February 22, 2026; Hampton, Georgia, USA; NASCAR Cup Series driver Tyler Reddick takes the track at EchoPark Speedway. Mandatory Credit: Mady Mertens-Imagn Image AUSTIN, Texas – One of the few surprising things about Saturday’s NASCAR Cup Series qualifying session at Circuit of the Americas was that Tyler Reddick took pole position.
Reddick, who negotiated the 2.4-mile road course in 97.760 seconds (88.380 mph) in the second qualifying group, earned his third Busch Light Pole Award in six attempts on the track. He’ll lead the field to the green on Sunday at the DuraMAX Grand Prix Powered by Reladyne (airing at 3:30 p.m. ET on FOX, PRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
Of course, there’s more to Reddick than just a win at COTA. With his victory last Sunday at Echo Park Speedway near Atlanta, the driver of the No. 45 Toyota became the sixth Cup contender to start the season with a second straight victory. No driver has won three straight to start the season.
The 23XI Racing driver acknowledged that his 12th career pole position was a positive first step towards that goal.
“It definitely helps my chances. I think starting from the front is huge,” said Reddick, who has a series-high 4.6 stroke average at COTA, which also includes a 2023 win.
Michael McDowell led the first qualifying group of 19 drivers with a lap speed of 88.031 mph, but dropped to sixth place shortly after the second group entered the track. Ultimately, Ross Chastain recorded the second-fastest lap at 88.256 mph (97.897 seconds) and will start on the front row next to Reddick.
What’s more shocking isn’t that Chastain, the 2022 COTA winner, ran a great lap. What’s surprising is that two of his Trackhouse Racing teammates, Shane van Gisbergen and Connor Zilisch, both proud road course racers, didn’t make the top ten in qualifying.
Van Gisbergen set the 13th fastest time on the third lap. Zilisch could finish no better than 25th. Van Gisbergen is seeking his sixth straight road course win in the Cup Series. That ties him with NASCAR Hall of Famer Jeff Gordon for the most consecutive road course wins.
Chase Briscoe (88.242 mph) starts in third, followed by Ryan Blaney (88.179 mph) and Chase Elliott (88.161 mph). Elliott leads active drivers with seven road course wins.
McDowell in sixth was followed by AJ Allmendinger in seventh, followed by defending winners Christopher Bell, Ty Gibbs and William Byron.
“We’ll see how it goes,” Reddick said. “Of course, Ross, Shane, Ryan Blaney. There are a lot of good drivers who were actually really strong today. We’ll try to understand what that all looks like and make the best decisions about the cars and everything.”
–Field level media
