NASCAR: 2021 Circuit of the Americas – Full starting lineup

The starting lineup for the inaugural NASCAR Cup Series race at Circuit of the Americas is set following the first qualifying session in over three months.

For the first time since before the 2021 NASCAR Cup Series season-opening Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway, a Cup Series starting lineup was set by an actual qualifying session.

After 12 races in a row where the starting lineups were set by NASCAR’s starting lineup formula, the grid for this afternoon’s EchoPark Texas Grand Prix, the inaugural Cup Series race at Circuit of the Americas and the 14th race of the season, was set the traditional way.

It was Richard Childress Racing’s Tyler Reddick who took his first career pole position in this session, just ahead of Hendrick Motorsports’ Kyle Larson.

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Reddick took the pole position for this 68-lap race around the 20-turn, 3.427-mile (5.515-kilometer) road course in Austin, Texas, the second of seven road course races on this year’s 36-race schedule, by recording a top lap time of 132.911seconds (92.363 miles per hour) in the second and final round of qualifying behind the wheel of his #8 Chevrolet.

Reddick’s top lap time was exactly 0.1 seconds and 0.07 miles per hour quicker than that of Larson behind the wheel of his #5 Chevrolet.

This was only the eighth time that Reddick has actually had the chance to qualify for a Cup Series race, as qualifying sessions have been few and far between since his full-time career began last year.

It marked the first time that a Richard Childress Racing driver took a pole position for a road course race since Dale Earnhardt took the pole position for the race at Watkins Glen International in 1996.

Set to start behind Reddick and Larson on the front row in third place is Team Penske’s Austin Cindric, who is not even a full-time Cup Series driver. Cindric, known for his prowess on road courses in the Xfinity Series, qualified in third place behind the wheel of the #33 Ford for just his fifth career Cup Series start.

Cindric is set to start alongside Joe Gibbs Racing’s Kyle Busch in fourth place behind the wheel of his #18 Toyota.

Hendrick Motorsports’ Chase Elliott, who has won four of the last five road course races going back to August 2019, qualified in eighth place behind the wheel of his #9 Chevrolet.

Joe Gibbs Racing’s Christopher Bell, who won the season’s first road course race at the Daytona International Speedway road course back in February, qualified in 10th place behind the wheel of his #20 Toyota.

Here is the full starting lineup for the 2021 EchoPark Texas Grand Prix at Circuit of the Americas.

Starting Lineup
1st – Tyler Reddick
2nd – Kyle Larson
3rd – Austin Cindric
4th – Kyle Busch
5th – William Byron
6th – Joey Logano
7th – A.J. Allmendinger
8th – Chase Elliott
9th – Ryan Blaney
10th – Christopher Bell
11th – Kevin Harvick
12th – Alex Bowman
13th – Kurt Busch
14th – Cole Custer
15th – Daniel Suarez
16th – Austin Dillon
17th – Martin Truex Jr.
18th – Bubba Wallace
19th – Denny Hamlin
20th – Ross Chastain
21st – Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
22nd – Matt DiBenedetto
23rd – Michael McDowell
24th – Brad Keselowski
25th – Corey LaJoie
26th – Aric Almirola
27th – Chase Briscoe
28th – Chris Buescher
29th – Erik Jones
30th – Justin Haley
31st – Josh Bilicki
32nd – James Davison
33rd – Ty Dillon
34th – Ryan Newman
35th – Cody Ware
36th – Ryan Preece
37th – Anthony Alfredo
38th – Garrett Smithley
39th – Kyle Tilley
40th – Quin Houff

Tune in to Fox Sports 1 at 2:30 p.m. ET this afternoon for the live broadcast of the inaugural EchoPark Texas Grand Prix from Circuit of the Americas.