DARLINGTON, S.C. — The top two drivers in the NASCAR Cup Series standings will start 1-2 at Darlington Raceway on Sunday — but not before pole winner Tyler Reddick scraped the Turn 4 wall on his no-holds-barred qualifying lap.
Reddick beat 23XI Racing teammate Bubba Wallace for the top spot on the grid by 0.124 seconds in Saturday’s time trials for the Goodyear 400 (3 p.m. ET Sunday on FS1, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
As the series leader and winner of the first three races of the season, Reddick was the only driver to tour the 1.366-mile speedway in more than 169 mph, posting a speed of 169.152 mph in his No. 45 Toyota. Wallace, second in the standings and 61 points behind his teammate, paced his Toyota to 168.434 mph.
The Busch Light Pole Award was Reddick’s second of the season and the 13th of his career, but he ended the qualifying session with a noticeable “Darlington stripe” along the right side of the car.
“I knew qualifying was going to be really tough,” Reddick said. “A lot of drivers were having trouble finding that edge, that limit in Turn 1. I nailed that pretty good. Felt really good about the lap going down the back straightaway, and I truly think I kind of underdid it through the center of (Turns) 3 and 4 and felt like I just had to get on the gas and get off the corner–and basically just ran it into the wall.
“Looks like we’re all good on the damage, but to be able to have that kind of speed in practice and again in qualifying was awesome to see.”
Chase Elliott, runner-up to Denny Hamlin last Sunday at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, was third fastest at 167.727 mph, but Elliott’s No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet failed pre-qualifying inspection twice, resulting in loss of pit selection and ejection of his car chief.
Reigning series champion Kyle Larson claimed the fourth starting position at 167.396 mph, followed by Brad Keselowski in the fastest Ford at 167.129 mph.
“I thought it was really smooth,” said Keselowski, who qualified one position ahead of RFK Racing teammate Chris Buescher (167.021 mph). “It looks like Chris is qualified right next to me. I felt like I got all it had. We know the cars are going to be very difficult to drive, and that did not disappoint.”
Ryan Blaney, Kyle Busch, Hamlin and Austin Dillon will start from positions seven through 10, respectively.
Along with Elliott’s Chevrolet, the No. 17 Ford of Buescher and the No. 66 Ford of Timmy Hill failed pre-qualifying twice and lost pit selection for Sunday’s race and the services of their respective car chiefs for the weekend.
Hill starts 37th on Sunday.
NASCAR Cup Series Qualifying — Goodyear 400
Darlington Raceway
Darlington, South Carolina
Saturday, March 21, 2026
1. (45) Tyler Reddick, Toyota, 169.152 mph.
2. (23) Bubba Wallace, Toyota, 168.434 mph.
3. (9) Chase Elliott, Chevrolet, 167.727 mph.
4. (5) Kyle Larson, Chevrolet, 167.396 mph.
5. (6) Brad Keselowski, Ford, 167.129 mph.
6. (17) Chris Buescher, Ford, 167.021 mph.
7. (12) Ryan Blaney, Ford, 166.834 mph.
8. (8) Kyle Busch, Chevrolet, 166.823 mph.
9. (11) Denny Hamlin, Toyota, 166.698 mph.
10. (3) Austin Dillon, Chevrolet, 166.484 mph.
11. (7) Daniel Suarez, Chevrolet, 166.416 mph.
12. (2) Austin Cindric, Ford, 166.304 mph.
13. (24) William Byron, Chevrolet, 166.130 mph.
14. (35) Riley Herbst, Toyota, 166.062 mph.
15. (48) Justin Allgaier(i), Chevrolet, 166.001 mph.
16. (77) Carson Hocevar, Chevrolet, 165.704 mph.
17. (60) Ryan Preece, Ford, 165.531 mph.
18. (47) Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Chevrolet, 165.459 mph.
19. (38) Zane Smith, Ford, 165.448 mph.
20. (71) Michael McDowell, Chevrolet, 165.403 mph.
21. (42) John Hunter Nemechek, Toyota, 165.153 mph.
22. (20) Christopher Bell, Toyota, 165.103 mph.
23. (19) Chase Briscoe, Toyota, 164.915 mph.
24. (43) Erik Jones, Toyota, 164.882 mph.
25. (1) Ross Chastain, Chevrolet, 164.760 mph.
26. (21) Josh Berry, Ford, 164.589 mph.
27. (16) AJ Allmendinger, Chevrolet, 164.551 mph.
28. (54) Ty Gibbs, Toyota, 164.529 mph.
29. (22) Joey Logano, Ford, 164.402 mph.
30. (4) Noah Gragson, Ford, 164.029 mph.
31. (34) Todd Gilliland, Ford, 163.936 mph.
32. (88) Connor Zilisch #, Chevrolet, 163.424 mph.
33. (97) Shane Van Gisbergen, Chevrolet, 163.240 mph.
34. (51) Cody Ware, Chevrolet, 162.249 mph.
35. (41) Cole Custer, Chevrolet, 161.646 mph.
36. (10) Ty Dillon, Chevrolet, 160.790 mph.
37. (66) Timmy Hill(i), Ford, 153.464 mph.
— Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service, Special to Field Level Media
