For the second straight weekend, Shane van Gisbergen dominated NASCAR time trials—and predictably so.
On his second lap Saturday at Sonoma Raceway, the New Zealander became the only driver to top 96 mph on the 1.99-mile, 12-turn road course.
Touring the circuit in 74.594 seconds (96.040 mph), van Gisbergen secured the pole position for Sunday’s Toyota/Save Mart 350 NASCAR Cup Series race (3:30 p.m. ET on TNT, PRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
Van Gisbergen beat second-place qualifier Chase Briscoe (95.719 mph) by 0.25 seconds to claim his first Busch Light Pole Award at Sonoma, his third of the season and the fourth of his career.
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His pole-winning run followed Friday’s top qualifying effort for the NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Sonoma. Last weekend on the Chicago Street Course, van Gisbergen swept the poles and races in both series.
Qualifying in Group B, SVG picked up speed substantially from his first lap to his second, from 74.833 seconds to 74.594.
“I thought it could be faster,” said van Gisbergen, who won last season’s Xfinity race at Sonoma but will be making his first start here in a Cup car. “And then in the first group, we saw big gains from people in their second runs. I think the 24 (third-place qualifier William Byron) made a huge jump, which is pretty abnormal, I think, on these tires, especially this new soft tire.
“My first lap was just a banker almost. The second lap was really good.”
Byron navigated the course at 95.488 mph to claim the third spot on the grid. Ross Chastain was fourth at 95.409 mph, followed by AJ Allmendinger (95.367 mph) and Ty Gibbs (95.357 mph).
Ryan Blaney, Tyler Reddick, Alex Bowman and Christopher Bell claimed the sixth through 10th starting spots, respectively.
Drivers facing off in the third round of the In-Season Challenge qualified as follows: Gibbs, sixth vs. Zane Smith, 12th; Bowman, ninth vs. Ty Dillon, 26th; John Hunter Nemechek, 18th vs. LEGACY Motor Club teammate Erik Jones, 31st; and Reddick, eighth vs. Ryan Preece, 20th.
Preece, two points below the current elimination line for a berth in the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs, may be more concerned with the position of 30th-place starter Bubba Wallace, who is two points above the cut line with seven races left in the regular season.
Katherine Legge, who finished 19th last Sunday on the Chicago Street Course, did not make a qualifying attempt and will start 37th.
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