 8 team, did a really good job of preparing the last couple of weeks for this race. Looks like we’re picking right back up where we left off at Road America, so it’s nice.”

Joining Reddick on the front row will be Austin Cindric, who led the opening practice session. Cindric is no stranger to this facility, and will be one of the favorites tomorrow. Row 2 features another pair of talented young road course racers in Chase Briscoe and Christopher Bell. Briscoe was in position to win this race last year, but was penalized in the closing laps as he battled with Denny Hamlin.

Row 3 belongs to Team Penske, as Joey Logano and Ryan Blaney capped an excellent day for the organization. Blaney is still hunting for his first win this season, which would guarantee him a playoff spot. Ford drivers were particularly strong, as Michael McDowell proved with his 7th place qualifying effort. Chase Elliott will start beside him in 8th. Rounding out the top-ten in qualifying were Todd Gilliland and Kyle Busch.

Hendrick Motorsports teammates Kyle Larson and Chase Elliott were 3rd and 4th a year ago, combining to lead 42 laps. Larson, who qualified 22nd, is riding his longest winless streak since joining the organization. The driver of the No. 9 Chevrolet has been on fire as of late.

Chase could be the guy that everyone will be trying to beat tomorrow. The 2020 Cup champion has won three of the last five races, and finished runner-up in the other two. Over that stretch, Elliott has gained 89 points on second place in the standings, pushing his lead from 30 points to 133 entering this weekend.

Although he was declared the winner last weekend at Pocono, the Hendrick Motorsports driver was not ready to celebrate in any way. “I was kind of more surprised by it than anything,” Elliott said. “I don’t think any driver wants to win that way. I certainly don’t. I crossed the line third. That’s how I’m looking at it.”

“I don’t really feel right celebrating someone else’s misfortune,” Elliott continued. “It’s not necessarily something I’m proud of or going to boast about throughout the course of this situation. I thought we were real fortunate to run third, to be honest with you."

Chase said he didn't feel as though he earned the trophy for that race, and that he wasn't going to ask Denny for it. Hamlin brought the trophy here though, and will be giving it to him. With four victories and five stage wins, Elliott added another 25 playoff points, the most in the series. If he earns the regular season championship, he will receive an additional 15 points heading into the playoffs.

Dating back to the 2019 race at Watkins Glen, Chevrolet has won 13 of the last 14 road course races.

Hamlin led 27 laps in this race last year, and was in position to win until contact with Hoosier Chase Briscoe sent him off course from the lead. He will have redemption on his mind when he starts 15th tomorrow, in addition to the victory that was taken away from his team last Sunday at Pocono.

The problem for Hamlin, and the rest of the Joe Gibbs Racing drivers, is that the organization has not been good on the non-ovals this season. Toyota as a whole has struggled mightily on the road courses, and based on qualifying today, a win tomorrow would be a minor miracle.

In the three road course events so far this season, the four JGR cars had an average finishing position of 14th at Circuit of the Americas. Their highest-finishing car at Sonoma was 26th, and they were 13th, 17th, 18th, and 29th at Road America. The two Toyota's from their satellite team were 32nd and 38th at COTA, 18th and 36th at Sonoma, and 27th and 35th at Road America.

Kurt Busch will not be returning to his Toyota this weekend. The 23XI Racing driver as still not been medically cleared to drive as he continues to recover from the concussion he sustained in his crash during qualifying last weekend at Pocono. He finished 6th in this race last year, driving for then team owner Chip Ganassi.

Ty Gibbs will be filling in for Kurt in the No. 45 Camry once again. The young and talented grandson of Joe Gibbs made his Cup series debut last weekend, and did not disappoint. Gibbs started at the rear of the field, kept out of trouble, and nearly grabbed a top-15 finish. His 16th place finish was extremely impressive, considering he had never driven the NextGen car before he took the green flag.

“I’ll take that,” Gibbs said after the race in Pocono. “I still wish I could have put it together a little bit quicker, but these are experiences for me in my life that I’ll learn, and I’ll take hold of and always remember how it felt and how it was in my Cup debut.”

The IMS road course could provide an even better result tomorrow. Gibbs qualified 26th but has proven to be a great road racer. Three of his eight Xfinity race wins have come at Watkins Glen, Road America, and the Daytona road course, which was his first career start in the series.

Another new face has arrived in Indy. Former Formula 1 driver Daniil Kyvat is making his NASCAR debut this weekend. Kyvat, who qualified 36th, is driving the No. 26 Toyota for Team Hezeberg. In 110 career F1 starts, Kyvat had three podium finishes with three different teams. His last start came in the 2020 finale in Abu Dhabi.

This is the first time that Daniil has been to Indianapolis. "I’m very happy to be able to make my Cup debut at Indianapolis," he said. "I want to give a lot of energy to NASCAR now, to give myself the best shot at becoming very competitive. I’m a competitive person and I want to achieve strong results here. I wanted to start with something really cool after my Formula 1 career. After Formula 1, I couldn’t see anything cooler than NASCAR, that’s for sure."

Several contenders will be starting in the back half of the field tomorrow. Kevin Harvick, Bubba Wallace, Allmendinger, Ross Chastain, Larson, William Byron, Martin Truex Jr, Alex Bowman, and Erik Jones will all be starting 18th or worse.

Now that the field for tomorrow's race is set, the track belongs to IndyCar and the NASCAR Xfinity series for the rest of the day. Once today's action concludes, the only item left on the agenda this weekend is the Cup race on Sunday. Coverage for the Verizon 200 begins at 2:30 ET on NBC.