SPEEDWAY, Ind. -- Tyler Reddick won the pole for the Brickyard 400 in NASCAR Cup Series qualifying on Saturday afternoon, posting a lap of 49.469 (181.932 MPH) in the final round to take the top starting spot for the 30th anniversary edition of a returning NASCAR crown jewel event. Reddick's pole is his second of the 2024 season following his pole at Darlington in May.
Reddick's qualifying run reinforced a point he made in practice on Friday, as his No. 45 Toyota boasted not only the fastest practice time, but also the fastest five and 10-lap averages. Reddick won the Cup race at Indianapolis two years ago that took place on the speedway's road course, but Sunday will mark only his second start in the Brickyard 400. He finished eighth in this race as a rookie in 2020.
Austin Cindric has deep ties to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, with his grandfather Jim Trueman winning the Indianapolis 500 as Bobby Rahal's car owner in 1986 and his father Tim Cindric winning multiple Indy 500s as president of Team Penske, but the speedway showed him tough love on his qualifying attempt: Cindric's lap was spoiled when he tagged the wall between turns 1 and 2, relegating him to 38th starting spot.
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All three previous winners of the Brickyard 400 entered in this year's edition of the race are set to start deep in the field: 2018 winner Brad Keselowski rolls off 26th, followed by four-time Brickyard 400 champion Jimmie Johnson in 33rd and two-time winner Kyle Busch in 34th.
Kyle Larson, making his first start at Indianapolis since earning Rookie of the Year honors in this year's Indy 500, starts fifth.
Brickyard 400 starting lineup
- #45 - Tyler Reddick
- #11 - Denny Hamlin
- #9 - Chase Elliott
- #24 - William Byron
- #5 - Kyle Larson
- #54 - Ty Gibbs
- #12 - Ryan Blaney
- #34 - Michael McDowell
- #47 - Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
- #42 - John Hunter Nemechek
- #3 - Austin Dillon
- #22 - Joey Logano
- #48 - Alex Bowman
- #19 - Martin Truex Jr.
- #16 - A.J. Allmendinger
- #21 - Harrison Burton
- #23 - Bubba Wallace
- #20 - Christopher Bell
- #7 - Corey LaJoie
- #14 - Chase Briscoe
- #10 - Noah Gragson
- #33 - Ty Dillon
- #17 - Chris Buescher
- #38 - Todd Gilliland
- #99 - Daniel Suarez
- #6 - Brad Keselowski
- #71 - Zane Smith (R)
- #1 - Ross Chastain
- #43 - Erik Jones
- #77 - Carson Hocevar (R)
- #41 - Ryan Preece
- #31 - Daniel Hemric
- #84 - Jimmie Johnson
- #8 - Kyle Busch
- #51 - Justin Haley
- #15 - Cody Ware
- #4 - Josh Berry (R)
- #2 - Austin Cindric
- #66 - B.J. McLeod