A week after running the table in the NASCAR Cup Series and NASCAR Xfinity Series at the Chicago Street Course, Shane van Gisbergen was back at his expected road course dominance on Friday at Sonoma Raceway as he picked up the pole position for Saturday's NASCAR Xfinity Series Pit Boss/FoodMaxx 250.
Starting Lineup: Pit Boss/FoodMaxx 250 at Sonoma
Van Gisbergen, who started off last weekend's festivities with pole positions in the NASCAR Xfinity Series and NASCAR Cup Series, took the pole for Saturday's race with a 75.259-second (95.191 mph) lap around the 1.99-mile road course. Van Gisbergen, a full-time NASCAR Cup Series competitor who is running the No. 9 JR Motorsports Chevrolet in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, clocked in 0.244-seconds faster than teammate Connor Zilisch, the runner-up qualifier.
"Qualifying to be front row for our team, thank you to JR Motorsports, our car is really, really good," Van Gisbergen said after qualifying. "Yeah, I was having fun out there, and awesome to have my friends from Australia, Quad Lock, back on the car, and yeah, looking forward to the race tomorrow."
Zilisch, who was disappointed by missing out on the race win in a hard-fought battle with van Gisbergen last weekend at the Chicago Street Course, was frustrated with himself for coming up just short of the pole on Friday afternoon. But Zilisch believes his No. 88 JR Motorsports Chevrolet is capable of winning the race.
"Yeah, it was close, but not quite good enough. Frustrating, I'm kind of frustrated with myself, but long race tomorrow," Zilisch explained. "Our Roto-Rooters Chevrolet is fast as Xfinity Internet on the long run, and I feel good about it. I missed out the pole by a little bit, but they don't give out trophies for the pole, so, we'll go get them tomorrow."
Sam Mayer, who has four career road course wins in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, will search for the first victory of his tenure with Haas Factory Team from the third starting spot on Saturday.
Jesse Love will roll from the fourth starting spot in the No. 2 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet, and William Sawalich joined Zilisch as NASCAR Xfinity Series Rookie of the Year contenders inside the top-five starting spots.
Sammy Smith, Carson Kvapil, Brandon Jones, Sheldon Creed, and Justin Allgaier rounded out the top-10 qualfiiers for the Pit Boss/FoodMaxx 250 at Sonoma Raceway.
Taylor Gray recorded the 11th starting spot for the race, but will have to drop to the rear of the field prior to the start of Saturday's race after he suffered a blown engine during his qualifying run.
"Yeah, we're going to have to swap motors here tonight or in the morning," Gray said. "We blew up there in qualifying, but super proud of my Joe Gibbs Racing guys. We're going to put some work in and get it changed, and have to come from the back tomorrow."
Gray enters this weekend's race as the final driver inside of the 12-driver NASCAR Xfinity Series Playoffs cutline. Gray holds a slim eight-point advantage over Harrison Burton, who drives the No. 25 AM Racing Ford Mustang. Burton will start from the 19th position on Saturday afternoon.
With 39 cars on the entry list and only 38 spots available in the starting lineup, there was one driver and team that failed to lock into the race. Austin J. Hill, driving the No. 35 Joey Gase Motorsports entry, failed to lock into the race as he turned the slowest qualifying speed of the session.
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