Tyler Reddick will lead the NASCAR Cup Series (NCS) field to green in Sunday’s Dollar Tree 301 after earning the pole position during qualifying Saturday at New Hampshire Motor Speedway (NHMS).
Reddick wheeled the No. 45 23XI Racing Toyota around the 1.058-mile oval in 29.054 seconds at 131.094 mph to earn his 16th career NCS pole and first in seven starts at “The Magic Mile.” The pole is Reddick’s fifth of the 2026 season and marks his 17th top-10 start through 25 races.
The pole came after a practice session in which Reddick and his team were searching for answers with the No. 45 Toyota. Posting only the 31st fastest practice lap, Reddick said they were able to put those concerns aside for qualifying and capitalize on the strengths they found in the car.
“I just tried to understand what I didn’t like on my car in practice, make sure I didn’t tap into that at all in the lap, and just tried to make the most of what I thought our strengths were in practice,” Reddick said. “I was just kind of able to tie it all together and run a really relaxing qualifying lap.”
The turnaround made the pole particularly rewarding for Reddick, who said the team still has work ahead of it before Sunday’s 301-lap race.
“So for us to take that, put it over here, then start to focus on what we need to in qualifying and then go lay the lap down like we did, you know, that, for me, is a big deal,” Reddick said. “Because it’s very easy after a practice like that to just have a mediocre qualifying effort, and then your day just continues to not be great.
“So, yeah, for me, I’ve been able to hit the pole at a few places over the years. It’s really fun and special, but the fashion that we did it today was really, really awesome.”
Josh Berry will join Reddick on the front row. The second-place qualifying effort marks Berry’s fifth top-10 start of the season and his third in three starts at NHMS. William Byron will start third, earning his 11th top-10 start in 25 races this season and fifth at NHMS.
Despite starting from the best possible position Sunday, Reddick acknowledged that the team will spend Saturday night working to improve its car for longer runs.
“Confidence is up because we know we can do it,” Reddick said. “But yeah, we understand that we’ve got to put in some serious work tonight, lean on teammates, all the things, and figure out what direction we need to go with the car to start the race Sunday.”
The Dollar Tree 301 marks the 55th NCS race at NHMS and serves as the penultimate race of the 2026 regular season. The green flag is scheduled to drop at 2 p.m. Sunday.
Tickets:
Tickets for New England’s only NCS race, the Dollar Tree 301, are still available at NHMS.com or 833-4LOUDON. Tickets for kids 12 and under are just $10.
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