23XI Racing driver Tyler Reddick was made available to the media on Saturday after winning the pole position for the NASCAR Cup Series race at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
TYLER REDDICK, No. 45 The Beast Killer Sunrise Toyota Camry XSE, 23XI Racing
Can you take us through your pole-winning lap?
“Yeah, a lot of this starts in the weeks leading up to the race. And I think a lot of the speed we brought to (Las) Vegas has really continued so far today. And in practice, obviously, fired off with a lot of speed there. It was nice to see that, gave us confidence going into Group A qualifying. And yeah, being able to run the lap we did in the first round gave us even more of that confidence. Then, going into round two, looking at what everyone had been running for speed, (I) decided to do what I felt was best and it worked out. Sometimes, you take that risk, and it doesn’t really go your way. Thankfully, it was a good lap for us. Given equal tires, the 5 (Kyle Larson) would’ve probably been a little faster, but we’re fortunate to go in Group A this weekend and capitalize on it.”
Is your pole run kind of what you and your team expected to do in qualifying?
“Yeah, the pole has kind of eluded me in the Cup Series here (Homestead-Miami Speedway). We’ve been very close, we just needed to have a really good round two. Yeah, I think we, for our group, ran a really good lap for sure. Yeah, again, we were just fortunate where we were in Group A. It padded us a little bit. Yeah, it’s always nice to run a really good lap. But when you run your lap, and the 5 car runs after you, you know they have time to adjust. Curious to see what the 5 and 20 (Christopher Bell) did there. Obviously, the 5 got pretty close. All-in-all was a good day for us. And looking forward to the race tomorrow.”
How important is your choice of pit selection for tomorrow’s race after getting pole position?
“Yeah, I mean any advantage you can get in this Next Gen era is big. Yeah, it’s great. I was looking at all the Toyotas in the second round and all the Camrys having a lot of speed. Toyota having speed across the board this weekend is really, really cool. This is the 13th time they’ve swept all three (poles across NASCAR’s three national series at the same track in the same weekend). It’s nice to be able to come to a track like this where myself as a driver, I feel like I have an advantage, but to also be in a Camry and to have the speed across the board it seems like we do here. Just proud of everyone’s effort back at Airspeed (23XI headquarters). Proud of everyone’s effort at TRD (Toyota Racing Development). It’s been nice to be able to rebound from a rough ending a week ago.”
Golin for Toyota Racing PR
