NASCAR News: Rain washes out Cup Qualifying at Talladega

Saturday’s NASCAR Cup Series qualifying session for Sunday’s Jack Link’s 500 at Talladega Superspeedway was canceled due to inclement weather, resulting in the starting lineup being set according to the NASCAR Rule Book.

Tyler Reddick will start from the pole because he is the points leader. As a result of the lineup being set per the NASCAR Rule Book, Casey Mears in the No. 62 Beard Motorsports Chevrolet did not qualify for Sunday’s main event.

Pre-race inspection in the NASCAR Cup Series garage is complete.

The Nos. 10 and 16 failed twice (loss of pit selection; car chief ejected).

23XI Racing driver Tyler Reddick was made available to the media.

TYLER REDDICK, No. 45 ROCKSTAR ENERGY DRINK Toyota Camry XSE, 23XI Racing

What do you make of your teammate, Riley Herbst’s improvement from his first year to his second? 

“Yeah, he’s doing a great job with everything. We’ve gotten to talk about it a handful of times, but certainly, I remember my first year in Cup. It was just brutal. You go from being able to contend for race wins on a consistent basis, you go from thinking you’re pretty good at getting to pit road, getting off pit road, all the things that kind of come with it, restarts, you name it. So you come into the Cup Series feeling pretty good and you get to learn really quick just how deep the field is in the Cup side. For me, I remember that very well when I jumped into it, just how tough it is and it’s easy to get down when you have rough stretches and everything. I think he’s handled all that really well. I’m glad that me and Bubba (Wallace), and when Corey (Heim) runs, we’re able to help answer questions, be there. I think for him when he’s able to see me and Bubba go out there at times and find things in our cars, it helps give him the confidence to help begin that search, whether that’s through his inputs or getting his car closer to what he wants to do that too. So, yeah, he’s doing everything. He’s doing all the right stuff back at Airspeed, and it’s been fun working with him and getting to know him better throughout this process too. So, we don’t always get to work out at the same time, but, you know, whether it’s the meetings, the SIM, he’s doing a great job there.”

Does being on the pole change your strategy for tomorrow? 

“I hadn’t talked to Billy (Scott, crew chief) really about that shift, if there is one. I would imagine for us, no major shifts. I think will pretty much approach the race the same. Yes, it would be nice if we could win a stage this year, but we found way to win races, so that’s good too. Yeah, I think for us, nothing major, no major changes. We’re going to have a great pit stall, all the things that kind of come with getting the pole position. So, I think if anything, we’re just in a good spot, whether it’s the green flag cycles or under caution, through getting first in the in the qualifying metrics. So, yeah, I think it’ll pretty much be as we expected.”

NASCAR announced some executive changes. What do you look at Ben Kennedy as – a former driver or as an executive? 

“Well, it’s hard for me to say one or the other, and I think that’s what makes him great for the role. I remember back to Truck days, we were battling, week in and week out. He’s done a really good job; with the positions he’s held. I’m excited about what the future looks like. Steve’s (O’Donnell) been committed to the sport for a very long time, been a part of it in a lot of ways. Yeah, I’m excited about the future. I think the future is bright for NASCAR.”

With so much success this season, how do you feel to be that driver that certain fans are getting fatigued with all of your success?

“It is weird to be in this spot. I will say that. There’s certainly a lot of noise out there, a lot of speculations, but for me, it’s easy to not get caught up in it because we know what we’re doing, we know how we’re doing it, when we’ve been successful with it. So, yeah, I mean, I feel bad for those that are tired of it. We are enjoying it. We want to keep winning and doing the things that we’re doing. Yeah, I don’t feel bad because I remember how I felt all of last year. I know how my team felt about last year, and so we don’t want to go back to not winning and we’re going to keep working really hard to find ways to get a to victory lane.”

Did you pay attention or remember how people like Jimmie Johnson were treated when you were younger? 

“I definitely took that in as a fan when I was younger. I saw that – the noise and all these opinions and speculations, but yeah, more than anything, now that I’ve done it, not the level that Jimmie has, but just winning five out of nine, right? Just what it takes for all that to happen. The things that got to go your way, the mindset you need to have. I found out last year, it’s really hard just to win any race, and so for us to put together like we have and start the year strong like we have. I mean, it’s hard to do, but we’re really thankful that it’s happened, and certainly, I think, with how last year went for us at no point are we like, yeah, we’re good. I think if anything, we’re hungrier now than we were to start the year to just keep after it and keep winning races. So, I’m really glad that our whole team has got that mindset and has that drive to just keep it, keep it going, even though we’ve already had a lot of success to start the year.”

How has Billy Scott’s leadership helped guide this season? 

“Yeah, our relationship, what it takes to lead the team, it’s a constant learning process, and we make adjustments as we go. I feel like as hard as last year was, we were able to take a lot of lessons away from that, of how we can improve it, how we can change the process, when things happen, good or bad, how do we handle it? How do we talk about it? How do we break it down? The biggest thing is just great communication. That was something I think that we struggled with a little bit last year. The more that people are upfront and honest and not letting things get blown out of proportion. We’ve just done an overall better job of tackling things up front, not letting things build, and just staying on top of these things and addressing them. What the day-to-day role for him looks like, I don’t know, all the details of, right? We do spend a good portion of the week together and meetings and such, but there are portions of it that I don’t get to see all the time because I may be in one place and he might be in the other, but yeah, just overall, it seems like the role that he has – each of the crew chiefs kind of have a different thing that they take care of at 23XI, and just how all that flows together between the crew chiefs and Dave (Rogers, Senior Director of Competition) and on down just seems to be in a better place than it was last year. I mean, unfortunately, yeah, the only way you can sometimes get to a place like this is by going through those tough times when things don’t work the way you want. So, you make adjustments. Yeah, it was a really good offseason for me and Billy (Scott), just getting more on the same page and  understanding how we’re going to get out of the hole that we were in and how to address things as they happen moving forward.”

Starting Lineup