Tyler Reddick wins pole at Charlotte Roval, tops Shane van Gisbergen

Tyler Reddick earned a key NASCAR pole position Saturday.

The Cup Series standout piloted 23XI Racing’s No. 45 Toyota to the Charlotte Roval starting spot, beating out Shane van Gisbergen by 0.032 seconds.

Reddick enters Sunday’s main event in 11th place of the remaining 12 playoff drivers, 29 points below the elimination line. His strong qualifying effort is critical, especially with the Cup Series’ talent at Charlotte Motor Speedway’s road course.

“The long run seems like it comes quick with the way these tires go away,” Reddick said. “I believe (Shane van Gisbergen) was the standout in that regard, on long run pace, so, I will try to look at what I’m doing with the car. We’ll try to look at what we can change on the car to see what more we can kind of do to help that.

”I think we’re OK when you look at the field minus the 88, but yeah, Shane’s obviously very good at what he does, he’s proven that this year and other years with this car.”

Roval isn’t a new challenge for SVG

Van Gisbergen’s road-course success is felt throughout the garage.

His dominance is unprecedented to Cup Series teams — and provides plenty to learn. Competitors can debrief and attempt to make themselves better from watching him, and his deep experience is apparent.

It’s come on a variety of road courses, at this point. While various NASCAR drivers note how bumpy the Roval could be as one of its quirks, that choppiness is nothing compared to winning on the streets of Chicago.

“(Bumpiness) is nothing compared to the other tracks I’ve been to,” van Gisbergen said with a laugh before qualifying. “This is a pretty smooth track. It’s kind of mid-range. You go around the banking, it’s an easy flat, kind of straight. So it’s unique — because you’re using the oval — but the rest of the track’s pretty standard, it feels to me.”

Track position means more at road courses

No pole-sitter has won the Roval, but several set up strong runs.

Denny Hamlin, who earned both his Roval starting spots via metric, finished fifth and led the most laps in the 2021 race. Tyler Reddick came in sixth after collecting a stage win in AJ Allmendinger’s win two years ago, and inaugural pole-sitter Kurt Busch earned a fifth-place finish in 2018. It’s always important for Larson — the Roval’s all-time winningest driver alongside teammate Chase Elliott — to qualify well, but positioning is becoming increasingly important on road courses. Charlotte provides a unique layout for which competitors prepare, and there’s added pressure to win at home.

“It’s just really, really hard to pass,” Larson said. “We’re all pretty similar, I feel like, and our braking zones are a little bit more in control than we used to have with the old car. Qualifying is becoming way more important at all types of tracks, but especially the road courses.”

Starting lineup for the 2025 Charlotte Roval

This story was originally published October 4, 2025 at 8:13 PM with the headline "Tyler Reddick wins pole at Charlotte Roval, tops Shane van Gisbergen."

Shane Connuck

The Charlotte Observer

Shane Connuck is a former journalist for The Charlotte Observer