CONCORD, N.C.– Tyler Reddick picked an ideal time to regain his form and beat Shane van Gisbergen — the road-course wonder from Down Under — in Saturday qualifying at the Charlotte Motor Speedway Roval.

With a lap at 95.510 mph, Reddick edged three-time Australian Supercars champion van Gisbergen for the pole position in Sunday’s Bank of America Roval 400 (3 p.m. ET, USA Network, HBO Max, PRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, NBC Sports App).

Reddick, who also claimed the top starting spot at the 17-turn layout in 2023, beat van Gisbergen (95.474 mph), winner of the last four NASCAR Cup Series races on road courses, by 0.032 seconds to earn his second Busch Light Pole Award of the season, his second at the 2.28-mile circuit and the 11th of his career.

In a qualifying session that featured unexpected severe fall-off of tires selected for all six road courses this season, Reddick put himself in position to overcome the 29-point deficit he faces entering the Round of 12 cutoff race in the playoffs.

Reddick believes the tire factor may be the most important aspect in determining strategy for Sunday’s race.

“I think everybody that had a plan, an idea on the strategy for this race just had it completely ripped in half,” said Reddick, who posted three road course victories shortly after the transition to the Gen 7 car in 2022.

“All the teams are now looking at what the fall-off was like today and refiguring what the strategy’s going to look like. I would imagine that tires are going to be important to have late if there’s a caution, based on what we saw today.”

The top 10 drivers in time trials constituted a diverse mix of playoff and non-playoff drivers. With Reddick on the pole, fellow title chasers Kyle Larson, Christopher Bell, Chase Briscoe and Ross Chastain qualified fourth, seventh, eighth and 10th, respectively.

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