AUSTIN, TX. -- 23XI Racing drivers will lead the field to the green flag Sunday afternoon at Circuit of the Americas as Cup Series teams take on the first road course of the season.
Tyler Reddick won the pole during Saturday's qualifying session. He completed his lap in 98.076 seconds. This is his 10th career pole and his second at Circuit of the Americas.
Teammate Bubba Wallace qualified second with a lap of 98.300 seconds. This is his second top-10 start at the Texas road course and his best start of the season.
MORE: 23XI Racing leads qualifying. Full starting lineup here.
Chase Elliott (98.358), Carson Hocevar (98.453), Daniel Suarez (98.482), Shane van Gisbergen (98.519), Kyle Larson (98.579), Kyle Busch (98.589), Ross Chastain (98.702), and Todd Gilliland (98.718) all secured starting positions inside of the top 10.
The qualifying session featured the new format introduced by NASCAR for the majority of tracks. The drivers still split into two groups, but they only took part in single sessions. NASCAR just combined all of the times to set the starting order instead of sending the 10 fastest drivers to the final round.
Hocevar was the fastest in the second group. He put himself atop the board and in the provisional pole position, but the 23XI Racing drivers surpassed him with a unique approach. Reddick led a convoy around the course as Wallace raced right behind him and Riley Herbst raced just behind Wallace.
This method paid off. Reddick shot to the top of the board despite making some early mistakes. Wallace posted the second-fastest time. Herbst had his time disallowed after he cut a corner.
"We usually do that," Wallace told media members about the strategy. "We just got a really s***** Turn 1, and I got even closer (to Reddick) than I wanted to, and I was like, 'Well, I can't lift now, so whatever happens here.'
"He was able to kind of gap himself just enough to where I could focus on my marks but also just keep him at bay. Tyler's one of the best at road courses, and I think if all the Toyotas were in our group, they would line up right behind him."
The Cup Series drivers will take on Circuit of the Americas on Sunday, March 2, at 3:30 p.m. ET. Fox will provide coverage for the first road course race of the season.