Tyler Reddick's bid at NASCAR history off to a fast start at COTA

Tyler Reddick won the pole for Sunday's NASCAR Cup Series race (3:30 p.m. ET, FOX, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) at Circuit of the Americas on Saturday in a qualifying session that bolsters his chances at becoming the first driver in history to win three straight races to open a season. 

"It helps the chances, certainly," Reddick said after his pole run. "I think starting up front is huge. It certainly helps. If things kind of get off sequence and things get busy, that first choice [pit stall] is nice to have in the race."

Reddick won the season-opening Daytona 500 on Feb. 15 and the Autotrader 400 at Atlanta on Feb. 22. His bid for history will have to go through a stacked Cup Series field that includes a pair of road course aces in Shane van Gisbergen and rookie Connor Zilisch. But the Trackhouse Racing teammates struggled in qualifying and will start 13th and 25th, respectively, on Sunday.

"There's a number of drivers that were really strong in practice today, and we'll just try and understand what all that looks like and make our best decisions on the car and everything overnight going into tomorrow's race," Reddick said.

Can Tyler Reddick win three in a row?

Michael McDowell was fastest in Saturday morning's practice session, while Reddick was a ways down the leaderboard in 19th. But among cars that ran 10 consecutive laps, Reddick, the 2023 COTA winner, had the eighth-best 10-lap average.

Reddick also leads the Cup Series points standings through two races, holding a 40-point lead over his 23XI Racing teammate, Bubba Wallace.

Reddick and his fellow drivers will have to make a strategy decision on Sunday on whether to stay out near the end of Stages 1 and 2 to earn stage points or pit before the stage end and "flip" the stage, which would put a driver in a better position to win the race.

"It'll be talked about and considered," Reddick said regarding his strategy for Sunday's stage ends. "Our team does a really good job on the preparation side for these races. Certainly, where we start plays into that. I don't know which way we'll go at this moment, but certainly we give ourselves more options starting towards the front."

Quotes provided by NASCAR Media.