Reddick Takes Pole After Atlanta Chaos! What Will Happen Next?

Well folks, Mother Nature certainly had her say today at Atlanta Motor Speedway. Rain, rain, go away… because it completely wiped out qualifying for Sunday's Autotrader 400. As a result, Daytona 500 champion Tyler Reddick will start on the pole. Not a bad consolation prize, right?

Reddick Takes Pole After Atlanta Chaos! What Will ...

Now, how does this work exactly? NASCAR, in its infinite wisdom (and sometimes questionable decisions, let's be honest), has a performance metric. It's basically a formula that takes into account a driver's finish in the previous race – that's 70% of the calculation – and then throws in 30% based on the car owner's point standings. Since Reddick snagged that huge win at Daytona and is currently leading in the standings, he got the highest score, automatically handing him the pole.

Joey Logano, who managed a solid third-place finish at Daytona, will be joining Reddick on the front row, starting in second. So, not a bad starting position for him either. You gotta wonder though, how much this actually impacts the race. Atlanta is a beast of a track these days, more like a superspeedway than anything else. Starting up front is nice, sure, but survival is the name of the game.

Here’s the kicker: because qualifying was canceled, the drivers will head straight into race conditions on Sunday afternoon, without any practice laps beforehand. This is fairly common on these drafting-style tracks after Daytona. Teams generally believe the risk of wrecking their cars in practice outweighs any potential benefit they might get from those few laps. It’s a gamble, for sure, but it's one most teams are willing to take. Imagine jumping into a knife fight without knowing the rules.

Reddick, despite the slightly chaotic lead-up to the race, seems confident. "There's a number of things that have been out of sorts, if you will, but for the most part, it was a normal week on the prep side," he said, signaling his readiness. Confidence is key in this sport, and Reddick's got plenty of it right now.

The good news is, it looks like we're in the clear weather-wise for the race itself. FOX Weather is forecasting cool temperatures in the 40s, which is definitely going to impact tire management, and, crucially, zero chance of rain. So, get ready for what's sure to be another wild race at Atlanta. Tune in at 3 p.m. ET on FOX and the FOX Sports app – you won't want to miss it!