23XI Racing, co-owned by basketball legend Michael Jordan and NASCAR veteran Denny Hamlin, has rewritten the history books by achieving a front-row sweep during the NASCAR Cup Series qualifying session at the Circuit of the Americas.
It was Tyler Reddick who clinched pole position with an impressive lap time of 1 minute, 38.076 seconds, averaging a speed of 88.095 mph. Reddick, who is no stranger to success at COTA, had previously won at the track in 2023. His skill on road courses shines through yet again as he sees to his 10th pole in the NASCAR Cup Series and his second pole position at COTA.
His teammate, Bubba Wallace, clocked the second-fastest time, trailing Reddick by a mere 0.224 seconds.
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When it came to qualifying strategy and execution, both drivers faced a similar approach, with Reddick leading Wallace around COTA’s winding 17-turn track. The former shared a moment with Wallace where both were concerned about disrupting each other’s laps.
“I was worried I screwed his lap up, but he was worried that he screwed my lap up,” Tyler admitted.
Enormous efforts behind the scenes during practice saw Reddick’s team build the No. 45 23XI Racing Toyota’s performance.
“All in all, just I think today really threw us for a loop,” Reddick said. “The pace was nowhere what we thought it was going to be, and everyone here on this No. 45 – and everybody at 23XI [Racing] really had to go to work on our Toyota Camry’s, and we made massive improvements I think from practice one to practice two.
“Obviously, we didn’t have the fire off lap we were wanting, I never got to go out and find it right away, so, just really glad the day went like it did, it’s going to be great track position for us tomorrow.”
Meanwhile, Wallace, who competes in the No. 23 23XI Racing Toyota, admitted how invaluable Reddick’s guidance was for today’s qualifying.
“Yeah, when we come to the road course races, I think everybody in the Toyota camp really leans on Tyler [Reddick], so he does a great job of giving us the right information to chase,” Wallace said.
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Chase Elliott secured third place, followed by Carson Hocevar, Daniel Suarez, Shane van Gisbergen, Kyle Larson, Kyle Busch, Ross Chastain, and Todd Gilliland rounding out the top ten. Additionally, 18-year-old Connor Zilisch will make his NASCAR Cup Series debut from 14th position, driving the No. 87 Red Bull-sponsored Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet.
23XI Racing’s journey from its founding in 2020 by Michael Jordan and Denny Hamlin to this huge achievement sees the team grow enormously. Originally debuting with Bubba Wallace as their sole driver in the 2021 NASCAR Cup Series, the team expanded to a two-car operation in 2022. As Kurt Busch retired, Tyler Reddick joined the ranks in 2023, and the team’s trajectory continued upward.
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