Shane van Gisbergen, Connor Zilisch set for another epic road course tussle at Sonoma

NASCAR couldn't have written a better script for Friday's NASCAR Xfinity Series qualifying session at Sonoma Raceway if it tried. 

One week after Shane van Gisbergen edged Connor Zilisch for the win at the Chicago Street Course in The Loop 110, van Gisbergen, a full-time competitor in the NASCAR Cup Series, beat Zilisch for the pole at Sonoma by 0.244 seconds. 

Van Gisbergen and Zilisch will race each up the hill and into Turn 1 at the drop of the green flag on Saturday (4:30 p.m. ET, the CW, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) in search of the race lead. 

Van Gisbergen has become the best road course racer currently in NASCAR over the last year, while Zilisch has blossomed into one of the top prospects in the sport and the clear-cut road course favorite among the regulars in the Xfinity Series field. 

On Saturday, Zilisch will have to take it to van Gisbergen, a winner of three Cup Series road races, if he wants his third win of 2025. 

Zilisch ended up besting van Gisbergen in Friday's practice session, with Zilisch topping the charts and Jesse Love ending up second, one spot ahead of van Gisbergen in third. 

But while Zilisch has been stepping in sync with van Gisbergen so far, SVG is the defending winner of the Xfinity Series race at Sonoma, and he's proven that he can beat the young phenom when the chips are down. 

If van Gisbergen and Zilisch are battling for the win late in the race, be sure to stay close to your television -- if you don't, you might just miss two of the best road racers in NASCAR putting on a show for the ages.