Tyler Reddick won the pole for the Cook Out 400 at Richmond Raceway in qualifying on Saturday, posting a lap of 23.749 (113.689 mph) in the final round of time trials to earn his first pole of the 2023 season. Reddick's pole is the fifth of his Cup career, and it comes a year after he won a career-high three poles in 2022.
Reddick's fast time came despite some contact with the wall in the opening round of qualifying, as his No. 45 Toyota brushed the wall on the exit of Turn 4 enough that it left a significant mark on the right rear of his car. Reddick would make the final round despite scraping the fence, and he proceeded to show that contact far from affected the speed of his car.
One unusual sight in practice and qualifying was a different driver behind the wheel of the No. 16 for Kaulig Racing. With AJ Allmendinger running the Xfinity Series race at Road America, Derek Kraus was tasked with preparing and qualifying Allmendinger's car ahead of Sunday's Cup race.
Kraus -- a reserve driver for Kaulig who has never made a single Cup start -- had a modest performance, posting the slowest time in qualifying in 36th. The No. 16 had been slated to start shotgun on the field anyway, as Allmendinger would have to drop to the rear of the field on Sunday due to a driver change.
More concerning for Kaulig was that their No. 31 team and driver Justin Haley were among three teams -- along with Ross Chastain's No. 1 team and Chase Elliott's No. 9 team -- to fail pre-qualifying tech inspection twice. All three teams have had their car chiefs ejected from the race weekend and have also lost pit selection.
Finally, qualifying featured a career highlight for popular owner/driver B.J. McLeod. McLeod qualified his No. 78 Chevrolet in 21st, earning the best starting spot of his Cup Series career.
Cook Out 400 starting lineup
- #45 - Tyler Reddick
- #8 - Kyle Busch
- #11 - Denny Hamlin
- #9 - Chase Elliott
- #23 - Bubba Wallace
- #24 - William Byron
- #54 - Ty Gibbs (R)
- #4 - Kevin Harvick
- #47 - Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
- #19 - Martin Truex Jr.
- #41 - Ryan Preece
- #42 - Noah Gragson (R)
- #6 - Brad Keselowski
- #5 - Kyle Larson
- #48 - Alex Bowman
- #38 - Todd Gilliland
- #3 - Austin Dillon
- #34 - Michael McDowell
- #1 - Ross Chastain
- #14 - Chase Briscoe
- #78 - B.J. McLeod
- #21 - Harrison Burton
- #22 - Joey Logano
- #10 - Aric Almirola
- #12 - Ryan Blaney
- #17 - Chris Buescher
- #43 - Erik Jones
- #31 - Justin Haley
- #20 - Christopher Bell
- #2 - Austin Cindric
- #7 - Corey LaJoie
- #51 - Ryan Newman
- #99 - Daniel Suarez
- #77 - Ty Dillon
- #15 - JJ Yeley
- #16 - Derek Kraus (AJ Allmendinger)