Reddick returns to front row for Hollywood Casino 400 NASCAR race at Kansas Speedway

Tyler Reddick is back on the front row at Kansas Speedway. He’s hopeful of a better result this time in the NASCAR Cup Hollywood Casino 400 on Sunday.

Reddick turned a fastest lap of 180.608 mph in qualifying on Saturday and will sit on the pole in the No. Richard Childress Racing No. 8 Chevrolet for Sunday’s second race in NASCAR’s Round of 16 postseason. Reddick, who is fifth in the standings, edged overall points leader Joey Logano, who went 180.385 in the No. 22 Team Penske Ford.

Reddick, 26, started second in last spring’s Cup race at Kansas and led 24 laps before finishing 30th. In six career Cup starts at Kansas, he has a 17.7 average finish, with a best of seventh in the spring of 2021.

Despite those numbers, Reddick has reasons for optimism for Sunday’s race.

“It’s been a good track for me,” Reddick said. “I’ve led laps here, it’s my first top 10 in the Cup Series, this place has been really good to me. It’s reassuring. The last few times we’ve been here we’ve had a car capable of leading, and we’ve been able to do that. It’s just been a matter of putting together a whole day which is something we’ve fought at times throughout the year.

“I’m really glad we’ve been able to learn from a lot of those experiences. It’s made us stronger, it’s made us better as a team, so I feel really good and excited about it. Starting first is great any weekend. To be able to have that first pit stall choice is going to be key. I’m looking forward to it.”

Logano, a three-time winner at Kansas — all in playoff races — lamented that fraction of a second that cost him the pole.

“That first pit stall is pretty big here,” Logano said. “I wish we had that. But we will go at them from where we are at.”

Alex Bowman, in the No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet, qualified third at 180.216 mph, and Christopher Bell, the pole winner for the spring race, was fourth at 179.659 in the No. 20 Joe Gibbs Toyota.

Reddick has won two races this season, both on road courses at Road America and Indianapolis. But he’s come tantalizing close to winning on an oval. He’s coming off a third-place at Darlington last week, and among his nine top-five finishes, Reddick has finished second four times — at Daytona, Pocono, Darlington and Bristol.

Reddick has parlayed that success into a future contract with 23XI Racing, effective in 2024. There has been talk that Reddick could try to avoid a lame duck season by leaving Childress before next year. He could move into the No. 45 Toyota if Kurt Busch, who is out with a concussion, retires; and he could make room at RCR for soon-to-be free agent Kyle Busch at RCR.

Denny Hamlin, co-owner of 23XI, doesn’t see Reddick joining leaving Childress until 2024.

“I think Tyler would like to play out his contract at RCR, and that’s what he’s always intended,” Hamlin said. “We’ve not planned for anything otherwise. Kurt’s (Busch) going to drive the 45 as far as we understand and unless he says differently, and if he does say differently, then we have a couple options that we’re looking at. But we never intended on getting Tyler before 2024.”

Reddick plans to let it all play out.

“I’m just going to keep doing my job and the task at hand,” he said. “That’s what we did today. We got a pole. We were fast in practice in a lot of different measures. If I was pretty bored during the week, didn’t have a lot going on and wasn’t spending a lot of time trying to prepare; it would be easy to get distracted and give that some of your mind and some of your attention.

“But for me, thankfully, I stay really busy with my team. We have a lot on our minds; right here, doing stuff like this, bringing fast race cars. So we don’t even have time to let that into my head.”