XFINITY: Shane Van Gisbergen Cruises to Pole on Chicago Street Course

In his first NASCAR Xfinity Series start of 2025, Shane Van Gisbergen will be leading the field to the green flag.

The native of Auckland, New Zealand-native collected the pole position ahead of Saturday’s The Loop 110 at the Chicago Street Course in dominant fashion, putting his No. 9 WeatherTech / Red Bull Chevrolet at the top of the speed charts for JR Motorsports.

With a blazing lap time of 90.085 seconds (which is by far the fastest of the weekend thus far), Van Gisbergen held an advantage of more than a quarter second over second-place qualifier Austin Hill.

It’s the fourth career pole position for Van Gisbergen in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, all of which have come on road or street circuits.

"Anything can happen in these races, but yeah, thank you to Red Bull and WeatherTech. Car was amazing. Pretty conservative still, we just had to lay down a banker to make sure we were in the race. Surprised to be on pole. But yeah, it just goes to show you how fast the JR Motorsports. Looking forward to the race."

Austin Hill, driver of the No. 21 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet, was second fastest in qualifying and will start alongside Van Gisbergen for Saturday’s event. Sam Mayer and Sheldon Creed, teammates from Haas Factory Team, will start from third and fourth.

Jack Perkins, making his NASCAR Xfinity Series debut in the No. 19 Shaw & Partners Toyota GR Supra for Joe Gibbs Racing, was fifth quickest in qualifying, earning a solid start in his first-ever race. The Supercars driver got the call last-minute to pilot the entry and is scheduled to return to the car once again later this season at Portland.

Justin Allgaier, the defending champion of the NASCAR Xfinity Series, went sixth fastest in qualifying, while a pair of rookies William Sawalich and Nick Sanchez (who won last weekend’s event at EchoPark Speedway) were seventh and eighth. Jesse Love and Sammy Smith rounded out the top-10.

Saturday’s on-track action for the NASCAR Xfinity Series at the Chicago Street Course was filled with incidents, for some prominent drivers, as well, including Connor Zilisch, one of the favorites to win Saturday’s The Loop 110, who crashed into the tire barriers in the opening minutes of his group. The team will repair the car, and the No. 88 will start at the rear of the field.

Taylor Gray, Ryan Sieg, Christian Eckes, Sage Karam, Sheldon Creed, and several others ran into issues while on-track either in practice or qualifying. That has set some heavy-hitters towards the back of the field in what is a short race at a track that is difficult to make passes at.

With 40 drivers on the entry list for Saturday’s The Loop 110, two teams were sent packing prior to the green flag, those being Kris Wright in the No. 5 for Our Motorsports (who crashed twice in practice), and Sage Karam, who had engine issues that prevented the Joey Gase Motorsports No. 53 team from making a lap in qualifying.

The Loop 110 at the Chicago Street Course will take place Saturday at 4:30pm ET on The CW, MRN, and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.

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