23XI reigns in Darlington as Reddick edges Wallace for pole

A pair of 23XI Racing teammates will lead the field to the green flag Sunday at Darlington Raceway.

Tyler Reddick claimed the pole for the Goodyear 400 despite hitting the wall on his qualifying lap. Reddick put his car at the top of the board with a lap of 169.152 mph (29.072s). It is his second pole at Darlington and of the season.

“Our Toyota Camry is as fast as Xfinity internet, that’s for sure,” Reddick said. “Gosh. I came off (Turn) 2 and asked Billy (Scott), ‘How was it?’ He said really good, and believe it or not, I tried to take it easy and just finish the lap in (Turns) 3 and 4, and I just overdid the throttle and knew I was in trouble.

“I knew I was in trouble about a third of the way through it, and if I lift, I’m not going to have a good lap. So, I just had to hit the wall at that point.”

Wallace qualified second at 168.434 mph. Chase Elliott qualified third (167.727 mph), Kyle Larson qualified fourth (167.396 mph), and Brad Keselowski qualified fifth (167.129 mph). Chris Buescher qualified sixth (167.021 mph), and Ryan Blaney qualified seventh (166.834 mph).

Kyle Busch qualified eighth (166.823 mph), Denny Hamlin qualified ninth (166.698 mph), and Austin Dillon qualified 10th (166.484 mph). Hamlin is the defending spring winner at Darlington.

William Byron qualified 13th, Justin Allgaier qualified 15th, Carson Hocevar was 16th, and Ryan Preece qualified 18th. Christopher Bell placed 22nd, Chase Briscoe 23rd, and Ross Chastain 25th.

Briscoe won at Darlington in the fall. He is the winner of the last two fall races at the track.

Joey Logano qualified 29th, Connor Zilisch was 32nd and Shane van Gisbergen 33rd.

There are 37 drivers in the field for Sunday’s race. It will feature the high-horsepower, low-downforce aero package. Reddick and Wallace go into the race also sitting first and second in the championship point standings.

“I’m proud of the effort from the team; continue to ride the momentum from race one to now,” Wallace said. “Darlington is super tough. This package is a handful. I thought we were really far off in practice, but we’re pretty close to the (No.) 45, so it’s more on me trying to figure it out and get there.”

UP NEXT: The Goodyear 400 at 3 p.m. ET Sunday.

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