Tyler Reddick wins the pole for Homestead-Miami’s Playoff race

Oct 26, 2024; Homestead, Florida, USA; NASCAR Cup Collection driver Tyler Reddick (45) poses for a photograph after successful the pole for the Straight Discuss Wi-fi 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway. Necessary Credit score: Jasen Vinlove-Imagn Photographs

HOMESTEAD, Fla. — The common season championship leaders will begin alongside each other on the entrance row for Sunday’s Straight Discuss Wi-fi 400 Playoff race at Homestead-Miami Speedway (2:30 p.m. ET on NBC, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) with 23XI Racing’s Tyler Reddick besting Hendrick Motorsports’ Kyle Larson by a slight .113-second Saturday morning to say the pole place.

That is the 28-year-old Californian Reddick’s third pole of the season in the No. 45 23XI Racing Toyota — ninth of his profession — and comes at an important time in the NASCAR Cup Collection Playoffs’ Spherical of 8 with Sunday the second of three races that may determine which 4 drivers advance to the Nov. 10 Phoenix race championship eligible to hoist the large trophy.

Reddick, a two-time NASCAR Xfinity Collection winner at the 1.5-miler, turned a lap of 167.452 mph in the Toyota Camry to set the tempo and importantly, earn the first pit stall choice. His work gave Toyota a three-series pole sweep for the weekend with Toyotas beginning first beginning positions in each Saturday’s NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Collection and NASCAR Xfinity Collection races — the thirteenth time the make has carried out that.

“The pole has eluded me in the Cup series here, we’ve been very close and just needed a very good round two I think for our group, we ran a really good lap for sure,” stated Reddick, the Common Season Champion, who arrives in South Florida ranked sixth in the championship standings, 30 factors behind Hendrick Motorsports’ William Byron in that all-important fourth place switch place.

“It’s always nice to run a really good lap, but when you run your lap and five cars go after you, you know they have the opportunity to adjust, so I was curious to see what the 5 (Larson)and 20 {Christopher Bell) were going to do there and obviously, the 5 got pretty close.

“All in all, it was an important day for us and searching ahead to the race tomorrow.”

Toyotas and Chevrolets dominated the opening round of qualifying putting five cars each into the final one-lap run for the pole. Joe Gibbs Racing’s Christopher Bell — the current Playoff points leader — will start third in the No. 20 Toyota, alongside teammate and three-time Homestead winner Denny Hamlin in the No. 11 Toyota.

Ricky Stenhouse Jr., who won the Talladega, Ala. Playoff race three weeks ago, will start the No. 47 JTG-Daugherty Racing Chevrolet fifth with JGR’s Martin Truex Jr. starting sixth in the No. 19 Toyota.

Hendrick Motorsports’ Chase Elliott, who goes into the race ranked last among the eight Playoff drivers — 53 points below the cutoff line — will start the No. 9 Chevrolet seventh alongside JGR’s Martin Truex Jr. in the No. 19 Toyota. Kaulig Raing’s Daniel Hemric and Spire Motorsports’ Justin Haley will start their Chevrolets from the fifth row — marking the best qualifying effort of the year for Haley and first time he’s advanced to the final round.

No Fords advanced to the final round for the first time since the Circuit of The Americas (COTA) race on March 24. Stewart-Haas Racing’s Josh Berry was the fastest Mustang Saturday and will start 12th.

Only three Playoff drivers did not advance to the 10-car final qualifying round. Among them, reigning series champion, Team Penske’s Ryan Blaney, who will start his No. 12 Team Penske Ford Mustang 20th on the grid. He’s currently ranked seventh of the eight drivers, 47 points below the cutoff line.

Hendrick Motorsports’ William Byron — the 2021 Homestead winner — will roll off 25th in the No. 24 Chevrolet. He is in that all-important fourth position in the standings, 27 points up on Hamlin in fifth.

Team Penske’s Joey Logano — who earned the first of four Championship 4 berths with a Las Vegas win last week — qualified 26th but will start from the rear after his No. 22 Penske team made a steering system change post-qualifying.

Of note, the pole-winner has won the Homestead race only one time since 2002 — Hamlin in 2020.

NOTEBOOK:

— Last week’s Las Vegas runner-up, Joe Gibbs Racing’s Christopher Bell conceded his near miss — by a slight .662-second to Team Penske’s Joey Logano, who gambled and won on fuel strategy — definitely stung. But by Monday, he said he was over it.

Bell led the most laps — 155 of 267 — but wasn’t ultimately able to catch Logano in the final frantic push to the checkered flag. And regardless of the race outcome, the finish puts the 29-year-old Oklahoman in the Playoff standings lead — 42 points above the cutline with the top four drivers advancing to compete for the title on Nov. 10 in Phoenix. A victory would have been an automatic ticket for Bell, but he is optimistic about his chances this weekend as the defending Homestead race winner.

“You are by no means actually secure, the three of us William (Byron), Kyle (Larson) and myself have type of, the manner that the playing cards fell, we’re type of primarily level racing one another, and the guys under which are far sufficient under, they’re mainly out of the factors and primarily racing for wins,” Bell said. “Actually, we’ll know extra as soon as we get by Homestead on Sunday evening, however, proper now, we’re planning on there being three winners and the three of us — William, Kyle and myself — are racing for that final factors spot.”

“There is a good probability William, Kyle or myself may win this weekend and it may change. However plus 42 (factors) sounds nice till you understand each time somebody wins, that cutline shrinks extra, an increasing number of, or that hole to the cutline. You are by no means secure and it will be a battle.”

— Denny Hamlin’s three Homestead wins is most in this weekend’s field and a fourth trophy on Sunday would essentially salvage a challenging Playoff run for the Joe Gibbs Racing driver. The driver of the No. 11 JGR Toyota sits in fifth place — 27 points below the four-driver cutoff line that will decide who competes for the championship Nov. 10 at Phoenix.

Hamlin has four top-10 finishes in the seven Playoff races with a best showing of fourth at Bristol, Tenn. last month. Most telling, perhaps, he has led only two of the races for a combined five laps.

“It would not matter how far again you’re in factors, you’ve got simply bought to discover a technique to win,” Hamlin said, adding, “Something can occur and positively you are by no means out of it till they throw the checkered. However (crew chief) Chris (Gabehart) does a very good job of pumping the staff up, conserving them motivated and getting the greatest out of them. All of us undergo these swells the place we’re not performing our greatest and positively the timing shouldn’t be supreme proper now.

“But every week is new week with them and me so certainly I feel optimistic going into this one. We’ve done the work in the week to get better and we’re all going to hopefully perform our best.

“I believe on this sport, momentum could be very over-rated,” he added. “It is week-to-week. We now have to carry out like we’re able to and we simply have not proven that in fairly a while.”

— Joey Logano’s victory in last week’s Round of 8 Playoff opener at Las Vegas Motor Speedway earned him the first automatic bid into the Nov. 10 Championship Four at Phoenix Raceway. The two-time series champion said his No. 22 Team Penske team has absolutely seized the advantage of the extra two weeks to prepare for the championship race — both competitively and psychologically.

“There is not any doubt after you’ve got carried out one thing as soon as, you are gonna be higher the second time, proper” Logano says of his sixth appearance in the Championship foursome. “We talked about what the week is like main into it, and all the different issues it’s a must to do, all the distractions, all the stress that is there. It is a exhausting week, there is not any doubt.

“I laugh all the time because so many drivers, in all three series, a lot of their answer is, ‘we just treat it as another race, it’s just another race’. BS, it’s not another race. Not even close, it’s the championship, it’s the biggest race you’ll ever be a part of. It’s bigger than that. Everyone tries to minimize it so they can sleep better at night. It’s not about that.

“And I believe for some drivers and groups, they love that strain and I believe there’s some that simply hate it and it impacts them in a unfavourable manner. It in all probability will depend on who you’re, however I do know going by issues greater than as soon as positively helps you understand how to organize for what’s coming your manner.”

— Frankie Muniz, the celebrated actor from the “Malcolm in the Center” television show, formally announced Friday at Homestead that he will competing fulltime in the NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series in 2025 driving the No 33 Ford for Reaume Brothers Racing.

And he’ll be making his first start for the team this weekend in Saturday’s Baptist Health 200 at Homestead and then again in two weeks in the Phoenix season finale.

He competed fulltime in the 2023 ARCA Menards Series earning a top-five (fifth place) and 11 top-10 finishes in 20 races. After what turned into a partial season this year — largely due to an illness that sidelined him this summer — he recorded ninth and 12th-place finishes in his two starts. Getting this chance by an established team is an important for Muniz, who is eager to take the next step in his professional progression.

Muniz said part of this opportunity means the Scottsdale-Ariz.-based driver will spend significant time at back East, closer to the team in Charlotte, N.C.

“I need to put myself into each state of affairs I can to be higher as a race automobile driver in order that’s spending extra time with the staff, going over stuff with the engineers and watching previous races with my spotter and being in the simulator Ford offers me entry to, that is nice and let’s do it. Going forwards and backwards shouldn’t be straightforward. And I simply need to absolutely immerse myself in being a NASCAR driver and greatest manner to do this is being by the staff in Charlotte.”

“Simply able to put my head down and go quick,” he said, reiterating that he wants people to know, “I am not doing this as only a pastime.

— Extremely-touted younger driver William Sawalich additionally introduced large information to South Florida — Joe Gibbs Racing saying that the 18-year-old will steer the No. 18 Toyota fulltime in the NASCAR Xfinity Collection in 2025.

And the two-time ARCA Menard’s East Collection champion goes full-in together with his NASCAR expertise this weekend competing in each races in Saturday’s Truck and Xfinity Collection double-header.

Though he is competed in 13 earlier truck races in the final two seasons, this will probably be his Xfinity Collection debut.

“Honestly, I feel like it would be tougher to do the Xfinity race as a standalone race just because (I get) the warm-up in the truck race, get a green flag stop in, get used to pit road — which I’m still kind of new to that. Just getting a feel for everything because it’s a lot different.”

ETC. … Wooden Brothers Racing lead engineer Grant Hutchens will function non permanent crew chief for Harrison Burton and the No. 21 Ford staff starting this weekend. He replaces veteran crew chief Jeremy Bullins who led the staff to its historic one hundredth victory in August at Daytona Worldwide Speedway. … JR Motorsports driver Justin Allgaier introduced Friday that he had signed a two-year contract extension with the staff.

–By Holly Cain, NASCAR Wire Service. Particular to Area Stage Media